Mishnah Bikkurim

Three times a year you shall hold a festival for Me:

(You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread—eating unleavened bread for seven days as I have commanded you—at the time of the month of Abib, for in it you went forth from Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty-handed;

and the Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of your work, of what you sow in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your work from the field.

On the day of the first fruits, your Feast of Weeks, when you bring an offering of new grain to the Lord, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall do no work.

The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

The first fruits of everything in their land, that they bring to the Lord shall be yours; everyone of your household who is pure may eat them.

And it shall be, when thou art come in to the land which the Lord thy God gives thee for an inheritance, and dost possess it and dost dwelt therein:

that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God gives thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there.

And thou shalt go to the priest that shall be in those days, and say to him:

I declare today to the Lord thy God, that I am come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.

And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God.

And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God: My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.

and when we cried to the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:

and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:

and he brought us to this place, and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me.

And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God:

There are some who bring bikkurim and recite; others who bring but do not recite; and there are some who do not bring.

The following are those that do not bring: one who plants on his own property, but buries a shoot onto property belonging to another individual or to the public.

And similarly if one buries a shoot from another person’s private property or from public property onto his own property;

Or, if one plants on his own property and buries a shoot on his own property, but there is a private or public road between, this person does not bring.

Rabbi Judah says: such a one has to bring.

Burying a shoot. Sinking a tree into the ground for its length and replacing the earth over it so that many trees will sprout from it.

For what reason may he not bring them? Because it is said, “The first-fruits of your land” (Exodus 23:19). Not unless all of their growth is from your land.

Sharecroppers, leasers, a sikarikon, and a robber do not bring them for the same reason, because it says, “The first-fruits of your land.”

Bikkurim are brought only from the seven species.

Not from dates grown on hills, nor from fruits grown in the valley, nor from olives that are not choice.

Bikkurim are not to be brought before Shavuot.

The people from Mt. Zevoim brought bikkurim prior to Shavuot, but they did not accept from them, on for it is written in the Torah: “And the festival of the harvest, the first-fruits of your labours, which you have sown in the field” (Exodus 23:16).

You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering; each shall be made of two-tenths of a measure of choice flour, baked after leavening, as first fruits to יהוה.

These bring but do not recite:

the convert, since he cannot say, "Which you have sworn unto our forefathers to give to us” (Deuteronomy 26:3).

If his mother was an Israelite, then he brings and recites.

When he prays privately, he says: “God of the fathers of Israel,” but when he is in the synagogue, he should say: “The God of your fathers.” But if his mother was an Israelite, he says: “The God of our fathers’.

All this is clarified but the decision of the halakha is that the convert does bring and does recite. This is based on the verse (Genesis 17:5), "I have made you a father of many nations".

Before, you were a father to Aram but now you are a father to the whole world. For this reason every convert may recite, "Which you have sworn unto our forefathers", on the basis that Avraham was the father of whole world because he taught them about faith.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: a woman who is a daughter of a convert may not marry a priest unless her mother was an Israelite.

This applies whether converts or a freed slaves, even to ten generations, unless their mother is an Israelite.

A guardian, an agent, a slave, a woman, a tumtum [someone with no sexual organs], or a hermaphrodite bring but do not recite, since they cannot say: “Which you, O Lord, have given to me” (Deuteronomy 26:10).

Someone who buys two trees in his fellow's property brings bikkurim but does not recite. Rabbi Meir says: he brings and recites.

If the well dried up, or the tree was cut down, he brings but does not recite. Rabbi Judah says: he brings and recites.

From Atzeret (Shavuot) until the Festival he brings and recites. From the Festival until Hannukah he brings but does not recite. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says: he brings and recites.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov says: If there was an Israelite who married a female convert, his daughter is fit to marry into the priesthood, and similarly if there was a convert who married a Jewish woman, his daughter is fit to marry into the priesthood.

But if there was a male convert who married a female convert, his daughter is unfit to marry into the priesthood.

Whether converts or emancipated Canaanite slaves, their daughters are unfit to marry into the priesthood even up to ten generations.

This halakha applies to the offspring until his mother is born Jewish.

