Halachic Aspects of Tu B'Shevat by Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

okay good morning everyone hope you're well I apologize for being a little late today again our the only announcement is our share as always uh is sponsored for the entire year by rever F and Sharon Alman in memory of their parents y sok and Es BF and their son rer fo again we're very very grateful for their uh generous support may be an evening for their parents and for their for their son um we more put it here I think okay better okay so uh we more or less I think finished uh our subject a very interesting subject of uh men and women being Moy each other in kides and havdalah so uh as I'm contemplating what our next subject will be so I thought I would talk a little bit about about Tu bishvat uh but as I always uh say this is not an inspirational share those who seek inspiration shall go elsewhere uh this is a so I'm going to talk about uh the non-romantic aspects of tuat the Romantic aspect of tuat I'm actually going to conduct a m a tuat Seder for Ian Wednesday night uh but you are stuck with the technical non-romantic aspects of tub bishvat which are in fact very very interesting although they're very intricate at the same time uh the idea that tuat is aana for trees is actually mentioned in the mishna the first mishna in M uh that talks about four days of the year are actually called rosanas four days of the year uh the first is Roes Nissan is called a rashash I'll talk about with respect to which purpose second Roes El is called a Rashana third roses which we call rashash is called a rashash and the fourth is actually a and b sayses is a rashishana which of course makes it consistent with the other three that are always the first day of the month B says that the rosashana of shabat is the 15th of shabat and uh again that makes it very unusual it is the only Ro that's in the middle of the of the month and as you would expect as is generally the case when there's a and we follow the view of and therefore we treat the 15th of Asos now in terms of I'll talk about what each rash represents just you'll get a general picture in terms of Hal uh the only of other than Trum and M that I'll talk about is from the gon the gim mentioned that uh since all the four Ras are mentioned together so they have a quazi status of course is of course and therefore the is you don't say right so that much we know for sure that we don't say since this year tat is Thursday so those who like to avoid not that we should like to avoid it get the extra bonus that they get exempt from the long T of of Thursday okay be it as it may now what is the significance of a day being called a rosashana for rashan so the mishna gives a different purpose for each one of the four for Nan it is called the rosashana for Kings for monarchies what does that mean that means a Jewish King even if he became a king the 29th of Adar he finishes his year Nissan and after Nissan he is now year two even though he's only been King for two days and from and hence forward every Nissan we add another year to his malus right so Kings typically uh were said you're in your third year your fourth year your 20th year so the the year is not measured by when you became a king the year is measured by Nissan so year one could be very very short year one could literally be just a day and here the gamar goes into very intricate calculations from many PIM in the book of Ezra regarding when there's a change of rain and the comes up with a very interesting uh that in biblical chronology the years of Jewish Kings change in Nissan and the years of non-jewish Kings change in TI in terms of what ISAT what is ETC okay that's an interesting point to discuss but that ises Nissan is R for Kings roses is a rash not connected to Chua and not connected to what we do during the month of properly so but it is for Mas be now Mas be tithing of animals is actually a Mitzvah we do not do today it only applies when there's a Bika so if you've never heard of giving Meer on your animals it's because we taka do not do it today but in the time of the basa mikdash uh if you had uh 10 sheep 10 goats uh you would separate one out of the 10 and you would bring it as a corbon which you would then eat it was a type of corbon that you would eat but you'd have to bring it as a corbon it has kadosa and this is called M Bea and the way it worked was uh you have a Corral and uh the animals pass through the gate one at a time and you count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 nine and then you put a red stripe on number 10 so that's your master and then you keep on Counting if you have 100 every 10th animal becomes Maser Bea now the rule is the following though you can only combine animals if they were born the same year if I have five animals from Year One and five animals from another year I don't have a unit of 10 I'm I'm actually exempt from Masa I have to have the 10 animals the same year now strangely enough the definition of a year for Animals is not Tish it is rodes which therefore means five animals born before rodes and five animals born after roses are two different years they cannot be combined now that actually turns out to be a len therefore you are exempt from the Mitzvah of mas now why would L be relevant why not tiay tishay is the beginning of the year so basically it's based on the reproductive cycle that generally sheep and goats would tend to reproduce in late uh summer uh L is around