Question #1:
Eggplants grow on a woody stem. Does this make the eggplant a tree and prohibit the fruit that grows during its first three years as orlah or not? Although this idea may seem strange to most people, at least one prominent posek held that eggplant is prohibited as orlah.
Question #2:
What is the correct beracha to recite when smelling carnations, lilies, or mint?
Question #3:
What is the correct beracha to recite before eating papaya, cane sugar, or raspberries?
Question #4:
May someone plant tomatoes in his vineyard in Eretz Yisroel?
Although these questions seem completely unrelated, each query revolves around the same issue: What is the halachic definition of a tree?
It is usually easy to identify a tree. We know the obvious characteristics that define oak and apple trees, and it is clear that trees differ from plants that grow in a vegetable patch. However, from a halachic standpoint it is not always obvious whether many of Hashem’s botanical wonders are trees or not.
It is critical to determine what fits the definition of a tree in order to clarify the following halachic issues:
1. What beracha one recites on its fruit.
2. What beracha one recites on its fragrance.
3. Whether the prohibition of orlah applies to its fruit.
4. How severe is the prohibition to destroy it (bal tashchis).
5. There are several agricultural halachos concerning kelayim, shemittah, and maaser, all of which are relevant only in Eretz Yisroel.
Let us clarify these five areas of halacha before we discuss the main focus of our article, in order to understand the ramifications of why we must know which plants are considered trees.
1. What beracha one recites on its fruit.
As the Mishnah teaches, the beracha before eating the fruit of a tree is borei pri ha’eitz, whereas the beracha on fruit that grows from the ground, such as peas, beans, cucumbers, and melons, is borei pri ha’adamah. (The botanical definition of a fruit is the fleshy part [technically, the developed ovary] of the plant that nourishes the developing seed. Many of the foods that we colloquially call “vegetables,” are in reality “fruits of the ground.”) Thus, it is important to ascertain how certain fruits such as bananas, papayas, and berries grow in order to determine whether they grow on what is halachically classified as a tree, in which case their beracha is ha’eitz, or whether the plant upon which they grow is not a tree and the correct beracha is ha’adamah.
2. What beracha one recites on its fragrance.
Chazal established five different berachos on fragrances, one of which is “borei atzei besamim,” “He who created pleasant-smelling wood (or trees),” and another, “borei isvei besamim,” “He who created pleasant-smelling grasses.” Just as one must recite the correct beracha on a food before eating it, so it is important to recite the correct beracha on a fragrance before smelling it. We will see later that whether the closest English translation of atzei besamim is pleasant-smelling wood or pleasant-smelling trees depends on an interesting dispute.
Determining whether the correct beracha is atzei besamim or isvei besamim is even more significant than determining whether the correct beracha is borei pri ha’eitz or borei pri ha’adamah for the following reason: If one recites borei pri ha’adamah on a fruit that should have been borei pri ha’eitz, one fulfills the minimal requirement bedei’eved (after the fact) and should not recite an additional beracha of borei pri ha’eitz. The reason for this is that every tree grows from the ground — thus praising Hashem for “creating the fruit of the ground” when eating a fruit that grew on a tree is not inaccurate. Therefore, someone who is uncertain whether a certain fruit is “of the tree” or “of the ground” should recite borei pri ha’adamah before eating it.
However, when in doubt whether to recite atzei besamim or isvei besamim on a specific fragrance, one may not recite either beracha. This is because trees and grasses are mutually exclusive categories — if something is a grass, it is not a tree and vice versa. Thus, reciting the beracha praising Hashem for creating pleasant-smelling grasses before smelling a tree is a beracha levatalah, a beracha said in vain, because it is inaccurate.
When someone is uncertain whether a plant is considered a tree or a grass, he should recite a third beracha, borei minei besamim, “He who created types of pleasant-smelling items,” even though this is certainly not the optimal beracha on this fragrance. This is equivalent to reciting the beracha of shehakol before eating an apple. One has fulfilled the mitzvah, albeit not in the optimal way, since an apple “deserves” a more specific praise.