Rabbi Yosei says: Even if there was a male convert who married a female convert, his daughter is fit to marry into the priesthood.

Someone who sets aside his bikkurim and sold his field brings but does not recite.

The second one does not bring from the same species, but of another species he brings and recites.

Rabbi Judah says: he may also bring of the same kind and recite.

If one set aside his bikkurim and they were robbed, or rotted, were stolen or lost, or became unclean, he must bring others in their place, but does not recite.

These others are not subject to the law of the fifth. If they become unclean while in the Temple court, he must scatter them and he does not recite.

I recite today. — Once a year, but not twice a year. (Sifrei Devarim 299:2).

How do we know someone is responsible [for his bikkurim] until he brings them to the temple Mount?

Because it says: “The first of the first-fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God” (Exodus 23:19) this teaches that he is responsible until he brings them to the Temple Mount.

If he brought from one species and made the recital and then brought from another species, he does not recite.

These bring and recite: From Atzeret (Shavuot) until the Festival (Sukkot), from the seven species, from fruit grown on the mountains, or dates grown in the valleys, from oil-olives, and from the other side of the Jordan.

Rabbi Yose the Galilean says: one does not bring from the other side of the Jordan, since that is not a land flowing with milk and honey.

Someone who buys three trees in his neighbour's property brings and recites. Rabbi Meir says: even two.

If he bought one tree with its land, he brings and recites.

Rabbi Judah says: even sharecroppers and leasers bring and recite.

Terumah and bikkurim.

Someone who eats both of them is liable to death, both require a fifth, both are forbidden to non-priests, both are the property of the priest, and both "go up" when diluted at 101:1, and they require washing of hands, and the setting of the sun.

Maaser and bikkurim must both be brought to Place, they require recitation, they are forbidden to an onen.

Rabbi Shimon permits.

They are subject to removal. And Rabbi Shimon exempts.

And in Jerusalem the slightest mixture of them is forbidden to be consumed. And what grows from them in Jerusalem is forbidden to non-priests or to cattle (Rabbi Shimon permits).

Terumah and maaser render the threshing-floor forbidden, they have a set amount, they apply to all produce both during and after Temple times, they apply to to sharecroppers, leasers, or sikarikon, and robbers. These are [the laws] which apply to terumah and maaser [sheni], but not to bikkurim.

Bikkurim can become acquired while still attached to the soil.

And a person may make his entire field bikkurim.

He is responsible for them.

And they require a sacrifice, a song, waving and spending the night in Jerusalem.

It may be taken from pure produce for impure produce; And from such produce that is not in close proximity, like bikkurim. And it renders the contents of the threshing-floor forbidden and has a prescribed amount like terumah.

It is like a tree for orlah, fourth year planting, and the seventh year; it is similar to a vegetable in one thing: that its tithing goes according to the time it is harvested, the words of Rabban Gamaliel.

Rabbi Eliezer says: it is like a tree in everything.

The blood of two-legged animals is like the blood of beasts in that it renders seeds susceptible to impurity.

And like the blood of a creepy-crawly in that one is not liable for eating it.

The koy. It is a cross-breed from a goat and deer and it is said that it is unique - the sages did not agree whether it was wild or domesticated so they judged it stringently according to both possibilities as is clarified below.

A koy has aspects like a wild animal; and aspects like a domesticated animal; and aspects like both a wild and a domestic animal; and aspects like neither a wild nor a domestic animal.

How is it like a wild animal?

Its blood must be covered like the blood of a wild animal, and it may not be slaughtered on a festival. If he slaughtered it, he should not cover its blood.

Its fat carries impurity like that of a wild animal, but its impurity is of doubtful status. One does not redeem with it the first-born of a donkey.

And if any Israelite or any stranger who resides among them hunts a wild animal or a bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

It may not be slaughtered on a festival – Because it is prohibited to cover its blood. Even though ashes of the stove are ready, they are ready/prepared for something definitive, but not something doubtful.

Fat from animals that died or were torn by beasts may be put to any use, but you must not eat it.

But the firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck.

How is it like a domesticated animal?

Its fat is prohibited like the fat of a domesticated animal, but one is not liable for karet (for eating it).