the demarcation point and therefore that was chosen by the way I have to share with you didn't hear you what sheep yeah it's sheep goats or c cattle uh sheep goats or cattle so I have to share with you a a vort that I heard when I was in 9th grade uh I remember this and I I believe re RAF sitner I think is still alive and should be in in good health and um he said the following board to us we were like ninth graders at neron Baltimore he said that this idea of Master B is actually connected to the Monto because imagine you're a sheep and the Sheep sees the guy with the stick that's going to hit the Sheep so the first sheep is scared and the second sheep is a little less scared by the time you get to the 10th sheep he has no at all he figures everything's great that's when the on happened meaning as long as you're cognizant of a in the world Hashem will protect you when you ignore the and you have no then it's going to hit you right so number 10 is complacence because number 10 is complacent I heard that ninth grade many many years ago but it's a good it was a way of you know getting us in shape you know and and and and the like any yeah uh but anyway uh so that's nowes of course is the r of the creation of man and that is the creation of uh judgment and and everything else uh but then we come to now let me explain what this is we know that in ER Israel there are many matanos there are many things we have to separate from produce and that applies even today maybe rically maybe DOA those are different questions but we have to separate truma that's given to a Coen we separate Maser uh which is a 10% given to a Ley now uh we also separate a second tithe that in the time of the temple would be eaten in Yim Mas sheni we don't eat it today but we still have to separate it and depending on the year of the shmita cycle because the agricultural cycle is six years year 1 2 3 4 5 6 shimita is exempt from truma and Maser so truma and Maser is 1 to six so every single year you must separate truma which can be as little as 2% every single year there is a Maser Reon that goes to the Ley but the second 10% depends on the Year this is a little complicated year 1 2 four and five of the shita cycle you have the master sheni that would be brought to and eaten year three and six the second tithe was given to the poor and they could eat it wherever they wanted so four out of the six years is Maser sheney and two out of the six years is Maser Oni okay now obviously therefore it's very important to know what year a fruit vegetable or grain belongs because if it's a year one fruit vegetable grain you would take off truma Maser Maser sheni if it's a year two it would be the same thing but if it's a year three it would be you know truma Mason and Mas so you have to know so obviously you have to always know if it's a 23 or a 56 you need to know that because the Meer changes but in reality even from a 1 to two you have to know the year something belongs to a farmer has to keep a record and the reason is because similar to Myer Bima you cannot combine produce of different years so for example let's take truma Ruma will say is 2% that's given to a cooh now that means if I have 100 buels I give two buels to a coing now let's say I have 50 from one year and 50 from another year I got to take the 2% off for each year I can't as it were just mix them up and then separate the 2% because you cannot give produce of one year on produce of another year so as a result it's very very critical to know what year a crop belongs to do we do we do this today okay so we actually my my sister W Strawberry Picking and she brought back strawberries that had to you had to take off trist M what do you do with those TR that's correct they're wrapped in plastic in other in other words we we basically the way it works today is maybe I should give a whole sh on this is that we do separate them we do separate them but we don't give them and the reason we don't give them out is primarily because these things have Holiness and they cannot be eaten in a state of Tuma in a state of ritual impurity and since today we're all T met because we've been in contact with the dead and as a result we're not able to uh we don't have the par aduma the red heer that would purify us so all of these matanos have to be separated but they cannot be given anymore and consumed because of the laws of Tuma therefore they're essentially uh wrapped in plastic and discarded that's exactly right but the haha the haha the separation is still done and it must be done because until your mafr until you separate until you separate the tros and the MOs the the produce is forbidden to be eaten this is called the word Teel te any untied produce fruit vegetable grain a very Isel only only a very Isel is called Teel and there's an iser of the Torah for anybody even a Cohen cannot eat T it's funny if a Cohen has his own produce even though after he separates the truma he can give it to himself but until he separates the truma he cannot eat it there's an ISS of TL in that produce import things to America yeah so you could just eat whatever you feel like even if they didn't separate it well in America I'm I'm I'm sorry to disabuse you no that that's a very serious problem so what did what happened when he got those jaff oranges which I used to eat and E and eat well there's y Kipper a lot of yum kippers have have passed by you know no this is a no no no I understand that the thing the thing about truma