
On the first of Shvat is the new year for trees, as stated by Beit Shammai. Beit Hillel say, on the fifteenth .
Rosh Chodesh Shvat according to Beit Shammai, or the middle of Shvat according to Beit Hillel, marks the start of a new year for trees. In all contexts, a ‘New Year’ marks a distinction between past and future.
The halakhah follows Beit Hillel’s approach, and the new year therefore begins on the fifteenth of Shvat. For the purpose of determining the age of a tree with regard to the laws of orlah (the prohibition to eat the fruit for the first three years), the determining date is the first of Tishrei. However, the permissibility to eat the fruit of the tree is determined by the New Year for Trees. This interesting distinction is described in the Baraita:
The Sages taught: If one plants, or layers a vine shoot, or grafts a branch onto a tree on the eve of the Sabbatical Year thirty days before Rosh HaShana – this is counted as a year… And the fruit of this planting is prohibited until the fifteenth of Shvat: for the purpose of orlah – this is orlah, and for the purpose of netta revai [fourth year produce] – this is netta revai.
According to the Baraita, if a sapling is planted thirty days before Rosh Hashanah of a Shemitah year, these days are counted as an entire year – and the second year of orlah begins on the first of Tishrei. [If one planted fewer than thirty days before the Sabbatical year, these days would not count toward orlah, and consequently, due to the required addition to the Shemitah year, it is considered as though planted during the Shemitah year, and could not be maintained]. However, although in such a case the three years of orlah also end on the first of Tishrei, the fruits from this planting are prohibited until the fifteenth of Shvat. Rashi explains:
And the fruits of this planting are forbidden… Although Tishrei is the New Year for plantings, the fifteenth of Shvat is the New Year for trees, and this has already become a tree, therefore its year does not renew to exit from an orlah status until the fifteenth of Shvat. But from then onwards, if fruits blossom on it, they have the status of Revai which must be eaten in Jerusalem, and on the fifteenth of the following year, the fruits that blossom from this point onwards will exit from Revai status.
A similar distinction is found in the Sifra’s interpretation regarding the end of the Shemitah year: Tree-related work is permitted immediately at the end of Shemitah, from the first of Tishrei, but fruits that blossomed prior to that day are considered Shemitah fruits [which cannot be used for commerce] until the fifteenth of Shvat of the eighth year.
It shall be a year of complete rest for the land – Once the Sabbatical year has ended, although its fruits are still under Shemitah restrictions, work on the tree itself is permitted, but its fruits are forbidden until the fifteenth of Shvat [Sifra Behar, ch. 1].
The fifteenth of Shvat marks a new year for trees and their fruits. This is primarily expressed in the matter of tithes: the fifteenth of Shvat is the dividing line between fruits that blossomed [or in certain cases, were gathered] before this date, which are counted as tithes of the previous year, and those that blossomed from this date onwards, and will be counted as tithes for the coming year. The distinction between fruits of the previous year and fruits of the coming year determines whether the tithes ma’aser sheni and ma’aser ani should be put aside. The distinction also nullifies the possibility of separating one from the other, as stated in the Tosefta:
In what way do we not separate terumah from new produce for old produce? We do not separate terumah from this year’s fruits for last year’s fruits, nor from last year’s fruits for this year’s fruits .
The fifteenth of Shvat as a sharp transition line between the end of one year and the beginning of a new year is emphasized further on:
If one gathered an etrog on the eve of the fifteenth of Shvat before sunset, and gathered again after sunset – one cannot separate terumah and tithes from one for the other, because this is new and this is old [ibid].
It seems that the reference to the etrog is not coincidental. Chazal debated whether the status of an etrog is similar to a tree in every respect, or whether it has aspects that are closer to a vegetable. The deliberation about the etrog, and about the transition of years, also arises from the incident with R. Akiva who gathered an etrog on the first of Shvat:
The Rabbis taught: There was an incident with R. Akiva who gathered an etrog on the first of Shvat and took two tithes, one according to Beit Shammai, and one according to Beit Hillel. R. Yose bar Yehuda says: He did not follow the practice of Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, rather he followed the practice of Rabban Gamliel and R. Eliezer .