It may not be bought with the money from second tithe to be eaten in Jerusalem.

It is subject to the shoulder, the cheeks and the stomach.

Rabbi Eliezer exempts it because the burden of proof is upon the one who takes from his neighbour.

According to the Torah we are only forbidden the fat of three species of cattle: ox, sheep and goat. Because this might possibly be a goat its fat is prohibited but someone is not subject to karet because of a possibility.

We have already explained in the first chapter of Maaser Sheni that one is only permitted to buy cattle for a peace-offering with Maaser Sheni money. So it is forbidden to buy a "koy" with Maaser Sheni money because it is only doubtfully cattle and it is not possible to bring a peace-offering that is possibly a wild animal.

This then shall be the priests’ due from the people: Everyone who offers a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep, must give the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach to the priest.

How is it like neither a wild nor a domesticated animal?

It is forbidden because of kilayim [to yoke it] with either a wild or a domesticated animal. Someone who writes his son his wild and his domesticated animal has not written him the koy.

If one says, “I will become a nazir if this is a wild and a [or a] domesticated animal”, he is a nazir.

In all other ways it is like a a wild and a domesticated animal: it requires slaughtering like them both; it carries impurity from carrion and as a limb of a living being like them both.

How does one set aside first-fruits? A person goes down into his field and sees a fig that ripened, or a cluster of grapes that ripened, or a pomegranate that ripened, ties a reed-rope around it and says: “Let these be bikkurim.”

Rabbi Shimon says: even so, he must designate them as first-fruits again after they have been plucked from the soil.

How are the first-fruits brought up?

All the the cities of the maamad would assemble in the city of the maamad, and they would spend the night in the open street of the town, not entering any of the houses.

Early in the morning the officer would say: “Let us arise and go up to Zion, into the house of the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 31:5).

These are the maamadot.

It is stated: “Command the children of Israel and say to them: My offering of food, which is presented to Me made by a fire, of a sweet savor to Me, you shall guard the sacrifice to Me in its due season” (Numbers 28:2).

How can a person’s offering be sacrificed when he is not standing next to it?

The early prophets ordained twenty-four priestly watches. For each and every priestly watch there was a maamad in Jerusalem of priests, Levites, and Israelites.

When the time arrived a priestly watch to ascend, the priests and Levites would ascend to Jerusalem. And the Israelites in that priestly watch would gather in their towns and read from the Creation.

The Lord appeared of old to me, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore I have remained true to thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Yisra᾽el: thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go out dancing with them that make merry. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Shomron: the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Efrayim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.

Those who lived near would bring fresh figs and grapes, while those who lived far away would bring dried figs and raisins.

The ox would go in front of them, his horns bedecked with gold and with an olive-crown on its head. The flute would play before them until they would draw close to Jerusalem.

When they drew close to Jerusalem they would send messengers in advance, and they would adorn their bikkurim. The governors and chiefs and treasurers [of the Temple] would go out to greet them. According to the status of the those who arrived they would go forth.

And all the skilled artisans of Jerusalem would stand up before them and greet them saying, “Our brothers, men of such and such a place, you have come in peace.”

The flute would play before them, until they reached the Temple Mount.

When they reached the Temple Mount even King Agrippas would take the basket and place it on his shoulder and walk as far as the Temple Court. When he got to the Temple Court, the Levites would sing the song: “I will extol You, O Lord, for You have raised me up, and You have not let my enemies rejoice over me” (Psalms 30:2).

The Torah says that a person should carry the first-fruits themselves and give them into the hand of the priest . . . "And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand"

The birds on the basket were burnt-offerings, and those which they held in their hands they give to the priests.

While the basket was still on his shoulder he recites from: "I declare today to the Lord thy God" . . . . (Deuteronomy 26:3) until he completes the passage.

Rabbi Judah said: until “My father was a wandering Aramean”. When he reaches, “My father was a wandering Aramean”, he takes the basket off his shoulder and holds it by its edges, and the priest places his hand beneath it and waves it and he recites from “My father was a wandering Aramean” until he finishes the whole passage.

He deposits the basket by the side of the altar, prostrates and departs.