and Mos is it depends on where it grew not where you eat meaning if I brought apples from America uh on the trip and I'm meeting them here I don't I do not have to take off trus and masas if I took Israeli produce from here to the to America I do have to separate Trum and Mas uh so so I'm huh I didn't hear producing in America because they know that people are going to forget to take true no that's not true there no that's oh it's a joke yeah yeah yeah I'm sorry well okay that's all right yeah I don't I don't want I don't want get I mean there's an issue that it may not apply to to pism may not apply to a number number of things uh but but you have to be careful bism if you buy Israeli produce you need to verify this and uh but but as the point is we we have to be mafish but we don't we don't give it because of the laws of Tuma yeah better not to take it out anyway well there is a there is actually a rule about shmita produce that shita produce should not be taken outside of Israel that's true but if it's uh regular produce during the other six years it's it's much it's m take it out yeah yeah yeah so I mean listen most of us most of us although it's not bad to know how to do it but most of us generally do not have to separate anything because uh you buy in stores that have some type of hashas right right whether it's whatever your hash is I'm not going to get into that but whether it's or whether it's andet I'm I'm going to plead the fifth I I I I believe the I believe the raban N is good for fruits and vegetables but but but people some people will argue with that but I I I do believe it's okay um but again I'm not here to tell you about hashas but basically the one thing I will tell you is that in Isel you must buy unless you you want to take off truma and masus which you know you can do it but if you don't know how to do it it's very important that your fruits and vegetables be purchased and your grain products be purchased purchased with hash again whatever hash is I'm not here to tell you one way or the other because the hashak does assure that the tros and the MOs were taken off and therefore Ora as well I'll get to and therefore you don't have a problem fine F this is my this is my this is my opinion again again in the ISA World sometimes there are different views on it but I believe the rantis is fine for fruits and vegetables and you have an orange tree growing in your oh so you got you have a problem you have to know you have to know this if you're a home if you're a home Gardener you must know how to take off or get somebody to do it for you you must know how to take off the truma and the masas on eache so you don't have to do you can do it you can do it on each orange if you want a little bit or you can take all your oranges and uh you know all grow at the same time what do I have well okay okay I I I can't I can't I can't describe this in five minutes um uh although uh okay maybe I'll maybe I'll try to I'll try to do something in writing uh for you uh but you absolutely you absolutely need to know this uh that's why Kus in Israel is harder thanet I could buy at least fruits and vegetables generally speaking although they sometimes have waxes that have problem but putting aside the waxes uh I can buy an Apple in any grocery store and there's no problem in ER Isel you already have to be conscious of truma and masus yeah yeah I'm sorry well the truth is I I do want to say I I should have qualified this um when the farmers separate the truma and the masas although they throw away the the the truma parts the masi if it's year three and six the masani is in fact given to the poor uh because the masani is not subject to the laws of Purity therefore even if you're T right so that is given uh the reason why typic so so actually if you're a home Gardener you need to be cognizant of that but for most of us even when we separate Trum and Mas at home we don't do so because it's definitively t we do so because maybe we don't rely on a so it's a suff misu you don't have to give it because that's the general rule in monetary matters that all doubts you know uh possession is 9/10 of the law so generally speaking if if for example somebody doesn't rely on a certain hash and therefore separates Trum and masus again they would not have to give the Mas to the Oni but if you're growing your own and you know for sure that it wasn't given then year three and six you would so now the point is this therefore there are two things you need to know for every fruit I mean I don't mean that you as a consumer but if you're a farmer there are two things you need to identify for every single fruit vegetable and grain number one when does the year start number two what is the event that must take place botanically to determine what year it belongs to now for vegetables again this is going to be complicated but I I'll hope hopefully it'll be clear as I go on for vegetables the operative event is harvesting that is called Lita for grain the operative event is reaching a third of its full maturity that only an expert would really know for trees it is what is called Kata now Kata means budding budding so uh if you're a horticulturalist you know that most fruit bearing trees produce flowers and when the flower drops out you have a little bud and the bud is the start of the fruit that will grow so the budding is the very beginning of the fruit the very beginning of the fruit so that means the following if a vegetable if a tomato