3. Whether the prohibition of orlah applies to its fruit.
The Torah prohibits eating fruit that grew within the first three years of a tree’s life. Thus, if a particular plant is a tree, the fruit produced in its first three years is prohibited; if it is not a tree, the fruit may be eaten immediately.
Although orlah is an agricultural mitzvah, it applies outside Eretz Yisroel. However, there is a major difference between orlah on fruits that grow in Eretz Yisroel and those that grow in chutz la’aretz. In chutz la’aretz only fruit that is definitely orlah is prohibited, and one may eat fruit that is questionably orlah. This fact has major halachic ramifications. There is also a mitzvah of re’vai that requires redeeming the fruit of the fourth year. Ashkenazim follow the ruling that in chutz la’aretz the laws of re’vai apply only to grapes (Rema and Gra, Yoreh Deah 294:7), whereas Sefardim require the laws of re’vai on all fruit trees.
4. How severe is the prohibition to destroy it (bal tashchis).
Destroying a fruit-bearing tree without gaining benefit in the process is prohibited min HaTorah. Although one may not destroy anything without purpose, the Rambam rules that destroying a tree is a more serious prohibition (Hilchos Melachim 6:8, 10). Some poskim explain that only destroying a tree is prohibited min HaTorah, whereas destroying other items, including plants, is prohibited only miderabbanan, and therefore would have some leniencies.
5. There are several agricultural halachos concerning kelayim in a vineyard (kil’ei hakerem), shemittah, and maaser, all of which are relevant only in Eretz Yisroel. There are also halachos related to grafting one species onto the stock of another (harkavas ilan), which applies equally in Eretz Yisroel and in Chutz LaAretz.
One may not plant vegetables in a vineyard in Eretz Yisroel because of the prohibition of kil’ei hakerem, mixing species in a vineyard (Rambam, Hilchos Kelayim 5:7), although one may plant trees in a vineyard (Rambam, Hilchos Kelayim 5:6). In addition, if something is categorized as an edible plant, one must be careful not to plant it too close to another edible plant because of kil’ei zera’im, mixing species when planting. This mitzvah does not apply to trees.
OTHER LAWS
How one determines the year in which a plant grows differs between trees and plants. The cut-off point for determining the years of tree fruits is usually determined by Tu Bishvat, whereas for plants it is Rosh Hashanah. This affects the halachos of maaser and of shemittah.
In addition, which year of the maaser cycle a fruit belongs to is determined by whether its chanatah, which refers to a stage early in the fruit’s development, took place before Tu Bishvat or after; for a plant, it is determined by whether it is harvested before Rosh Hashanah. Furthermore, a plant that grew uncultivated during the shemittah year would be prohibited because of the prohibition of “sefichin,” whereas the fruit of a tree would not be affected by this concern.
We now understand why it is important to determine whether a particular plant qualifies as a tree or not.
WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF A TREE?
The Random House dictionary I have on my desk defines a tree as, “a plant having a permanently woody main stem or trunk, ordinarily growing to a considerable height, and usually developing branches at some distance from the ground.” If we exclude the qualifiers, “ordinarily” and “usually,” then this definition does not consider a grape vine to be a tree since it lacks height if not supported and does not develop branches some distance from the ground. Since we know that halacha considers grapes to be fruits of the tree, this definition will not suffice. On the other hand, if we broaden the definition of “tree” to include all plants that have a “permanently woody stem or trunk” we will not only include grape vines, but also probably include eggplant, pineapple, and lavender which all have woody stems. On the other hand, several plants, such as the date palm and papaya, fit the Random House definition as a tree and yet grow very differently from typical trees. Are all of these plants trees?
Having demonstrated that the dictionary definition of tree is insufficient for our purposes, let us explore sources that may give us a halachic definition. The Gemara (Berachos 40a) states that one recites borei pri ha’eitz if “when you remove the fruit, the gavza remains and produces more fruit; but if the gavza does not remain, the beracha is not borei pri ha’eitz, but borei pri ha’adamah.” What is the “gavza” that remains to bear more fruit from one year to the next?
