In honor of Tu b'Shevat

Hi,

[For those of you who read these posts as emails, this will come a day after Tu b'Shevat - but the thought is still valuable.]

Background: The Torah prohibits use of the fruit produced during the first three years of a tree's life. This fruit is called arlah.

"From the day that a seed or shoot of a fruit-tree is consigned to the earth with a view to producing fruit, the fruit belongs to the tree for the first three years. You may not take it for yourself, nor may you derive therefrom any enjoyment nor use it either directly or indirectly, but you must leave the fruit for the natural purpose of its species and thereby learn not to lose consciousness of the worth of things per se as creatures of Gd - an unawareness which is the result of pride of possession. Thus do you express in deed that you have only the lien upon things which their Creator and Lord bestows upon you temporarily."

(R' Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 303)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Tu b'Shevat

Hi,

Tu b'Shevat [celebrated on Monday February 9 this year] is the equivalent of January 1 in the Jewish tithing calendar for Israeli produce - it is the first day of the financial year. Therefore, tree-fruit which blossoms before Tu b'Shevat is tithed as part of one tithing cycle, and tree-fruit which blossoms after Tu b'Shevat is tithed in a different cycle.

To celebrate this day, and to express gratitude for the edible fruit of our trees, many Jews eat fruit on Tu b'Shevat.

(Mishneh Berurah 131:31)

[How do the different tithing cycles work? I'm glad you asked:
Each year's produce is tithed differently. In all non-shemitah years, 2% goes to the Kohanim and 10% to the Levites, but in certain years another 10% is brought to Yerushalayim to be eaten there, and in other years that last 10% is given to the needy.
Also: one may not tithe one year's produce using another year's produce.
Aren't you glad you asked?]

Have a great day,
Mordechai