Not just Valentine's Day: The true meaning of the 15th of Av

"There were no better days for Israel than the fifteenth of Av," says the Gemara in Tractate Taanit. In the general public, this day is perceived mainly as a day of love and unity, but behind the familiar image of the 15th of Av hides a date no less dramatic and significant. For farmers, planters, and garden owners, the 15th of Av is a real finish line — the last date on which one can plant a fruit tree and gain a full year of orlah (the prohibition on using the fruit). Thus, it turns out that right now, the week before the 15th of Av becomes one of the busiest for planting in the Land of Israel.

According to Halacha, a person who plants a tree until the 15th of Av (inclusive), that year is counted for him as the first year of orlah. Already on the 1st of Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah, the second year begins to be counted for that tree, even though in practice only a month and a half has passed since the moment of planting. The halachic logic behind this rule is well connected to the agricultural reality: the tree needs two weeks to take root and be absorbed into the soil. After that, exactly one month remains, the month of Elul, which is considered from a halachic perspective as a whole year for the count of orlah years. Later, two more full years are awaited, plus a number of months until the Tu BiShvat of the fourth year, and only then can the fruits be eaten, subject to redemption on a coin according to the law of "neta revai".

This means that anyone who is late to plant misses, according to many opinions, a whole year and will be forced to wait another year before being able to enjoy the fruit of their labor. This is the reason for the great effort we see in these days. Summer is in any case a season when people have leisure time to cultivate the garden, but since in the nine days preceding Tisha B'Av one refrains from planting trees of joy, a short and intense time window is created. The result is that the week before the 15th of Av becomes one of the most active weeks in nurseries across the country.

In the State of Israel, hundreds of thousands of fruit trees are planted every year, mainly by farmers, but also by the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael), local authorities, and private individuals. It is customary to think that Tu BiShvat is the exclusive holiday of planting. It is indeed a beautiful national custom that began about 130 years ago at the beginning of Zionism, but the exact time to plant fruit trees — both from an agronomic and a halachic point of view — is now, before the 15th of Av.

It is interesting to observe the wonderful symmetry of the Hebrew calendar: there is exactly half a year between Tu BiShvat and the 15th of Av, just as there is half a year between the holiday of Sukkot and the holiday of Passover. These are opposite and complementary times in the Jewish year. The 15th of Av is the boundary line for the beginning of the count of the fruit tree years, while Tu BiShvat is the boundary line for the end of the count of the orlah years and neta revai.

Planting trees requires a long-term view and great patience. The farmer knows that he will start selling his fruits only in three years, and the private person knows that it will take the tree a long time to reach a sufficient size, beautiful flowering, and edible fruits. Along the way, the tree will have to deal with pests, challenging weather, and many other factors, but we are always facing the future — optimistic, believing in the Creator of the world and in the nature created for us.

In the Talmud, about the farmer who sows his field, it is said that he "believes in the Living of the Worlds and sows." If this is true regarding the sowing of vegetables or grains, it is all the more true in the planting of fruit trees, where the risk — but also the chance — is much greater, and the future profit is further away. At the end of the process, when we pick the fruits of our land, or get to buy the fine fruits of our soil in the store, there is no greater satisfaction. Even if the price of an Israeli fruit is more expensive than an imported one, the Land of Israel is worth it, and its farmers are worth it, for us to invest a little from our pocket for them.

This is the time to renew our connection to the land, the trees, and nature. An opportunity to settle the Land of Israel for reasons of Zionism, sovereignty, and Judaism, and to realize in practice the words of Datya Ben Dor's song: "I planted a tree in the Land of Israel."