Positive Commandment 119 (Digest)
Fruit of the Fourth Year
"All its fruit shall be holy for praise-giving to G‑d"—Leviticus 19:24.
We are commanded to sanctify the fruit produced by a tree in the fourth year [after its planting]. These fruit – like the Second Tithe – are brought to Jerusalem and eaten there by its owners. (The priests have no part of it.)
The
119th mitzvah is that we are commanded to treat as holy the fruit which
grows in the fourth year [from when the tree was planted, called neta revai].
The
source of this commandment is G‑d's statement, "[And in the fourth year,] all its fruit shall
be holy, and it shall be something for which G‑d is praised."
The
law is that it must be brought to Jerusalem
and eaten there by its owners, just like ma'aser
sheni. The kohanim have no share
in it, as the Sifri says: "The
statement 'The sacred offerings of each individual
remain his own property, [and those which are given to the kohen become his]' gives all sanctified objects to the kohen except for the
thanksgiving-offering, the peace-offering, the Pesach-offering, the ma'aser-offering, ma'aser sheni, and neta
revai, which belong to the owner."
The
details of this mitzvah are
completely explained in the final chapter of tractate Ma'aser Sheni.
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