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Lemon balm, savory and lemon verbena planted accidentally in a vineyard

Question

Is it permissible to plant herbs (such as lemon balm, savory, and louisa underneath a grapevine? If this is forbidden and was already done due to ignorance, what is the status of the grapes and the herbs?

Answer

Rabbi Ehud Ahituv, Tammuz 5784



  1. In response to your first question, regarding whether it is permissible to plant herbs in grapevines, the answer lies in the following fundamental rule: Annual herbs and even perennial herbaceous (grassy) herbs are defined as vegetables. Such herbs may not be planted near or under grapevines (even if there is a great distance between the vine and the vegetable). Even if they were planted accidentally, they must be uprooted.

However, some of the herbs you listed in your question are not halachically defined as vegetables, such as savory. Also, what people term louisa in Hebrew is a term that refers to two types of herbs. The term originally refers to lemon verbena, a woody herb which looks like a tree and is perennial. However, there are some who call lemongrass lousia (which has the status of a vegetable).

Therefore, lemon balm is forbidden to plant under a grapevine as is lemongrass (if that's what you meant).

See here a full list of Herbs classified as trees or vegetables:
https://en.toraland.org.il/beit-midrash/halachic-guides/mitzvot-of-the-land/list-of-herbs-classification-as-trees-or-vegetables-vis-a-vis-kilaim/



  1. To answer your second question, namely, what is the status of the produce? In the situation you described, it is possible to be lenient and eat the produce. There are several reasons for this leniency, based on the following, taken together:
    (1) The herbs were planted mistakenly, beshogeg, due to ignorance; (2) There are opinions that vegetables planted in vineyards today have questionable halachic status, even when planted deliberately with the knowledge that it constitutes kilei hakerem; (3) Some Rishonim permit indirectly sowing one vegetable in a vineyard , lechatchilah; (4) Some posekim maintain that the kilei hakerem prohibition today is rabbinic. (For more on this topic, see Derech Emunah, Kilayim 7:55 and Chukat Ha'aretz 7, ibid.).

In conclusion: uproot the annual herbs as well as the herbaceous herbs, even if they are perennial, such as lemon balm and lemongrass. However, it is permissible to eat both the grapes and the herbs.