Orlah seals the source from impurity

בענין ערלה שכ' וערלתם ערלתו.

Regarding the matter of orlah, where it is written: "and you shall treat its fruit as forbidden (orel)."

The Sefas Emes turns to the mitzvah of orlah — the prohibition against eating fruit from a tree's first three years — and to the unusual language the Torah uses, calling the fruit "orel."

וכתיב לא יאכל.

And it is written: "it shall not be eaten."

The Torah states explicitly that during these years the fruit may not be eaten at all.

וגם מ"ש אח"כ להוסיף לכם תבואתו.

And also what is written afterward: "to increase its produce for you."

Then, in the fourth and fifth years, the Torah promises that the produce will increase — and the Sefas Emes wants to explain how the restriction leads to this increase.

קיצור הענין הוא ע"פ מ"ש בזוה"ק דאסור לשמש בשני רעבון שלא להוסיף כשסט"א שולטת רק לסתום מבוע ע"ש פ' מקץ.

The essence of the matter is according to what is written in the Zohar HaKadosh: that it is forbidden to engage in marital relations during years of famine — so as not to add when the sitra achra (the "other side," the forces of impurity) holds sway, but rather to seal the source — see Parshas Mikeitz.

The Zohar teaches that when impurity is dominant, one should not increase shefa (flow) into the world; instead the wellspring should be sealed shut so that the holy abundance does not feed the forces of evil.

ולפי שאחר החטא נתערב טו"ר ולכן יש מקודם שליטת הסט"א לכן ג' שנים ערלים.

And since after the sin good and evil became intermingled, and therefore at first there is dominion of the sitra achra, for this reason the first three years are "orel."

Since the cheit of Adam mixed tov and ra together, every new growth begins under the initial grip of the sitra achra — so the tree's first three years of fruit are withheld, sealed off from use.

וערלתם ערלתו להיות נשאר בסתימתו.

"And you shall treat its fruit as orel" — that it should remain in its sealed state.

By not partaking of the fruit, one leaves the source "sealed," refusing to release abundance while the side of impurity could still draw from it.

כי באכילת בנ"י נפתח המקור והשפע וכפי יניקת הבן מתרבה החלב ז"ש לא יאכל.

For through the eating of Bnei Yisrael the source and the shefa are opened — and just as the more the child nurses, the more the milk increases — this is the meaning of "it shall not be eaten."

When Bnei Yisrael eat with kedushah, their eating itself opens and draws forth the heavenly flow, like a nursing infant that causes more milk to come; so until the source is purified, "it shall not be eaten," lest the wrong side be the one nourished.

ערלתו את פריו דעיקר השמירה מסט"א שלא להוסיף.

"its orlah, its fruit" — for the essential safeguard against the sitra achra is not to add.

The whole protective intent of orlah is to withhold increase at the stage when impurity could seize it, guarding the abundance until it can flow only to holiness.

דאל אחר אסתרס ולא עביד פירין הרי הקב"ה ברא עה"ד ואמר לא תאכל ממנו.

For "the strange god is castrated and produces no fruit" — indeed Hashem created the Eitz HaDaas (the Tree of Knowledge) and said, "you shall not eat of it."

The sitra achra is sterile and cannot truly bear fruit. So too Hashem placed the Tree of Knowledge in the world yet commanded that its fruit not be eaten — the same principle of withholding partaking until the proper time.

ובמד' דא"א למד ערלת הגוף במקום שעושה פירות מערלת אילן.

And in the Midrash, Rebbi Akiva derived the orlah of the body — at the place that produces fruit — from the orlah of the tree.

Chazal link the orlah of the body (the foreskin removed at bris milah) to the orlah of the tree: both involve removing a covering specifically at the place of "producing fruit," the place of generation and continuity.

כי באמת זהו הכתנות עור על כל הגוף והי' הקפידה להסיר העור במקום עשיית פירות דוקא.

For in truth this is the "garments of skin" over the entire body, and the insistence was to remove the skin specifically at the place of producing fruit.

After the cheit, man was clothed in "garments of skin" — a covering of the physical over the whole body. The bris removes that covering precisely at the place of generation, where the channel of holy continuity must be opened to kedushah.

וכמו כן באילן.

And likewise with the tree.

The same idea applies to the tree: its "covering" (orlah) is removed from the fruit, opening its produce to be used in holiness.

ואחר הסתלקות הסט"א אז להוסיף לכם דייקא התבואה ולא לסט"א דאסתרס ודו"ק:

And after the departure of the sitra achra, then it is "to increase the produce for you" — precisely for you, and not for the sitra achra, which is sterile; ponder this well.

Once the initial grip of impurity has passed, the abundance can finally flow — and it flows specifically to Bnei Yisrael and to holiness, never to the barren "other side." Withholding at first guarantees that all the later increase belongs entirely to kedushah.

Summary: The mitzvah of orlah expresses the principle of sealing the source while the sitra achra still holds sway after the cheit, when good and evil are intermingled. By withholding the fruit for three years one refuses to feed the barren forces of impurity; once they depart, the abundance increases and flows entirely to Bnei Yisrael. The same idea underlies bris milah, which removes the "covering" precisely at the place of producing fruit.