Parashat Ki Tavo: The First Fruits of Monotheism

What was the real purpose of having the farmers repeat the first fruits bikurim ceremony each year?
To show the importance of  differentiating between the monotheism vs. polytheism.

The opening verses in Parashat Ki-Tavo read: “When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God will choose to establish His name. You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him: I acknowledge this day before the Lord your God that I have entered the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to assign us” (Deut. 26:1–3).

The word “you” here is in the second person singular for all the verbs, implying that each man, as an individual, had to bring the first fruits of his produce to the priest. The priest then took the basket, the symbol of gratitude to God, and laid it down on the altar of the Lord.

Why did each farmer individually have to bring his first fruits to the Temple to be distributed among the priests rather than giving them directly to his own community priest? Which kinds of produce were brought as bikurim (first fruits)? What was the real purpose of having the farmers repeat the ceremony each year?

In his painting for Parashat Ki-Tavo, Avner Moriah visualized the bikurim ritual in a minimalistic manner, figuring the farmer and the priest on one side of the picture, and the first fruits on the altar on the other side. The priest, who is imaged here with a miter on his head, which signifies a High Priest, because the text refers to “the priest,” is clothed in blue, and his hand seems to be supporting the farmer standing next to him. The farmer, who is wearing a gray striped gown, is bending forward toward the altar, which is laden with the first fruits, his large arms and hands in a gesture of prayer.

In imaging the first fruits the artist alluded to the tradition that the bikurim were to be selected from the seven unique kinds of produce named in the promise we read in Parashat Ekev in connection with bringing the Israelites to the Promised Land: “…a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey” (Deut. 8: 8). Thus it was fitting that these were the species brought as bikurim.

Under the altar we see jugs of olive oil amid clusters of grapes, and on the top there are three baskets, one each of pomegranates, figs, and dates, as well as a sheaf of wheat and another of barley. The bikurim are also menahot – meal sacrifices – symbolized by the vessels behind each of the baskets.

Repeating the bikurim ritual every year in the Temple, “where the Lord your God will choose to establish His name,” rather than giving their first fruits to their community priests was , on one hand, an opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of monotheism (worshipping  one God) over polytheism over the Canaanites’ rituals where the first fruits were offered to please their many local gods. And on the other hand, it was an act of preserving historical reflection where in every generation each farmer should feel as if he himself was saved from Egypt and was brought to the promised Land saying in the ritual of bikurim: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt…” (Deut. 26:5), after which he declared his faith in the God of Israel: “Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You O Lord have given me” (Deut. 26:10).