SHAVUOT:

The Bringing Of The First Fruits And The Giving Of The Torah

Rabbi Lawrence Troster, COEJL Rabbinic Fellow

Shavuot, occurring on the sixth and seventh of Sivan, is the second of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (the other two are Pesach and Sukkot). Like the other Pilgrimage Festivals, it has two themes: it commemorates a historical event in Jewish history and it has an agricultural or creation allusion, indicating a stage in the harvest in the Land of Israel. In both these themes it reveals important spiritual values.

In the Torah, only the agricultural theme is mentioned. Shavuot marks the end of the counting of the 'Omer, the seven week period following the beginning of Pesach. In the book of Exodus it says: "And you shall observe the feast of weeks, even the first fruits of the wheat harvest" (Exod. 34:22); and, "And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field" (Exod. 23:16). Here the two names of the festival are Hag Hakatsir (harvest festival) and Hag Hashavu’ot, which it is also called in Deuteronomy 16:10-12. It also marked the beginning of the season of the bringing of the First Fruits which the modern Zionist movement revived on the kibbutzim.

The bringing of the First Fruits (Exod. 23:119, Deut. 12:17 & 26:1-11) was, according to the Mishnah (Bikkurim 1:1-8), a major event during the days of the Temple. The farmers from a whole district would assemble in the nearest city and would set out the next day with songs and rejoicing. At the head of the procession was an ox whose horns were decorated with gold and olive leaves. Flutes were played and songs sung. When they approached Jerusalem, the leaders of the city and the Temple would come out to meet them. As they passed through the streets all the craftspeople would stand and say, “Brethren, people of such and such a place, we are delighted to welcome you.” When they reached the Temple they would, as the Torah says (Deut. 26:1-11), place their first fruits in a basket, put it on their shoulders and recite the passage from Deuteronomy 26:3-10. They would then give the basket to the priest.

What was the purpose of this ceremony? According to Bible scholar Jeffrey Tigay, it was a way of “…acknowledging God as the source of the land’s fertility and the true owner of its produce.” (JPS Commentary to Deuteronomy, p. 237) Maimonides says that the First Fruit laws are ways of inducing in us the moral qualities of generosity and humility. (Guide for the Perplexed, III:39).

After the Temple was destroyed the First Fruit ceremony ceased, Shavuot was eventually reinterpreted by the rabbis to be the time when the Torah was given on Mount Sinai. (Babylonian Talmud Shab. 86b-88a) Shavuot is thus called in our liturgy “zman matan toratenu”, the time of the giving of our Torah.

Both of these interpretations should inspire us today. Judaism’s calendar is filled with festivals that remind us of the creation cycles of the natural world. In our day when we are often so disconnected from those natural cycles, we need sacred pauses to stop and remember who is the real source of life and to be grateful for the rich bounty that we have. We should also feel humility before Creation and understand that all our works come from the earth. When we realize that all that we are and all that we own is really from the Creator, we hopefully will not squander that gift and we will also understand the moral imperative to share it. The Shavuot of the First Fruits reminds us of Creation; the Shavuot of the giving of Torah reminds us of the moral imperative of tzedek: justice, righteousness and equity. Let us rejoice on Shavuot for God’s gifts and let us be inspired to create a world where all can share those gifts together in peace.