Originally all who knew how to read would recite, while for those who did not know how to read, someone would read it for them.

But when people refrained from bringing, they decreed that someone should read the words both for those who knew and for those who did not know.

The eight verses in the Torah. . . . Current practice, that two people read [the whole Torah] is, according to Rabbeinu Tam, so that someone who does not know how to read by himself should not be embarrassed, as we found in the tractate of Bikkurim (3:7) . . .

The rich would bring their bikkurim in containers of silver or gold, while the poor used wicker-baskets of peeled willow-branches, and the baskets and the bikkurim were given to the priest.

Rabba bar Mari said to him: As we learned in a mishna (Bikkurim 3:8): Rich people would bring first fruits in containers of gold and of silver, and poor people would bring first fruits in wicker baskets made of peeled willow, and they would give the baskets and the first fruits to the priests. The rich would have their baskets returned to them, while the poor would not. Rava said to him: You said the proof from there, from a mishna, and I say the proof from here, from a verse in the Torah:

Rabbi Shimon ben Nanas says: they would decorate the bikkurim with other than the seven species.

But Rabbi Akiva says: they may decorate only with produce of the seven kinds.

The halakha follows Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Shimon [bar Yochai] says: there are three elements in bikkurim: the bikkurim, the additions to the bikkurim, and the ornamentations of the bikkurim.

The additions to the bikkurim must be of the same species but the ornamentations can be of a different species.

The additions to the bikkurim can only be eaten in purity, and are exempt from demai. But the ornamentations of the bikkurim are subject to demai.

When did they say that the additions to the bikkurim are like bikkurim? When they come from the Land.

And if they do not come from the Land, they are not bikkurim.

In what respect did they say that bikkurim are the property of the priest? In that he can purchase from them slaves and land and unclean beasts, and a creditor may take them for his loan, and his wife for her ketubah. As may be done with a Torah scroll.

Rabbi Judah says: bikkurim may be given only to a haver and as a favor.

But the sages say: they are given to the men of the mishmar, and they divide them among themselves like temple-consecrated objects.

To a haver as a favour. Giving it to a sage by way of charity and lovingkindness is possible, according to Rabbi Yehuda, and the halakha follows the Sages.

The Sages taught: A person may not sell a Torah scroll, even if he does not need it.

Furthermore, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: Even if he has nothing to eat, if he sold a Torah scroll or sold his daughter, he will never sees a sign of blessing.

A hermaphrodite is in some ways like men, and in some ways like women, in some ways he is like men and women, and in others he is like neither men nor women.

In what ways is he like men? He causes impurity with white discharge, like men; he can take a wife but not be taken as a wife, like men, and he must perform all the commandments of the Torah, like men.

And in what ways is he like women? He causes impurity with red discharge, like women; And he must not be secluded with men, like women; he does not transgresses the law of: “You shall not round” (Leviticus 19:2 and “You shall not destroy" like men, nor "You shall not defile for the dead,” (Leviticus 21:1) like men.

He he is ineligible as a witness, like women. He can't have illicit intercourse, he is ineligible for the priesthood, like women.

In what ways is he like both men and women?

One who strikes him or curses him is liable, as in the case of men and women; one who unwittingly kills him must go into exile, and if on purpose receives the death penalty, as in the case of men and women. His mother must [at his birth] bring an offering, as in the case of men and women; he may inherit any inheritance, as in the case of men and women.

If someone says, “I will become a nazir if this is a man and a woman”, he is a nazir.

And in what is he different from both men and women?

One does not burn terumah if it came into contact with his discharge; he is not valued like men or women; he must not be sold as a Hebrew slave, unlike men or women.

If someone says: “I will be a nazir, if he is neither a man nor a woman,” then he becomes a nazir.

Rabbi Yose says: the hermaphrodite is a unique creature, and the sages could not decide about him. But this is not so with a tumtum, for sometimes he is a man and sometimes he is a woman.

We will return to you, Tractate Bikkurim, and you will return to us;

Our mind is on you, Tractate Bikkurim, and your mind is on us;

We will not forget you, Tractate Bikkurim, and you will not forget us – not in this world and not in the next world.

See, that the Lord has given you the sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days: remain every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.