Unraveling ביכורים: The Richness of Hebrew's First Fruits

Exploring the Depth and Cultural Significance of ביכורים in Modern-Day Israel

On Shavuot, the day of בִּכּוּרִים (first fruits) (Numbers 28:26), they would bring the first fruits of the wheat harvest to the temple (Exodus 34:22) - the first offering baked from the new wheat. Shavuot is also the time from which it was possible to bring the first fruits of all seven species with which our land was blessed.

Bikuring (בִּכּוּרִים) are the fruits and crops that ripened first. Related is the biblical word בִּכּוּרָה or בַּכּוּרָה - a ripe fig that ripened first. A בִּכּוּרָה before summer is a metaphor for something everyone covets and is immediately snapped up when it appears, according to the words of the prophet Isaiah: "Like a בִּכּוּרָה before summer that a watcher sees, while it's still in his hand he consumes it" (28:4). In the language of the sages, the word בַּכִּיר is used to indicate a fruit that ripened first and also to indi