[Avodah] Tu'bishvat is the Rosh Hashanah (new year) for trees. What does this mean?

[Zev Sero]

On 28/1/21 5:58 pm, Alexander Seinfeld via Avodah wrote:
> Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2021 23:01:57 -0500
> From: Zev Sero <zev at sero.name>
>> As a matter of metzius, are there any fruits that, in Eretz Yisrael's
>> climate, reach onas hama'asros by the middle of Shevat, so that a hard
>> date is required to separate them?
> 
>> I would have thought the logical place to separate the years would be in
>> mid-winter when there are no fruit growing anyway, so that it doesn't
>> matter whether the exact date is the 1st or the 15th....
> 
> The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 14ab) tells of R' Akiva picking an Esrog at that
> time and having a suffik about it's maaser.

Yes, but esrogim are different because they stay on the tree all year, 
and are counted according to the year in which they are picked.  That 
rules does not apply to any other fruit.


[Email #2. -micha

On 28/1/21 1:18 pm, Micha Berger via Avodah [forwaded from chabad.org]:
> 	The first to
>      mention this custom (although it seems to have already existed in
>      his day) was Rabbi Yissachar ben Mordecai ibn Susan (fl. 1539-1572)
>      in his work Tikun Yissachar.

See the Seforim blog post that RYL linked to, which cites earlier 
sources that Rabbi Shurpin's sources were unaware of.

-- 
Zev Sero            Wishing everyone a *healthy* and happy 5781
zev at sero.name       "May this year and its curses end
                      May a new year and its blessings begin"