Vayikra: Temple Offerings, and Holliness

(14) If your offering to יהוה is a burnt offering of birds, you shall choose your offering from turtledoves or pigeons. (15) The priest shall bring it to the altar, pinch off its head, and turn it into smoke on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out against the side of the altar. (16) He shall remove its crop with its contents,*contents Others “feathers.” and cast it into the place of the ashes, at the east side of the altar. (17) The priest shall tear it open by its wings, without severing it, and turn it into smoke on the altar, upon the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, of pleasing odor to יהוה.

(1) When a person presents an offering of meal to יהוה: The offering shall be of choice flour; the offerer shall pour oil upon it, lay frankincense on it, (2) and present it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. The priest shall scoop out of it a handful of its choice flour and oil, as well as all of its frankincense; and this token portion he shall turn into smoke on the altar, as an offering by fire, of pleasing odor to יהוה. (3) And the remainder of the meal offering shall be for Aaron and his sons, a most holy portion from יהוה’s offerings by fire.

(17) Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign, יהוה. (18) You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened, and the fat of My festal offering shall not be left lying until morning. (19) The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of your God יהוה. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

(7) If one set aside his bikkurim and [afterwards] sold his field, he brings but does not recite. The second one [who bought the field] does not bring [bikkurim] of the same species, but of another species he brings and recites. Rabbi Judah says: he may also bring of the same kind and recite.

(8) 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 [the declaration]. These others are not subject to the law of the [added] fifth. If they become unclean while in the Temple court, he must scatter them and he does not recite.

(9) From where do we know that one 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 [bikkurim] of one kind and made the recital and then brought of another kind, he does not make a [second] recital.

(10) These bring and recite:[One who brings bikkurim] from Atzeret until the Festival [of Sukkot], from the seven species, from fruit grown on the mountains, or dates grown in the valleys, from oil-olives, and from [produce] from the other side of the Jordan. Rabbi Yose the Galilean says: one does not bring [bikkurim] from transjordania, since that is not a land flowing with milk and honey.

(11) One who bought three trees in another’s field, he brings [bikkurim] and recites. Rabbi Meir says: even [if he bought] only two. If he bought one tree with its land, he brings [bikkurim] and recites. Rabbi Judah says: even sharecroppers and leasers bring and recite.

(1) How does one set aside bikkurim? A man goes down into his field, he sees a fig that ripened, or a cluster of grapes that ripened, or a pomegranate that ripened, he ties a reed-rope around it and says: “Let these be bikkurim.” Rabbi Shimon says: even so, he must again designate them as bikkurim after they have been plucked from the soil.

(2) How were the bikkurim taken up [to Jerusalem]? All [the inhabitants of] the cities of the maamad would assemble in the city of the maamad, and they would spend the night in the open street and they would 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).

(3) Those who lived near [Jerusalem] would bring fresh figs and grapes, while those who lived far away would bring dried figs and raisins. An 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, and according to the rank of the entrants they would go forth. All the skilled artisans of Jerusalem would stand up before them and greet them saying, “Our brothers, men of such and such a place, we welcome you in peace.”

(4) 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).

(5) The birds [tied to] the basket were [offered] as whole burnt-offerings, and those which they held in their hands they gave to the priests.

(6) While the basket was still on his shoulder he recites from: "I acknowledge this day before the LORD your God that I have entered the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to assign us” (Deuteronomy 26:3) until he completes the passage. Rabbi Judah said: until [he reaches] “My father was a fugitive Aramean” (v.. When he reaches, “My father was a fugitive 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. He then recites from “My father was a fugitive Aramean” until he completes the entire passage. He then deposits the basket by the side of the altar, bow and depart.

(7) Originally all who knew how to recite would recite while those who did not know how to recite, others would read it for them [and they would repeat the words]. But when they refrained from bringing, they decreed that they should read the words to both those who could and those who could not [recite so that they could repeat after them].