and it's tomato by tomato if a tomato was harvested before Roes it belonged to the old year if it was harvested after KES it belongs to the new year so for vegetables our two points are this the P that determines its year is Lita and the definition the date that determines the year ises which is rashash okay so for your rot our two variables are Lita and rodes TI now this actually means that a single crop that's harvested over a few weeks may have two different years for masro because everything the tomatoes that were harvested before rosashana are old year Tomatoes harvested after Rashana our new year right so for vegetables it's pretty simple Lita now for grain we look at meaning even if 2third of the growth and the harvesting was later and once again Tish is your date Tish is your date and that is grain that reached a third of its final maturity a final total growth before tishay belongs to the old year if it reach after Tish it belongs to the new year and this is true both in terms of not being able to aggregate the produce of different years and in terms of whether it's a Maser sheni or masoni if you're going from year two to year three year two is Master sheni year three is Master Ani so the part that so if you're going from year two to year three if it reached a shish before Tish it's year two and it would be Mas Shen if it reached aish after Tish it's year three and it's Mas so both vegetables and grain the r for Trum and Mas is and the only difference between them is that for grain we look at Le I'm sorry for for vegetables we look at leita for grain we look at hav shalish now let's now go to fruit things that grow on trees oranges apples pears peaches uh nuts right almonds lot lot other than peanuts nuts also grow on grow on trees so here we look atata Kata is buing but the relevant date of the new year is not tire but it's Tu bish which means any tree not trees it's Fruit by fruit any fruit that buted before tubish belongs to the old year now that would mean the following this year right this year is T Shin if a tree or if a fruit but it today today it would not be a tough Shin pay doll fruit it would be a tough Shin pay gmel fruit in other words the year of the Elan does not end on Tish the year of the Elan ends which means after I'm sorry before even though it's a new year we'll connect it back to the old year now that is the significance of ASE in terms of establishing what year a fruit belongs to so the event that has to take place is the uh in which it determines what year the Kanata belongs to is going to be according to B it was uh first now the for for why tuat would be relevant for trees is because even though tuat is technically still in the winter again even in arel we're in the winter and we might have snow it's even more noticeable uh so there's really no fruit there's no fruits you see at all nevertheless all of the sap that will produce the fruit has risen by tubish vat there a whole muster so tubish represents the hidden potential of growth that is not yet perceptible but that's the true birthday the birthday of the fruit is not necessarily where you see the fruit the birthday of the fruit is when everything is ready for it to produce and then I look at when the takes place pre tuat which is rare actually or post Tu bishvat and that determines the that determines the year uh yeah so that go per fruit it's per fruit it's per fruit so that actually means that a farmer who sh mitzvot has to keep a record you tie a string around every single thing to determine it's a big it's a very it's a very big deal huh uh the word appears in a different for in different ver in Shir so it it's described there okay now what throws a little bit of a wrench into this is shita because tubish is not relevant for shita shita goes fromes to the 29th of and that applies to fruits grains vegetables Tu bishvat is not relevant regarding the laws of huh not for shita not for shita which means the following even though normally the rule is a fruit that budded before tubish belongs to the old year but if the year after shita a fruit budded before tubish it does not belong to shita it belongs to year one which actually means for trees year one is a long year it's an 18month almost an 18month year because like this the year one for trees does begin R because it's after shita but it'll be until a year a year later well the well the reason is because shita and when it ends shita ends so therefore anything that buds after shita no longer belongs to shita on the other hand this is a tree so the tree's New Year will not start until next Tu Bish which means which means I'm going to I don't remember what year was shm but let's make believe which I know it's not true right let's make believe that 5783 was a shmita year and now it's 5784 I know it's not true it's the year after schme so here's the thing uh shita ends with respect to everything shita ends legam 29th ofme is over so if a tree would have budded today I would not treat it as a shmita fruit because shmita is over I treat it as a firste fruit for which I have to take off truma MOS master mishon and master sheny now how long does that year last that year year one is not going to end it's not going to end this Tu bishvat it's going to end next Tu bishvat the following which means year one assuming T is year one year one will not end for trees until Bish of T Shin pay now the opposite phenomenon you're going to have in year six because year six the year before