Questions

1. When did the obligation to bring bikkurim begin?
2. Bikkurim are from which crops?
3. How does one designate bikkurim?
4. Who shakes the basket containing the bikkurim?
5. What does "v'anita v'amarta" mean?
6. Which Arami "tried to destroy my father?"
7. When during the year may bikkurim be brought? Until when are the special verses recited?
8. Someone declaring that he separated terumah and ma'aser says: "And I didn't forget." What didn't he forget?
9. What were the Jewish People to do with the 12 stones on Mt. Eval?
10. Six tribes stood on Mt. Eval and six on Mt. Gerizim. Who and what were in the middle?
11. Who "causes the blind to go astray?"
12. How does one "strike another secretly?"
13. Eleven curses were spoken on Mt. Eval. What is the significance of this number?
14. Why are sheep called "ashterot"?
15. How is the manner of expressing the curses in Parshat Bechukotai more severe than in this week's parsha?

I Did Not Know That!

"And you shall take from the first of every fruit of the earth...and place (them) in the basket." (Devarim 26:2)

By Torah law, bikkurim have no minimum amount which one must give. The Sages, however, required that one give a sixtieth of his crop (Rambam Hilchot Bikkurim 2:17). This amount, one out of sixty, is hinted in the above verse "and place in the basket."

The Hebrew word for basket - teneh - has the numerical value of 60.

Vilna Gaon

Reading List

Answers

All references are to the verses and Rashi's commentary, unless otherwise stated

1. When did the obligation to bring bikkurim begin?
   26:1 - After the Land was conquered and divided.
2. Bikkurim are from which crops?
   26:2 - The seven species for which Eretz Yisrael is praised.
3. How does one designate bikkurim?
   26:2 - When he sees the first fruit ripen on a tree, he binds a piece of straw around it to mark it as bikkurim.
4. Who shakes the basket containing the bikkurim?
   26:4 - The kohen places his hands under the hands of the one bringing it, and they wave the basket together.
5. What does "v'anita v'amarta" mean?
   26:5 - Speak loudly.
6. Which Arami "tried to destroy my father?"
   26:5 - Lavan.
7. When during the year may bikkurim be brought? Until when are the special verses recited?
   26:11 - Bikkurim are brought from Shavuot until Channuka. The verses are recited only until Succot.
8. Someone declaring that he separated terumah and ma'aser says: "And I didn't forget." What didn't he forget?
   26:13 - To bless Hashem.
9. What were the Jewish People to do with the 12 stones on Mt. Eval?
   10. 27:2 - Build an altar.
10. Six tribes stood on Mt. Eval and six on Mt. Gerizim. Who and what were in the middle?
    27:12 - Kohanim, levi'im and the Holy Ark.
11. Who "causes the blind to go astray?"
    27:18 - Any person who intentionally gives bad advice.
12. How does one "strike another secretly?"
    27:24 - By slandering him.
13. Eleven curses were spoken on Mt. Eval. What is the significance of this number?
    27:24 - Each curse corresponds to one of the tribes, except for the tribe of Shimon. Since Moshe didn't intend to bless the tribe of Shimon before his death, he did not want to curse them either.
14. Why are sheep called "ashterot"?
    28:4 - Because they "enrich" (m'ashirot) their owners.
15. How is the manner of expressing the curses in Parshat Bechukotai more severe than in this week's parsha?
    28:23 - In Bechukotai the Torah speaks in the plural, whereas in this week's Parsha the curses are mentioned in the singular.

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