Among the major commentaries, we find three interpretations. Rashi translates gavza as branch, meaning that any plant whose branches fall off one year and then grow again the next is not considered a tree, even if the root and trunk (or stem) remain from one year to the next. There are berries whose stem remains from one year to next, but whose branches fall off during the winter (Tehillah Ledavid, Chapter 203). According to Rashi, the correct beracha on these berries is ha’adamah.
A second opinion, that of Tosafos, explains that “gavza” is the trunk or stem of the plant that remains from one year to the next and produces fruit (Ritva, Sukkah 35a). A plant whose root remains from one year to the next, but not its stem, is not a tree.
Many perennial fruits do not have a trunk that remains from year to year. (A perennial is a plant whose root remains from one year to the next and grows each year without replanting.) A banana plant is a perennial whose entire structure above ground dies each year and then grows again the next year from the root. According to Tosafos, bananas are not trees but plants; therefore their beracha is ha’adamah, not ha’eitz, and there is no orlah prohibition.
A third opinion, that of the Rosh and the Tur (Orach Chayim, Chapter 203), explains that any perennial is considered a tree and its beracha is ha’eitz. If the plant must be replanted each year (i.e., it is an annual) to produce fruit, then the beracha is ha’adamah, not ha’eitz. According to this understanding, the correct beracha on strawberries and bananas is ha’eitz since they are both perennials (not annuals), whereas according to the other opinions, the beracha on strawberries and bananas is ha’adamah.
The Shulchan Aruch and the Rema (Orach Chayim 302:2) rule that one recites borei pri ha’eitz if there is some type of stem that remains from year to year and produces fruit, but that the beracha is ha’adamah on perennials whose stem dies each year. However, it is disputed whether the reason we recite ha’adamah is because the Shulchan Aruch concluded like Tosafos, or because it is uncertain whether the beracha should be ha’eitz (like the Rosh and the Tur), or ha’adamah (like Tosafos), and we recite ha’adamah because of this uncertainty (Maamar Mordechai 203:3). There are several halachic ramifications that result from this question as I will explain later.
IS A TREE ALWAYS A TREE?
Is the definition of a tree the same for the halachos of orlah and kelayim as it is for berachos?
Tosafos (Berachos 40a) cites a passage in Talmud Yerushalmi (Kelayim 5:7) that something may not qualify for the definition of a tree for the laws of berachos and yet be considered a tree for the laws of kelayim, whereas the Ritva (Sukkah 35a) contends that the definition of the Gemara (Berachos 40a) for berachos applies to orlah as well. Tosafos concludes that the beracha on most perennial berries is ha’adamah because the bush does not remain from year to year, even though the bushes have the status of trees concerning kelayim and therefore may be planted in a vineyard.
IS HEIGHT A FACTOR?
Are there any other factors that define a tree other than what the Gemara mentioned? Must a plant grow tall to be considered a tree?
The Magen Avraham (203:1) rules that even if a tree grows very short, the correct beracha on its fruits and berries is borei pri ha’eitz. However, the prevalent minhag is to make a pri ha’adamah on berries that grow on plants which are less than three tefachim tall (about nine or ten inches), even though they meet all the other requirements of trees. The reason for the minhag is that a plant with such short stature is not considered significant enough to be a tree (Chayei Odom 51:9; Mishnah Berurah 203:3).
However, we should note that although the custom is to recite ha’adamah on the fruit of these small perennial bushes, the fruit grown in the first three years of the tree’s life is nonetheless prohibited because of orlah (Ritva, Sukkah 35a). Cranberries would fit into this category since they are perennial, yet grow on the ground of a bog. Thus, orlah applies to them, yet their beracha is borei pri ha’adamah.
We have now covered most of our opening questions, and plan to continue this discussion in a future article.
Man himself is compared to a tree (see Rashi, Bamidbar 13:20); and his responsibility to observe orlah, terumos, and maasros are intimately bound with the count that depends on Tu Bishvat. As Rav Hirsch explains, by observing Hashem’s command to refrain from the fruits of his own property, one learns to practice the self-restraint necessary to keep all pleasure within the limits of morality.
The author thanks Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky for his tremendous assistance in providing agricultural information for this article.