isita for trees does not begin until tub bishvat of year six because if it budded before Tu bishvat it belongs to year five so if it's year six and it buted after Tu bishvat it belongs to the New Year 6 Mas Ani but year six is going to end Tish because that's when shita begins so you only have half a year which means to say year one for trees is 18 months and year six for trees is around 6 months and all the years in the middle are going to be year to year from TU bishvat to TU the problem is because shita wrecks uh the system because since shita is not affected by Tu bishvat so you just have this shita thing in the middle now this is a particular complication only for trees because of the intersection of shita and tubish with respect to vegetables and grain everything is very very simple the year begins and ends in a lock step with Tish and shita is the same cycle and therefore we just look at Lita and that's how we determine it again I I apologize for the for the complexities um I don't want to discourage people from being gardeners or whatever it's a uh gardening and and producing is part of yes Isel part of inhabiting er Israel is not only physically living here that's of course a Mitzvah the ramban says that's a Mitzvah but the ramban also says making the land more productive making it more habitable making it more beautiful is in fact part of the Mitzvah settling arus R so in fact that's an aspect that even from if you plant trees or other things there's a certain aspect of yes is that you are fulfilling by beautifying by beautifying the land and making it more productive um fact the AL used to say picking up garbage was a fulfillment of yesel to make it more more beautiful and the like so I don't want to discourage uh gardeners uh but there's a lot ofas you know a person needs to know uh in ER Isel uh whether it's trees or whether it's vegetables or if you're growing most people are growing grain I assume or growing wheat whatever it would be there are many many that you need to know of course is a whole other par we're not talking about the laws of shita but besides shita you do have Trum and Mos uh that are there now I'm going to mention one other set of Halas that's tubish is very relevant for and uh that is the following a Trum and Mos uh are are obligations both on fruit vegetables grain right they're not unique to fruit although fruit has a unique tar of the 15th of shabat as well asata as the unique Botanical event but Trum and masas are the same thing that you do for everything but there is one unique that only applies to fruit bearing trees and that is the law of Ora the law of Ora uh and the Torah says in Paras kosim that when you plant a tree when you plant a tree for the first three years of the tree the fruit is prohibited to be eaten this is called Ora in fact according to the kazal the fruit is supposed to be burnt Lisa that is not Dominic today or the fruit is not burnt is just thrown away and the Aron have a a lot of pill exactly why is it arog not to burn Ora since the gamar says specifically oral is supposed to be burnt but whether you throw it away or burn it it is absolutely prohibited to be eaten now I want to just dispel a misconception some people have I'm sure that none of you have this misconception just in case some people think Ora means I can't eat the fruit for three years and after after 3 years I could no the fruit of the first three years is prohibited forever it doesn't become permitted after 3 years and this too depends on meaning any fruit that budded budded within the threee of the Ora period even if most of its growth took place after the Ora period that is Ora forever and ever and cannot be eaten right any now once again uh if you are a uh if you have your own trees you have to be aware of this if you buy fruit that is under rinic supervision so one of the things that are supervised by the raban or any says n right it'll say again I'm not here to tell you what hash is to trust or not but but any has on fruits or vegetables will certify that it's not Ora because if it's or how could they sell it to you I mean you're not allowed you're not allowed to eat it yeah so this is also from from year to year oh so now now I want to talk about this now first of all one issue about Ora that's extremely important which I'm not going to fully address is the Ora clock can often get reset when you replant so for example you buy a tree from a nursery and you plant it on your ground well even if the tree you know is already 5 years old or 10 years old by replanting it you start again and you need three years from the replanting now this is very complicated because very often if there's a significant amount of clumps of dirt right when you buy a nursery tree usually there's like a a big ball of soil that's connected to the roots so then you're able to tack on the pre-existing time and if it's already Beyond o you're okay but if you simply have it without the dirts then it's called a new planting and the Ora clock gets gets reset so any time you are replanting a tree you need to be sure that there's enough soil that could sustain the tree otherwise you'd be starting the Ora clock over again now 3 years so the Ora period is 3 years what does that mean is that 3 years from the planting date no so here too H is very very complicated the Haka says that uh the tree gets the benefit of a year if uh essentially okay here's kaz's assumption kaz's normal operating assumption is that when