Chasidut for Orlah 1:3

אִילָן שֶׁנֶּעֱקַר וְהַסֶּלַע עִמּוֹ, שְׁטָפוֹ נָהָר וְהַסֶּלַע עִמּוֹ, אִם יָכוֹל לִחְיוֹת, פָּטוּר, וְאִם לָאו, חַיָּב. נֶעֱקַר הַסֶּלַע מִצִּדּוֹ, אוֹ שֶׁזִּעְזְעַתּוּ הַמַּחֲרֵשָׁה, אוֹ שֶׁזִּעְזְעוֹ וַעֲשָׂאוֹ כְעָפָר, אִם יָכוֹל לִחְיוֹת, פָּטוּר, וְאִם לָאו, חַיָּב:

A tree that was uprooted together with its rock-soil [the hard soil which is wrapped around the roots], [or] was swept away in a flood by a river together with its rock-soil, [and one added more soil and it started growing again], if it could have lived [just from the rock-soil] it is exempt; if not, it is subject. Rock-soil that became detached from one side, or that a plow shook it off, or that he shook it off until it [the rock soil] turned into loose soil, [and one added more soil and it started growing again], if it could have lived it is exempt; if not, it is subject.

Sha'ar HaEmunah VeYesod HaChasidut

God desires that man receive his reward based on his own efforts. Then it will be called (Tehillim, 128:2), “You will eat based on the work of your own hands, fortunate are you, and it will be good for you.” This is as the Jerusalem Talmud states (Orlah, 1:3), “Someone who receives his food from another is ashamed to look his benefactor in the face.” One who receives a free gift cannot receive it face to face. This is as it is said in the Gemara (Pesachim 118a), “What did David have in mind when he said, ‘His mercy endures forever’ twenty-six times?²⁸In Psalm 136. They correspond to the twenty-six generations from the creation of Adam until the giving of the Torah, which were all sustained purely on God’s benevolence.”²⁹In other words, until the generation that the Torah was finally given (the 26th from the creation of Adam), human beings were sustained through G-d’s benevelence, and not in response to their own deeds. This state, however, does not fulfill G-d’s intention for the world, and were the Torah not given, the world would not have been able to continue.

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