I. Gifts to God and Blessing
Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah-- 16a
It has been taught: R. Judah said in the name of R. Akiba: Why did the Torah command us to offer an ‘Omer on Passover? Because Passover is the season of produce. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, said, Bring before Me an ‘Omer’ on Passover so that your produce in the fields may be blessed.
Why did the Torah enjoin on us to bring two sheaves on Shavuot? Because Shavuot is the season for fruit of the tree. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Bring before Me two loaves on Shavuot so that the fruit of your trees may be blessed. Why did the Torah enjoin on us to pour out water on Sukkot? The Holy One, blessed be He, said, Pour out water before Me on Sukkot, so that your rains this year may be blessed. Also recite before Me on New Year [texts making mention of] kingship, remembrance, and the shofar-kingship, so that you may proclaim Me king over you; remembrance, so that your remembrance may rise favourably before Me; and through what? Through the shofar.
II. The Drama of the Omer: The Barley Offering
Megillah 21a THE WHOLE NIGHT IS A PROPER TIME FOR REAPING THE ‘OMER. Since a Master has said that reaping and counting are to be performed by night and the bringing by day.
“Has the sun set?” he would ask again.
“Yes.”
“Has the sun set?” he would ask again.
“Yes.”
“Has the sun set?”
A third time they would answer, “Yes.”
Then he would point to the sickle and ask three times, “Is this the sickle?”
“Yes.”
“Is this the sickle?”
“Yes.”
“Is this the sickle?”
“Yes.”
In the same way, he would ask three times, “Is this the box?”
Yes.”
“Is this the box?”
“Yes.”
“Is this the box?”
“Yes.”
If it was Shabbat, he would also ask three times, “Is it Shabbat today?” This showed everybody that the mitzva of cutting the Omer pushes off the Shabbat.
Finally he would ask, “Shall I reap?”
“Yes,” they would answer.
“Shall I reap?”
“Yes.”
“Shall I reap?”
“Yes.”
..........
The omer of flour was mixed with a log, or very nearly three-fourths of a pint of oil [typifying the Holy Spirit], and a handful of frankincense [sweet spices, typifying praises and prayers to God] put upon it. Before burning it, the Priest would wave it in every direction in honor of the One to Whom the whole world belongs. It was as if he were saying, “Thank you God for the harvest. Thank you for the very bread we eat.” It was then burned on the Mitzbayach, the Great Altar. The remainder belonged to the priest“.
III. Coming To Story: Shavuot, Bread and First Fruits
The Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox Translation
Deuteronomy 26
1 Now it shall be: when you enter the land that YHVH your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and settle in it,
2 you are to take from the premier-part of all the fruit of the soil that you produce from your land that YHVH your God is giving you; you are to put it in a basket and are to go to the place that YHVH your God chooses to have his name dwell.
3 You are to come to the priest that is (there) in those days, and you are to say to him: "I announce today to YHVH your God that I have entered the land that YHVH swore to our fathers, to give us."
4 Then the priest is to take the basket from your hand and is to deposit it before the
slaughter-site of YHVH your God.
5 And you are to speak up and say, before the presence of YHVH your God: "An Aramean Astray my Ancestor; he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, as menfolk few-in-number, but he became there a nation, great, mighty (in number) and many.
6 Now the Egyptians dealt-ill with us and afflicted us, and placed upon us hard servitude.
7 We cried out to YHVH, the God of our fathers, and YHVH hearkened to our voice: he saw our affliction, and our strain, and our oppression,
8 and YHVH took us out from Egypt, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great awe-inspiring (acts) and with signs and portents,
9 and he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 So now- here, I have brought the premier-part of the fruits of the soil that you have given me, O YHVH!" Then you are to deposit it before the presence of YHVH your God and you are to prostrate-yourself before the presence of YHVH your God;
11 you are to rejoice in all the good-things that YHVH your God has given you and your household, you and the Levite and the sojourner that is in your midst.
12 When you finish tithing all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you are to give (it) to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the orphan and to the widow; that they may eat (it) within your gates, and be-satisfied.
IV. Torah as Bread
Midrash Eliyahu Zuta: “A king of flesh and blood had two servants whom he loved completely. He gave each of them a measure of wheat and a bundle of flax. The intelligent one what did he do? He wove the flax into a cloth and made flour from the wheat, sifted it, ground it, kneaded it, and baked it and arranged it on the table, spread upon it the cloth and left it until the king returned. The stupid one did not do anything. After a time, the king returned to his house and said to them:
‘My sons, bring me what I gave you.’ One brought out the table set with the bread and the clothspread upon it, and the other brought the wheat in a basket and the bundle of flax with it. Oh what an embarrassment! Oh what a disgrace! Which do you think was most beloved? The one who brought the table with the bread upon it… (Similarly) when God gave the Torah to Israel, God gave it as wheat from which to make flour and flax from which to make clothing through the rules of interpretation.”