First Fruits, First Rights, First Place: What Hebrew Really Says About Being First

Title: On Shavuot, also known as יום הביכורים (Numbers 28:26), people would bring ביכורי קציר חיטים (Exodus 34:22) to the Temple—the first grain offering made from the new wheat harvest. From this point onward in the year, it was also permitted to bring ביכורים from any of the שבעת המינים (the seven agricultural species associated with the Land of Israel).

The ביכורים are the fruits and produce that ripen first. A related Biblical term is ביכורה or בכורה—a juicy fig that ripened early. The phrase כְבִכּוּרָה בְּטֶרֶם קַיִץ is used metaphorically to describe something eagerly desired and snatched up the moment it appears. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, “כְּבִכּוּרָהּ בְּטֶרֶם קַיִץ... בְּעוֹדָהּ בְּכַפּוֹ יִבְלָעֶנָּה” (Isaiah 28:4).

In Rabbinic Hebrew, בכיר refers to fruit that ripened early—or to the early sowing season, marked by the first rains. The opposite term is אפיל, used both for late-ripening fruit and late-season planting. In psychology, the same root gave us בכיר and בכירות, meaning precocious sexual maturity.

All these agricultural words come from the same root as בכור—the firstborn child (plural: בכורות or בכורים). A firstborn daughter in the Bible is called בכירה, as in Laban's words to Jacob: “לֹא יֵעָשֶׂה כֵן בִּמְקוֹמֵנוּ לָתֵת הַצְּעִירָה לִפְנֵי הַבְּכִירָה” (Genesis 29:26). Rabbinic texts also use בכורה in this context, as in the Pesikta de-Rav Kahana: “בתיה בת פרעה בכורה היתה.”

Modern Hebrew borrowed בכירה to create the adjective בכיר—a person with a senior position in the military, government, or business. This term was officially defined in early Israeli military terminology: “בכיר – בעל ותק רב, בעל דרגה גבוהה; הפך זוטר.”

The abstract noun בכורה refers to the status and rights of the firstborn. Jacob demanded from Esau, “מִכְרָה כַיּוֹם אֶת בְּכֹרָתְךָ לִי” (Genesis 25:31), offering a bowl of lentils in exchange. That deal gave us the idiom “sold for a bowl of lentils,” meaning to trade something valuable for something trivial.

In contemporary usage, בכורה can also mean priority or precedence—like זכות בכורה (birthright) or מניות בכורה (preferred shares). It also denotes first-time public events, such as a הצגת בכורה (premiere) or נאום בכורה (inaugural speech).

The verb הבכיר means to ripen early or bear fruit first, and a woman giving birth for the first time is called מבכירה. Both in the Bible and in Rabbinic literature, we also find the verb ביכֵר used this way. For example, Ezekiel describes trees that bear fruit monthly: “לָחֳדָשָׁיו יְבַכֵּר” (Ezekiel 47:12), meaning they ripen each month. Rashi explains: “יבשל פירותיו.”

In Deuteronomy, ביכֵר has another meaning: recognizing someone as the firstborn and giving them the associated rights. “לֹא יוּכַל לְבַכֵּר אֶת בֶּן הָאֲהוּבָה עַל פְּנֵי בֶן הַשְּׂנוּאָה הַבְּכֹר” (Deuteronomy 21:16).

Later Hebrew adopted this meaning more broadly to indicate preference. Mendele Mokher Seforim used it metaphorically: “Why do we always ביכֵר money over wisdom and give it the rights of the firstborn?” In modern Hebrew, ביכֵר is simply a synonym for “preferred.”

Let’s end with the Mishnah’s beautiful description of bringing ביכורים:

"How are the ביכורים selected? A person goes into their field and sees a fig that ripened early, a bunch of grapes, a pomegranate. They tie a reed around it and say: These are ביכורים.” (Mishnah Bikkurim 3:1)