When the Temple stood, there was an additional mitzva of bringing the bikurim – the first fruits – to the kohanim in the Temple. A Jew who owned a field in Eretz Yisrael and grew one of the seven species would mark the first fruit he saw beginning to develop, tie a string around it, and declare, “These are bikurim.” Once the fruit ripened, he would pick it, place it in a beautiful vessel, and bring it up to Jerusalem, as the Torah commands: “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, possess it, and settle in it, you shall take from the first of all the fruit of the ground that you bring from your land, which the Lord your God gives you. You shall place it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose to make His name dwell there. You shall come to the kohen who will be in those days and say to him: I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us” (Devarim 26:1–3).
Once the fruit reached the Temple, the kohen and the owner would wave the bikurim together, as indicated by the verse: “The kohen shall take the basket from your hand and place it before the altar of the Lord your God.” The owner would then recite mikra bikurim, the declaration of the first fruits, recounting the story of Israel: “You shall respond and say before the Lord your God: ‘An Aramean sought to destroy my father. He went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and numerous. The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and placed hard labor upon us. We cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand, an outstretched arm, great awe, signs, and wonders. 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 first of the fruit of the ground that You have given me, the Lord’” (Devarim 26:5–10). Afterward, the owner would place the fruit beside the altar, and the kohen would take it and eat it in sanctity.
