Ilustration Credit: Chaim File
Tell Me More About This! בּוֹאוּ נְדַבֵּר עַל זֶה
What is בִּכּוּרִים (bikkurim, first fruits)?
In the Torah, this word is used to describe three different (but similar) sacrifices, and they all connect to Shavuot!
The עֹמֶר (omer)
וְאִם תַּקְרִיב מִנְחַת בִּכּוּרִים לַה' אָבִיב קָלוּי בָּאֵשׁ גֶּרֶשׂ כַּרְמֶל תַּקְרִיב אֵת מִנְחַת בִּכּוּרֶיךָ׃
When you bring a minhah (grain) sacrifice of bikkurim to God, you should bring new ears parched with fire, grits of fresh grain, as your minhah of bikkurim.
This pasuk is about the omer sacrifice made from the first harvest of barley. It was brought on the second day of Pesah and it kicked off the seven-week count to Shavuot.
The שְׁתֵּי הַלֶּחֶם (shtei halehem, two loaves of bread)
מִמּוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם תָּבִיאּוּ לֶחֶם תְּנוּפָה שְׁתַּיִם שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים סֹלֶת תִּהְיֶינָה חָמֵץ תֵּאָפֶינָה בִּכּוּרִים לַה'׃
Bring from your homes two loaves of bread as an elevation offering. Make each of them from two-tenths of a measure of choice flour, baked after leavening, as bikkurim to God.
This pasuk is about the sacrifice of two loaves of bread from the new wheat harvest that was offered on Shavuot. After this, people were allowed to eat from the new wheat harvest.
Bikkurim בִּכּוּרִים (first fruits)
רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּית ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ
Bring the first bikkurim of your land to the house of God your Lord
There is a mitzvah to bring the first fruits that you grow to the Beit HaMikdash as long as those fruits are from the שִׁבְעַת הַמִּנִים (shiv’at haminim, seven species of the Land of Israel). This is the kind of “bikkurim” that we talked about on the previous two pages. According to the Mishnah (Bikkurim 1:6), this mitzvah went from Shavuot to Sukkot (or Hanukkah).
- What do these three different kinds of bikkurim all have in common? Why are they all called by the same name?
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