Bikurim Vs Teruma
The mishna in Bikurim says that there are various differences between Terumah and Bikurim. I would like to focus on two of them to understand the fundemental difference between the two.
One of the differences is that Terumah has a shiur and Bikurim does not have a shiur. That is to say that you must set aside at least 1/60th for Terumah you do not need to set aside a specific amount for Bikurim.(although we know that the shiur for Teruma is only derabanan and seemingly Bikurim also has a shiur derabanan, there are different answers to this such as one has an asmachta and one doesn't but that is beyond the scope of this discussion).
Another difference is that you may not set aside all your produce for Teruma but you may make your whole field Bikurim.
The reason for both these differences is the same. Teruma is basically a tax. Decreed by God and paid to the Kohen but still a tax. We are obligated to set aside a portion of our earnings and pay them to those who spend their time fully devoted to serving God on our behalf. This is a basic fundamental tenet of the Jewish religion signifying the material/spiritual partnership in which the spiritual enriches the physical by having the physical donate its time/money/resources etc. to the spiritual realm thereby elevating the material to make it be part of the spiritual Godly world and bring God down in to this world. This cannot be accomplished by donating all your produce for Teruma because you would not be bringing the spiritual world into the physical but just be like a kohen where everything is spiritual and that is not the farmers job. The farmers job is to bring God into the physical world. That is the "moleh chal ha'aretz kevodo" vs ha'aretz nason levnei adam.
Bikurim on the other hand is a show of gratitude to God for bringing a Jew to this point where he escaped from Egypt and got the Torah and now finally lives in his own land and is able to plant and grow his own produce in Eretz Yirsoel. A debt of gratitude cannot be forced on someone it must be given by every man based on his personal feeling of gratitude (similar possibly to sipur yetzias mitzraim). Any coercion would be defeating the purpose of showing gratitude. This would apply both to the minimum amount legislated and to the maximum amount legislated. If one feels such gratitude that he would like to set aside his whole field as a offering to God then so be it, he feels it and he should be allowed to express himself. Bikurim is all about self expression.
One of the differences is that Terumah has a shiur and Bikurim does not have a shiur. That is to say that you must set aside at least 1/60th for Terumah you do not need to set aside a specific amount for Bikurim.(although we know that the shiur for Teruma is only derabanan and seemingly Bikurim also has a shiur derabanan, there are different answers to this such as one has an asmachta and one doesn't but that is beyond the scope of this discussion).
Another difference is that you may not set aside all your produce for Teruma but you may make your whole field Bikurim.
The reason for both these differences is the same. Teruma is basically a tax. Decreed by God and paid to the Kohen but still a tax. We are obligated to set aside a portion of our earnings and pay them to those who spend their time fully devoted to serving God on our behalf. This is a basic fundamental tenet of the Jewish religion signifying the material/spiritual partnership in which the spiritual enriches the physical by having the physical donate its time/money/resources etc. to the spiritual realm thereby elevating the material to make it be part of the spiritual Godly world and bring God down in to this world. This cannot be accomplished by donating all your produce for Teruma because you would not be bringing the spiritual world into the physical but just be like a kohen where everything is spiritual and that is not the farmers job. The farmers job is to bring God into the physical world. That is the "moleh chal ha'aretz kevodo" vs ha'aretz nason levnei adam.
Bikurim on the other hand is a show of gratitude to God for bringing a Jew to this point where he escaped from Egypt and got the Torah and now finally lives in his own land and is able to plant and grow his own produce in Eretz Yirsoel. A debt of gratitude cannot be forced on someone it must be given by every man based on his personal feeling of gratitude (similar possibly to sipur yetzias mitzraim). Any coercion would be defeating the purpose of showing gratitude. This would apply both to the minimum amount legislated and to the maximum amount legislated. If one feels such gratitude that he would like to set aside his whole field as a offering to God then so be it, he feels it and he should be allowed to express himself. Bikurim is all about self expression.
posted by funnyfundamentalist at 9:42 AM
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