Rabbi Eli Kohl’s dvar torah was published in the May edition of the Jewish Student Newspaper, the Mitzpeh:

There is a fascinating mitzvah in this week?s torah portion called Orlah. G-d commands us not to eat the fruit of a tree for the first three years. In the fourth year we dedicate the fruit to G-d and bring it to eat in Jerusalem. Only in the fifth year can the produce be consumed in a conventional fashion.

Nachmonidies explains that we want to dedicate the first fruit to G-d to give him thanks and demonstrate that G-d is responsible for all the blessings in our lives. Many trees don?t bear fruit for the first few years, and any fruits that are produced are of an inferior quality. This would not be a fitting gift for G-d and so we must leave them to wither and bring the fruits in the fourth year when they are ripe.

Maimonides gives an alternative reason in his Guide to the Perplexed. He states that we don?t eat the fruit form a tree the first three years to distance ourselves from Idolatrous practices. Since trees don?t bear much fruit for the first three years, Idolaters would perform spells on the trees and attribute any growth of the fruits to their idols. They would then bring them any fruit that was produced as an offering.

The Ohr Hachaim delves a bit deeper in to the reasoning behind this mitzvah. He states that while Adam was forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge this was only a temporary prohibition, Adam ate in the tenth hour on the first Friday of creation and would have been able to make Kiddush on the fruit of the tree of knowledge if only he would have waited three more hours until the start of Shabbat. (There is an opinion that the fruit of the tree of knowledge was a grape). In order to rectify the sin of Adam not having waited these three hours, we have the Mitzvah of Orlah waiting three years before we eat the fruit of the tree. (This is also where the custom of not cutting a Childs hair until they are Three years old emerges from, as a person is compared to a tree).

We live in a fast paced culture. We eat fast food, drive fast cars and are always on the lookout for a get rich quick scheme. The Mitzvah of Orlah is teaching us to be patient. As the magnet on my mom?s fridge says ?haste makes waste?. We are currently counting forty nine days from Passover culminating in the receiving of the Torah on Shavuot. Perhaps this Mitzvah is sending us the same message. G-d is telling us to count each day and each week. Don?t get caught trying to finish your paper in three hours, (Or finishing my article in thirty minutes, although I will have heeded my message and will spend adequate time in the future milling over various ideas before putting them into writing).
Although our culture is very fast paced, let us resolve to count each day and each moment and live in it.