Orlah
The prohibition on orlah fruit is a command found in the Bible not to eat fruit produced by a tree during the first three years after planting.
In rabbinical writings, the orlah prohibition is counted as one of the negative commandments among the 613 commandments. Outside of the land of Israel the prohibition also applies to a certain degree.
Etymology
The Hebrew word literally means "uncircumcised". The use of this term is explained by Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz as meaning "hidden and sealed" and it alludes to the creation itself.Context
Commentators generally assume that the law was good [agricultural practice], and that early harvesting would conflict with careful cultivation and pruning during the first three years in order to insure later good harvests and allow maturing of the trees. Grape vines produce fruit in three to six years, almond trees produce some flower buds in the fourth year and some fruit in the fifth, and sources from the Ancient Near East suggest that a good crop of dates was expected in the fourth year. In discussing the commandment that the fruit could not actually be eaten until the fifth year, Rooker notes that in the Code of Hammurabi a tenant-gardener could not eat of the fruit of an orchard until the fifth year, when he shared the produce with the owner.Rabbinical writings
The Mishna stipulates that Orlah fruit must be burnt to guarantee that no one benefits from them, and even a garment dyed by way of pigment derived from Orlah is to be destroyed. The ancient custom in the Land of Israel was to mark the ground surrounding Orlah-plantings with crushed potsherds, so as to signify that the fruit grown on the trees are forbidden to be eaten until after the first three years.The Sifra points out that the three year count begins on Rosh HaShana and not upon the tree's planting, or on Tu Bishvat. Thus, the fruit of a tree only two years and 30 days old may not be considered forbidden.
Outside of the land of Israel
The Jerusalem Talmud stipulates that "safek orlah" is permitted outside of the land of Israel. However, Rabbi Yochanan, in a letter sent to Rav Yehudah and quoted in the Babylonian Talmud, took a starkly stringent approach to the common practice of diasporic Jewry being overly lenient on "safek orlah";Although orlah is listed in the category of prohibitions pertaining to the Land of Israel, it is one of just two commandments of this category that applies outside of Israel as well. This law is considered a law given to Moses at Sinai. Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus held the opinion that the prohibition of orlah does not apply outside the land of Israel.
Questionable fruit
Faced with an uncertainty as to whether an item is orlah, the mishna prescribes that such product is permitted for consumption so long as the actual removal of orlah product is not "seen" being picked.The papaya fruit is a subject of rabbinic dispute, as most of its fruit is harvested in the first three years after planting. Some rabbinic authorities maintain that the papaya is not a tree, thus making it orlah-exempt, whereas most rule that the laws of orlah do apply to the papaya. Papain, is likewise under rabbinic scrutiny as a dilution ratio of 200:1 is required to permit orlah, essentially prohibiting benefiting from this enzyme.