you plant either a tree or a seed for that matter um it takes two weeks until it gets firmly rooted into the ground right so clita takes 14 days and then in order for a year to count for Ora it has to be planted in the ground securely for at least 30 days in other words if it was rooted in the ground for 30 days that counts as year one therefore therefore starts no you finished year one well well start well well in other words like this this is actually 14 days plus 30 days yes it is it's 40 it's 44 days yeah it's 14 right for in other words meaning this is is this is this is actually one of the importance of the 15th of 15th of is 44 days before rash if you plant a tree or a seed of a tree most people don't plant seeds of trees it takes years and years but if you plant a tree a sapling 44 days before Rashana then when rashishana comes you have finished Year One not not I'll get to it right when rosashana comes you finished year one year two is rashash to rashash year three is rashash to rashash but then because now it's a tree not just a sapling you have to wait till Tu so again let's take let's take a concrete example let's imagine um I planted a tree the 15th of let's say later in the summer the 15th of not to 15th of um 5784 okay 15th of 5784 when rosashana of 5785 comes I have finished year one when rashishana of 5786 comes I have finished year two when rashasana of 5787 comes I have finished three years of Ora although it's only the actual amount of time is only two years and 44 days now and that means any fruit that was that bued within that period of time is Ora but then the gamor says this is the second aspect of Tu bishvat that the law of Ora will extend until Tu bishvat of 5787 because when you planted it it was called a sapling it was not called an Elan but after 3 years when it's able to produce edible fruits it graduates into Elan and the rot is Tu bish which means therefore if I plant something on the 15th of 5784 the P are Ora until Tu bishvat of 5787 okay I hope uh you're following this and uh because because essentially uh year one is a 44 day year year 2 and three are complete years but when you finish year three you have to extend the year till the TU year is always like yep that that's correct that's the LA the last one now this is only true now let me this is only true when you started with a short year now let's imagine what is the if I planted something after the 15th of up I planted something let's say L of 5784 under those circumstances because I didn't have my 44 days that doesn't count at all so therefore I need three full years I need all of 5785 I need all of 5786 I need all of 5787 the law of oila doesn't stop until 88 but then I don't have to wait to TU bishvat because the rule that you have to wait to TU bishvat is only if you haven't had three full years meaning if you're taking advantage of a short year you need to extend your last year to tubish but when you have three full years because you planted less than 44 days in the old year so you need three full years you never even for an Elon you do not have to go to T right so this is again a fascinating complicated uh issue fact you have a similar question if I planted let's say I planted today before tubish um if I count three years from the planting that'll be before the last Tu bishvat some say I don't have to wait to TU bishvat there either because as long as I have three full years in other words the requirement of Tu bishvat is when you don't have three full years so we we tag on a tu bishvat when you have three full years uh and that'll be under two circumstances one is where I planted less than 44 days before rashishana the other is if I plant before Tu bishvat when I count my three full years that'll be over before Tu bishvat so then you wouldn't have to wait in other words the CLA is whenever you have three full years uh you don't have to extend it to tu bishvat tu bishvat is primarily a necessary extension when you are taking advantage of the shortened year of the 44 days right so this is uh the second aspect of rash note one is for Trum andos and the other is the extension of the laws of Ora when uh when you have a short year because I'm sorry when you yeah when you have a short year because you planted 44 days before the end of the year the one youed yeah you go to no no see no here's the thing let's assume you planted today so today is the what 13th this is the 13th of Shabbat of 5784 so if I count three years from that that gives 13th of shat 5785 13th of shat 5786 and then 13 that's 13 5787 so three full years are up the 13th of shat 5787 so since so since you've completed three full years before tuat you don't have to wait to tubish right so so the two scenarios where you don't have to wait to TU bishvat is you planted within 44 days of the end of the year or you planted before tubish now by contrast when you plant after Tu bishvat right but before the 15th of that's when you have to that's when you get the benefit of that short year and therefore the last uh we have to wait till Tu Bish yeah yeah well uh that's a good question uh the question is what is the general idea of Ora why does the Torah say that for the first three years you are not supposed to eat the fruits uh and indeed even destroy it in in the most General way uh all a lot of these laws simply show that the land belongs to Hashem and you need hashem's special permission and you cannot simply assert your Sita over it uh and that's that's part