In Vayikra, in parshas Kadoshim it says, "When you plant a food tree you shall treat it's fruit as orlah*," literally "cut off". What is orlah? For the first three years of a fruit tree's life you do not take of its produce, and even in the fourth year you may not eat it any where you would like; you must take it all the way to Yerushaliam and eat it. Only in the fifth year you may eat it with out worry. You may think, "Why am I doing this? It is surely folly! The amount of profit I could gain is untold!" yet immediately it reassures you that in the end you will come out with more than you would have otherwise.
The world we live in is very physical. A study was done, a few years ago. Turns out, the average American is faced with three-thousand ads a day. Think of that number. Three-thousand! The modern world wants you to say, "I need that." This world is all about the "I"s and the "Need"s.
To combat this we may use this mitzvah of orlah. Before beginning any undertaking we must sanctify it. We must take the "I"s and the "Need"s out of our goals. Instead it should be of a more refined or exact purpose. Nevertheless, once this specific need is sanctified it can be used for personal pleasure. Instead of hiskafia, asceticism, it is a transformation - from the mundane jobs of the physical world to meaningful jobs of the spiritual world. To merge the G-dly into our self, our personality, our efforts.
This can explain why the fourth year is "Sanctified to praise Hashem,"- to be eaten specifically in Yershaliam, when the fifth year, with no particular holiness is our own. Still, it is the fifth year which is given the earlier years produce - and then some - as a reward for the mitzvah.
This can be shown in a story of the Baal Shem Tov:.
Before the Baal Shem Tov's greatness was well known, he would travel to many small towns and villages. One of the first things he would do is inquire about the local inhabitants' health and financial security.
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