The mitzvah of orla, not eating the fruit of a tree for the first three years has an element which is difficult to understand. For the first three years, the fruit is forbidden; in the fourth year, it is holy; finally, in the fifth year and after, it is spiritually neutral. Why is the ultimate state not holy but ordinary?
To understand this, we must explain why it's better to have more money than to go to a higher place in heaven.
Based on Likkutei Sichos vol. 7, pp. 134-8.
