Lime giveaway

April 24, 2009 - 10:49 AM by

garden1I’ve been trying to get rid of the limes on my lime tree. I know, I know, why would I want to do something like that? Well, as mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been following various tenets of Jewish law in the maintenance of my backyard garden, and we’re not eating any of our fruit because of orla, the law which prohibits one from eating fruit for the first three years of the tree’s life.

It’s a tough one, because after all this time that we spent deciding which trees to plant, it’s hard not to eat the fruit that finally began to grow.

So I’ve been trying to get rid of the limes. Like many matters in Jewish law, you can’t give the fruits to another Jew, secular or not. Although I did ask our gardener, Yossi, whether he eats orla fruit. “Never!” he said, looking aghast that I would have even asked such a thing. “Just wondered,” I said.

I continued the search, and, wouldn’t you know it, not a whole lot of non-Jews wandering around Arnona, Jerusalem. Until I stumbled upon Sayef, the Arab carpenter who’s doing some work for us. Sayef is pretty frum in his own right, a strict Moslem who just came back from his third pilgrimage in as many years to Mecca (more on that another time). And he was delighted at the idea of taking home a bag of limes, because he’d found that avocados didn’t taste as good with lemons, which sent us on a whole other tangent of recipes using limes. So yes, some moments of coexistence, enhanced by his insistence that we leave more than a few limes on the tree, because a fruitless tree doesn’t look good, Sayef told me. Too true.

The good news is that it seems my lime tree flowers several times a year, so we’ll be eating our limes very soon, after the next blossoming. Wish us a good crop!

Tags: , , • Category: coexistence, Environment, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness 

Comments

7 Comments on Lime giveaway

  1. Maya on Fri, Apr 24th 2009 2:06 PM

    2. Wow, what a neat moment! I can’t wait to have a garden with our own fruit trees.

  2. e. weisbord on Sat, Apr 25th 2009 2:22 PM

    3. Yum..limes!
    Superior to lemons in every which way (except for fish and pasta salads). Have been a faithful fan of the avocado/lime connection for many years.

  3. Howard on Sat, Apr 25th 2009 9:41 PM

    4. I was touched by the demonstration the agreement on something so down-to-earth leads to mutual understanding on a more spiritual level. My eyes got a little wet on reading this.

  4. Karin Kloosterman on Sun, Apr 26th 2009 8:25 AM

    5. I think the tree owner is supposed to bury the fruit from the “orla” tree, and not have anyone derive pleasure from it. Did anyone you speak with tell you about this? My interpretation of this is that the tree is too young for people to expect it to reap fruit. By not eating its fruit, we give that energy back to the earth until the tree is fully rooted in the ground…

    -Karin

  5. e. weisbord on Sun, Apr 26th 2009 8:37 AM

    6. The Torah commands us to wait for three years before partaking of any fruit from fruit bearing trees. The forbidden fruit of this period is known as orla.

    Included in the prohibition of orla is the fruit and all its parts. This would include the seeds, peel, skin and outer protective shell of the fruit. Leaves, vines, roots and stalks, even though they may be edible, are not included in the prohibition of orla. Sugar cane and hearts of palm are good examples of edible stalks. Since they are not fruits, they would not be subject to orla prohibitions .

    The Torah states that fruits of the first three years shall not be eaten. When do we start the three-year count? Interestingly the three-year count is flexible, depending upon the time that the tree is planted. All trees begin their annual count from Rosh Hashana. According to the halacha if a tree was planted 45 days prior to Rosh Hashana, i.e., the 15th day of Av, the young sapling enters its 2nd year of the orla count in 6 weeks.4 However, if a tree was planted 44 days before a Rosh Hashana one would have to wait an additional year before eating fruits. Fruit that ripen after the Tu B’Shvat following the third year are permitted.

  6. jessica on Sun, Apr 26th 2009 6:24 PM

    7. All true. And it also depends on the age of the tree when you bought and planted it. I asked my local garden center the age of the tree when it was purchased, and since it’s unclear if it was a year old, I’ve been advised to wait a full, extra year, just in case. But I was also told that given that it is probably past the three year mark, it is okay for those who don’t follow the law of orla to eat the fruit at this point.

  7. The fruit of passionfruit | ISRAELITY on Sun, Jan 31st 2010 9:06 PM

    8. [...] then, Yossi, the gardener, came for one of his monthly-to-six-week visits. After ridding the garden of the vociferous winter [...]

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