The Impact of Tu B'shvat
on Fruit of Eretz Yisroel

The year that produce was grown has a number of ramifications to the halachos of trumos and ma'asros, orlah and shmitah. There is a mitzvah in the Torah to separate a portion of the produce and designate it as "trumos" and "maasros". The produce may not be consumed beforehand. There is also a mitzvah of orlah, not to benefit from the fruits of a tree during the first three years. The mitzvos of Shmitah affects the fruits which start to grow between specific dates. We will ascertain those dates and the specific impact they have on each of these mitzvos.

The Torah commands us to separate Trumah and give it to the Cohen. Nowadays, for technical reasons, (such as tumah -- impurity) trumah is usually not given to a Cohen, rather it is wrapped and disposed of or burned. The amount customary to separate for trumos nowadays is slightly more than 1%. [see Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 331:19]

Produce may not be eaten before one has performed the mitzvah of hafrashas trumos. The produce is known as "tevel" and is strictly forbidden. If tevel was cooked with other produce it will assur (forbid) the other produce as well as the utensils.

Trumah must be separated specifically from tevel. One may not use produce that has already been tithed to tithe tevel, even though an additional trumah is being separated in order to perform the second tithing. [Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 331:18]

Moreover, the tevel one is separating, must be the same years' produce as all the tevel which is to be tithed. This means for example, one may not use last year's apples to tithe this year's apples even though both years' produce is tevel.[Rosh Hashanah 12a, b Rambam Trumos 5:11 Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 331:57]

There is a cut-off date, which ends the previous year and starts a new year. This means that fruit that grew after this date is not considered to be from the same year as the fruit that grew prior to this date.[ibid.]

The cut-off date takes effect as the fruit begins to form, called "chanatah", not as the fruit is harvested. Some Rishonim explain chanatah as the forming of the fruit immediately after the flower falls of.[Tosafos ad. loc. Hatvuah] The Rambam (and others) rule chanatah is 1/3 of the growth. [Ma'asar Sheini 1:2 also see discussion in Rash Shviyis 2:7; Sh.A. Y.D. 331:125; Mispetei Eretz ma'asros 6:3; 8:6] It seems there was some level of ripening at this stage.[Sharei Tzedek 2:9 and Minchas Shlomo 51:14]

If a tree produces a single harvest of fruit, of which some fruit were chonet (formed) before and some fruit were chonet after this date, the tree will be considered as bearing two years' produce. This remains so even if all the fruit is harvested at the same time. In this situation, one may not tithe the entire harvest at one time, i.e. with one tithing process. One must first determine the different years' fruit and be sure to use the fruit from the first year to tithe the batch from the first year; and the fruit from the second year to tithe the batch of fruit from the second year. (If it should become impossible to determine the different years' fruits (even the amounts from each year) one would be required to tithe the fruits one by one. This situation is not very common.[ibid. also Maser Sheini 1:2]

The cut-off date for fruit is the 15th of Shvat - Tu B'shvat Rosh Hashanah Laelanos. This is the start of a new year of fruits regarding trumah.[Mishna Rosh Hashanah 1:1; Gemara ibid. 15b Rambam ibid. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 331:57, 125]

The above applies also to ma'aser. As with trumos, ma'asros must be separated from produce of the same year, not from the produce of a different year. [Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 331:18] Fruit from before Tu-B'shvat may not be used to ma'aser fruit from after Tu-B'shvat.

There are additional laws regarding ma'asros which are affected by this date as follows:

There are two additional types of ma'asros. Ma'aser sheini, and ma'aser ani.

Ma'aser Sheini (10% of the produce) is brought to Yerushalayim and eaten there. If it is difficult to transport, it is sold and the money from the sale is ma'aser sheini money which is brought to Yerushalayim and used there to buy food. The food may be eaten only in Yerushalayim.

Ma'aser ani (10% of the produce) is given to ani'im - poor people.

Ma'aser Sheini is separated during the following years: first, second, forth and fifth.

In the remaining years ma'aser Ani is separated. (third and sixth). [Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 331:19]

Each of these years of the seven year cycle are considered to begin at Tu B'shvat. [Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 331:57]

The first Mishnah of Rosh Hashanah states that Tu B'shvat is the Rosh Hashanah for trees with regard to orlah. This special Rosh Hashanah significantly affects the status of the trees' fruit. The Torah does not permit fruits from a tree during its first three years of growth. Tu B'shvat will terminate the third year as it ushers in the fourth - the year the fruits may be eaten. (The produce of the fourth year -- revai must be redeemed by transferring the kedusha onto a coin before it is eaten.) This takes effect even though three full years (thirty-six months) have not elapsed. Once the tree has lived past three Roshei Shanah the tree is considered to be starting its forth year.

It is not sufficient to plant the tree one day before Tu B'shvat to qualify for its transformation to its second year with the coming of Tu B'shvat. Rather the tree must be planted by the end of the 15th of Av -- Tu B'av to first utilize the Rosh Hashanah of Tishrei and only later utilize the Rosh Hashanah of Tu B'shvat. This is, because during its first few months this young sapling is not yet considered a "tree". By planting forty-four days before Rosh Hashanah (Tishrei) the young sapling enters its second year as a sapling at Rosh Hashanah (Tishrei). Only as a "tree" is it affected by Tu B'shvat. which allows the tree to enter a new year as soon as Tu B'shvat commences. By the third Tu B'shvat the tree's produce which subsequently begins to form, is no longer orlah, and by the fourth it is no longer revai.

The Talmud states that Tu B'shvat is Rosh Hashanah Leilanos because by then most of the year's rain has fallen already [ibid. 14a].

Rashi explains, that the significant amounts of rain is essential to facilitate the start of the fruiting season. Since this date is the natural start of the fruiting season, it was designated as the Rosh Hashanah.

Tosofos and Ran offer a different reason why Tu B'shvat was designated as Rosh Hashanah: Technically, the year of the actual rainfall from which the fruit was produced, is the essential factor which establishes the year of the fruit. Fruit produced from rainfall which occurred before Tishrei is considered produce from that calendar year. This remains so even though the tree was chonet (fruited) in the next calendar year. Fruit produced from rainfall occurring after Tishrei is considered produce of the new calendar year. The Sages have taught us that if a tree is chonet (fruiting) before Tu B'shvat it cannot be from rainfall of the new calendar year. Rather, the tree stored the water as sap and is finally processing this sap to produce fruit. Conversely, if the tree is chonet after Tu B'shvat the fruit is a product of the significant rains which fell after Tishrei - the new calendar year.

Tu B'shvat is not a new beginning in it's own right, rather, it is merely an indication that the upcoming produce is a result of the new calendar year's rain.

Rosh Hashanah of Shmitah is the first day of Tishrei the beginning of the Jewish calendar year. This date is also influential in deciding the status of all produce regarding Shmitah - including fruit from trees, even though trees have their own Rosh Hashanah - Tu B'shvat - which affects the status of orlah, trumos, and ma'asros. [Mishnah ibid. Rambam 4:9; most poskim.] There is an opinion that maintains even for shmitah Rosh Hashanah for trees is Tu B'shvat. [ Rach 15b; Shl"a] The poskim however rule that we don't follow this view, even lechumrah. [R. Akiva Eiger on mishnah; Chazon Ish 7:13, 15; Rav Elyashiv.]

The articles on this website are not not intended as halachic rulings.
Where necessary, one should consult a competent halachic authority.