Akiva tithed both ma’aser sheni [which applies in the second and fourth years of Shemitah cycle], and ma’aser ani [which applies in the third and sixth years] from the etrog he had gathered. This double tithing indicates an unresolved deliberation, and the baraita raises two possibilities regrading the issue under debate. R. Yose bar Yehuda attributes the double tithing to the status of the etrog: R. Akiva deliberated whether to follow Rabban Gamliel, who holds that regarding tithe years, an etrog is similar to a vegetable that is tithed according to the time of its gathering, or R. Eliezer who holds that even in this matter, an etrog is similar to a tree and is tithed according to when it blossoms.
The Gemara seems to recall the incident without assuming that R. Akiva accepted Beit Shammai’s position, and perceives the date as coincidental; the incident happened to occur on the first of Shvat, but the deliberation was also relevant earlier. However, according to an initial reading, the fruit is coincidental, and the date is the cause of deliberation: R. Akiva was deliberating whether on the first of Shvat the new year had already begun according to Beit Shammai, requiring ma’aser sheni, or whether the new year would only begin on the fifteenth of Shvat, and the etrog requires ma’aser ani. Due to this doubt, R. Akiva was stringent and practiced both tithes. The Gemara questions his action:
Do we follow two stringencies? But we learned in a baraita: The law is always according to Beit Hillel, but one who wishes to act according to Beit Shammai – may do so, and according to Beit Hillel – may do so. One who follows the leniencies of both Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel – is wicked. One who follows the stringencies of both Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel – about him the verse states: ‘And the fool walks in darkness’ (Ecc. 2:14). Rather: Either follow Beit Shammai in their leniencies and stringencies, or follow Beit Hillel in their leniencies and stringencies.
Why did R. Akiva choose to follow the stringencies of both Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai rather than choosing one approach? The Gemara offers a surprising answer:
Akiva was uncertain about his learning, and he did not know whether Beit Hillel said the New Year for Trees is on the first of Shvat, or on the fifteenth of Shvat.
Akiva knew the date – the first of the month of Shvat. He was following Beit Hillel in both stringencies and leniencies, but was uncertain regarding Beit Hillel’s position, and was therefore unsure whether the fruit in his hand still belonged to the year which was about to end, or to the new year. Since he was unable to distinguish between the years, R. Akiva had no choice but to be stringent.
Old and new fruit cannot be tithed from one another, just as the past and future are distinct from each other. The fact that the fifteenth of Shvat serves as a dividing line between past and future is also taught by another law in the Tosefta:
Any tree whose fruits blossomed before the fifteenth of Shvat belongs to the past, after the fifteenth of Shvat belongs to the future .
In the transition between past and future there is a moment of contact. The fifteenth of Shvat is a moment when the tree’s past touches its future. The fruits of the past year make way for the fruits of the new year, which will in turn become ‘old fruits’ that cannot be tithed with the fruits of a new year to come.
This year, the month of Shvat arrives in turbulent days of joy over the redemption of some of our captives and pain over those who did not return alive. The past year is present, and its horrors make it difficult to make room for a new year. Like R. Akiva, we too are uncertain in which year we stand, whether the new year has already begun, and whether new fruits have already blossomed.
We pray that this month of Shvat will bring good tidings, with blessed and healing rains. That like the trees, we may make room for new fruits, to see and recognize the power of blossoming that symbolizes hope and renewal.
This year, Shabbat Bo falls at the beginning of the month of Shvat. We yearn for the fulfilment of Jeremiah’s words in the haftara:
But fear not, O Jacob My servant, and be not dismayed, O Israel; for I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return and be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid .
Dr. Tehilla Elitzuris a graduate of Matan's Advanced Talmudic Institute, and a lecturer in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature in Matan's Petichta Program and at Herzog College.