-
Judaic
Online store that provides a wide selection of all types
of Judaica, Jewish gifts, Jewish books, Jewish ritual
items and more
www.judaic.com
Connection
with the harvest
Besides its significance as the day on which the Torah was
revealed by God to the Jewish nation at Mount Sinai (which
includes the Ten Commandments), Shavuot is also connected
to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. In ancient
times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season
of gladness (Jer. 5:24, Deut. 16:9-11, Isa. 9:2). It began
with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended
with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was
thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just
as the eighth day of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was the concluding
festival of the fruit harvest. During the existence of the
Temple in Jerusalem, an offering of two loaves of bread
from the wheat harvest was made on Shavuot.
Ceremony
of Bikkurim
Bikkurim offerings in Nahalal
Shavuot was also the first day on which individuals could
bring the Bikkurim (first fruits) to the Temple in Jerusalem
(Mishnah Bikkurim 1:3). The Bikkurim were brought from the
Seven Species for which the Land of Israel is praised: wheat,
barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (Deut.
8:8). In the largely agrarian society of ancient Israel,
Jewish farmers would tie a reed around the first ripening
fruits from each of these species in their fields. At the
time of harvest, the fruits identified by the reed would
be cut and placed in baskets woven of gold and silver. The
baskets would then be loaded on oxen whose horns were gilded
and laced with garlands of flowers, and who were led in
a grand procession to Jerusalem. As the farmer and his entourage
passed through cities and towns, they would be accompanied
by music and parades.
At the Temple, each farmer would present his Bikkurim to
a kohen in a ceremony that followed the text of Deut. 26:1-10.
This text begins by stating, "An Aramean tried to destroy
my father," referring to Laban's efforts to weaken
Jacob and rob him of his progeny (Rashi on Deut. 26:5)—or
by an alternate translation, the text states "My father
was a wandering Aramean," referring to the fact that
Jacob was a penniless wanderer in the land of Aram for 20
years (ibid., Abraham ibn Ezra). The text proceeds to retell
the history of the Jewish people as they went into exile
in Egypt and were enslaved and oppressed; following which
God redeemed them and brought them to the land of Israel.
The ceremony of Bikkurim conveys the Jew's gratitude to
God both for the first fruits of the field and for His guidance
throughout Jewish history (Scherman, p. 1068). |
