Orlah outside Israel: Status of papaya trees
Question
I don't live in Israel. I have a papaya tree. These trees apparently give fruit for just a few years and then fade away. So the main fruit is within the first 3 years I’m not sure if this tree will even give fruit past then. I didn’t know how old this tree was I took a picture of it and sent it to ChatGPT and they guessed it was 12 months old. But I know there is a safek regarding brachos whether papaya is a real tree or not. Can I rely on that to say it is not orlah??
Answer
The papaya issue is a halachic safek, since it has a hollow trunk and goes from seed to fruit within a year, and produces fruit directly on the trunk, among other considerations. In Israel, Ashkenazi posekim are stringent and consider it a tree, while Sephardi posekim by and large consider it a vegetable. Since it is growing outside of Israel, though, once again the principle of safek orlah lekulah kicks in, and you can treat it like a vegetable. In terms of berachot, most Ashkenazi posekim say it's adamah, due to the halachic doubt. For more information on papaya, check out our plant database.