Rabotai (my masters), b'simana tava, we start the new masechet (tractate), and it's Orlah, Perek (chapter) Alef (one), Mishnah Alef. Now hold it: before we start the masechet, what is Orlah? You have a tree in Eretz Yisrael: the first three years, whatever grows from the tree is forbidden; you're not allowed to eat it. The fourth year is considered Neta Reva'i (fourth-year produce), which is Kodesh (holy); you take the fruits to Yerushalayim and eat them like Maaser Sheni (Second Tithe). But our Mishnah is going to talk about what you do with the fruits of the first three years. They are forbidden. Now, this is the source where we get that a human being is compared to a tree, like the Pasuk (verse) says. And therefore, a child is also the same way: he's not developed at all; he's three years old. At three years old already, when he goes to his fourth year, now he starts to become Kodesh, in the third year, which means the beginning of the fourth year. Then the father teaches him Torah, and then once he gets to the fifth year, now already the father can send him to Yeshiva, like the fifth-year fruits are already permissible. That's where we get the custom that in the third year of the child, they cut his hair off. That's like you're cutting the fruits off of the tree, and then they continue with development.
So let's just read the first Mishnah today, to get an understanding. Let's say a person plants a tree, a fruit tree; however, he planted it as a fence, not for the fruits. Although it's going to grow fruits, you ask the guy, “Why are you planting this tree?” He says, “No, I need a fence to block my field from the neighbor's field,” or he built it as a Korot—Korot, he needs the wood, meaning he needs the lumber. Now, again, it's producing fruit. The Mishnah says it's exempt from the Orlah; that means you can eat the fruits even during the first three years. So it seems that you need to grow the tree for the purpose of fruit, like it says in the Bartenura: you have to plant it for eating purposes. You have to plant it for eating purposes. If your intention was for eating, eating the fruit, Chayav (obligated).
Now the Mishnah gives an interesting case. It's a hybrid. He has a tree, so he says, “You know what? The outside of the tree, whatever grows on the outside, I want that to be a fence between me and my neighbor. Whatever grows on the inside, I want for the fruit.” So half the tree is a fence, and half the tree is fruit. What's the din (law)? You guessed it: you split the obligation. The fruits that grow on the inside, where he grew it for eating purposes, and the fruits that grow on the outside, which he grew for fence purposes—you can split the tree. And the Bartenura says: the branches that grow on the inside, the branches that grow on the outside—even though it's all one tree, you can split it. You might have said, since the inside is Chayav, maybe the outside is also Chayav. He says no. Even though it's one tree, you can split the parts. There is no obligation to Rabbi Yose. Halakha (Jewish law) does not part of Rabbi Yose. Chachamim (Sages) say, once part of the tree is Chayav, all of the tree is Chayav, and therefore even the Siyag (fence) part, you have to treat as Orlah, and you're not going to be able to eat the fruits of the entire tree during the first three years.