Articles

By Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Administrative Rabbinic Coordinator

Q. My new house has several fruit trees in the backyard.  Are there any halachic or kashrus issues I need to know about them?

A. Several topics come to mind, and I’ll give a brief overview of them.

Arlah – Fruits are forbidden as arlah if they grow during the first three years of a tree’s life.  [For grapes, it is 4 years.]  Not only may we not eat arlah, but it is even forbidden to have hana’ah (benefit) from it, and it, therefore, cannot be fed to pets, for example.  Many are not aware that fruits which grow in chutz la’aretz are also subject to this prohibition of arlah, but only if a person is sure that the specific fruit is arlah.  Thus, if you know that a specific tree is less than 3 years old, you cannot eat any fruit that grows on it, but, otherwise, you do not have to be concerned about this.  Just bear in mind that (a) if a tree is transplanted, the 3-year clock might restart depending on how the transplantation was done, and (b) in this context, the measurement of “3 years” does not necessarily correspond with waiting 36 months from when the tree was planted.

Kilayim – In Eretz Yisroel there are many limitations on which vegetables and grains may be planted near one another, but for those in chutz la’aretz there are very few restrictions.  One is that one may not plant the seeds of grapes together with two grains or two vegetables simultaneously (kilayim).  The other is that one may not graft a branch from one “min” to a tree from a different “min”.  The word “min” is roughly translated as “species”, but in truth there are many fine details involved in determining which trees are in the same “min“ and which are not, and a Rabbi should be consulted.  Similarly, it may be forbidden to keep/maintain a tree which was created through grafting (even though the fruit of such a tree is permitted), and anyone with this type of question should discuss their situations with a Rabbi.

Bal Tashchis – The Torah forbids us from cutting down fruit-bearing trees, and this is understood to mean that one may not wantonly destroy anything useful (bal tashchis).  However, if the tree no longer bears much fruit, is damaging trees or property, or they need the place where the tree is located, then the letter of the law is that they may uproot it.  At the same time, the Gemara speaks of physical danger that results from cutting down a fruit tree.  Most Poskim assume that this danger only applies when in cases where the halacha does not allow one to cut the tree down, but due to the importance of avoiding danger some caution that [even when uprooting is permitted], the actual labor should be performed by someone who is not Jewish.  Another option is that instead of destroying the fruit tree, it should be transplanted to someplace else.  In that case, the tree is not being destroyed, and there is no violation of bal tashchis.

Bracha – Lastly, there is a special bracha recited once each spring when you see fruit trees blossoming.

This article first appeared in the Let’s Talk Kashrus column, Yated Ne’eman, February 28, 2025.