of it uh and by the way the the Minag of up sharing the Minag of uh not giving a haircut until the child is 3 years old which really was not in ashkanazi custom so much but but now everybody takes it from and but but it is from the Aral the Aral brings such a minog and he bases it on Ora that just like the fruit is not ready for to be eaten until it's 3 years the baby is not ready to be trained and guided and educated until he reaches three uh and therefore the upare and The Cutting of the hair was traditionally also the day that the child gets inaugurated in the study of Torah right they combine the up Sharin with letters they put honey on you know different Customs they put honey on the letters um in some kilos the baby the child was brought toer wrapped in a in a Talis but the analogy is to Ora that the child before three is like wild uncontrollable growth of hair uh therefore not suitable for directed and and and the like uh but as I say that that's kind of once we have Ora we extrapolate it to other situations but I don't know if that explains why there was a concept of Ora to begin with yeah is there any difference between planting rather yeah there there actually is no difference uh even trees that are in containers uh do have the law of Ora now it is happens to be the case that a lot of trees you know may not really produce that much use edible fruit within a few years anyway uh you know that the truth of the matter is so it's like substandard stuff for a while it takes a while for the tree to get its act together um but nevertheless Ora does apply to potted potted trees uh as as as well now as they say most of the time though when you buy a sapling from a nursery you know the sapling itself is usually beyond the Ora period but you got to be careful that there's dirt attached to the roots that's the thing in other words as long as there's a lot of a ball of dirt attached to the roots usually you will not have an problem because the tree is already beyond the Ora stage by the time you buy it now if in the rare situation like Johnny apple seed you you actually plant I mean I I I don't know anyone that even does this but if you plant a tree from seed then of course uh you're going to have all of the Ora rules yeah yeah I'm sorry okay yes I'm sorry you want to say yeah in the back yeah so here's the thing Ora is not only user to eat it is user to get benefit from like and anything that's user to get benefit from you cannot even feed to your animals now you can leave it in the street so if hefer animal eat it that's not your responsibility but you cannot get the benefit of feeding your own animals Ora yeah yeah so there is something in the fourth year as well uh the fourth year is called revi the fourth year and that has becomes like a m sheney all of the fruits of year number four are supposed to be taken toam and eaten or redeemed uh so that's an issue with well today we redeem it on a coin which we store and uh we then eat it regular wherever you want to eat it uh but you have to be po the revi too and there too the the year of revi uh will go until Tu bishvat and and it's based on again everything is based on budding so yeah what the of the okay so uh as they say I'm giving one on Wednesday night the tuat is not a but once again it started as a custom of the mualim inat the Aral the AR and basically uh the idea was it is a celebration of the Bros of fertility that Hashem has given to Isel a recognition of the Hidden potential of the sap that's not yet visible and a recognition that a human being is also compared to a tree and uh therefore for it's a time of spiritual growth a time of uh there is in the tubish four cups of wine similar to the pesak Seder and the cups move from Pure white to a little bit of red mixed with white to half and half to Pure red and that represents either the change of seasons from Winter to uh to fall or it represents there are different configurations of that and uh the amount of fruits that one eats depends on the different Min hug uh some have the seven minim the seven species others have 12 different types of fruits conned the 12 combinations of yut V that can be arranged 12 different ways so different spiritual influences are brought into the world and some have 30 types of fruits and vegetable of 15 and but some some have 30 just add the more than yeah yeah but some do have 30 huh and the idea of of 30 uh is based on the different worlds it's is very deeply calistic but I I would say that the minimum then one should Endeavor to have the seven meum and preferably um you know I don't I'm not in charge of the menu I don't even know exactly but but we don't we don't have no we don't have 30 we don't have 30 we don't have 30 I think we typically have uh four cups of wine oh yeah four cups of wine sure absolutely no no four cups of wine for sure we have uh that's a standard every tubish V has four cups of wine uh but the number of minim will will vary and what uh there is there are good books in English and in Hebrew that give different M from the medish and from the Zohar about the qualities of each of these fruits what they represent and the like so it so before you eat the date uh the 15 like yeah destroy my it's it's interesting you could do that but I I normally that's not that's not in the TU bishvat per se it's more of a gratitude for the fertility and and each fruit represents a certain spiritual Essence um okay uh we'll stop here anyway have a happy Tu bishvat and