Study Rosh Hashanah folio 10A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ופירות נטיעה זו אסורין עד חמשה עשר בשבט, אם לערלה — ערלה, ואם לרבעי — רבעי.
And if the planting, layering, or grafting took place more than 30 days before Rosh HaShana, the fruit of this planting is prohibited until the 15th of Shevat of the 4th year since the tree’s planting, even though the 3 years were already completed the previous Rosh HaShana. This principle applies both for orla during the year of orla, when it is prohibited to eat the fruit, and for 4th-year produce during the year of 4th-year produce, which must be eaten in Jerusalem or redeemed before it is eaten outside Jerusalem.
מנא הני מילי? אמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן, ומטו בה משמיה דרבי ינאי, אמר קרא: ״ובשנה הרביעית ובשנה החמישית״.
The Talmud asks: From where are these matters derived, that the prohibitions of orla and 4th-year produce extend past Tishrei until the 15th of Shevat? R' Ḥiyya bar Abba said that R' Yoḥanan said, and some determined that it was stated in the name of R' Yannai: The verse states: “3 years should it be as prohibited to you; it should not be eaten. And in the 4th year all its fruit should be sacred for praise-giving to YHWH. And in the 5th year should you eat of its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase; I am YHWH your God” (Leviticus 19:23–25).
פעמים שברביעית ועדיין אסורה משום ערלה, ופעמים שבחמישית ועדיין אסורה משום רבעי.
The baraita explains: The repetition of the word “and,” indicated by the conjunctive vav that joins these verses, teaches that there are times that the tree is already in its 4th year and yet the fruit is forbidden as orla, from the verses “3 years…and in the 4th year”; and there are times that the tree is already in its 5th year and yet the fruit is forbidden as 4th-year produce, from the verses “in the 4th year…and in the 5th year.”