You shall take the first of all fruit that is produced by your land... put it in a basket ("Teneh"), and go to the place where Hashem will choose to have His Name dwell [=the Beit Hamikdash]. You shall come to the Kohen who is serving there at the time and say to him, "I declare thanks on this day before Hashem, your God, for bringing me to the land that Hashem swore to... give us." Then the Kohen shall take the basket from your hand and put it down before the altar of Hashem, your God.

(Devarim 26:2-4)

How does one designate his Bikurim (first fruits)? He goes into his field, and when he sees a cluster of grapes or a pomegranate that is beginning to grow, he ties a string around it, and declares, "These are hereby Bikurim!"

(Bikurim 3:1)

Although there is no set amount specified in the Torah for this Mitzvah (Bikurim 2:3), and one may fulfill his obligation by bringing even one fruit (the very first fruit to be produced) all by itself, the Rabbis instituted a statutory minimum: one sixtieth of one's entire crop of any of the seven species (Yerushalmi Bikurim 3:1; Rambam Bikurim 2:17). This is, as mentioned, a minimum. One may declare his entire field to be Bikurim if he wishes (ibid. 2:4). .

A similar situation exists concerning the Mitzvah of Terumah (the first portion taken from one's processed grain, which is given to the Kohen). The Torah does not specify any particular amount that must be given, but the Rabbis instituted a suggested range (1/40 - 1/60 of one's crop -- see Terumot 4:3). In the case of Teruma, although the minimum amount is, as we said, not mentioned *explicitly* in the Torah, an allusion was found in the Torah's words to *hint* to the minimum enacted by the Rabbis (See Tosfot Yom Tov, Terumot ad loc.). Tosfot Yom Tov (to Bikurim 2:3) asserts, however, that no such hint in the words of the Torah exists in the case of Bikurim.

There is, however, one later commentator -- Rav Menachem Eliezer of Shilishak (author of Ya'ir Kinno on Tractate Kinnim, quoted in Aliyyot Eliyahu, note #107) -- who did find a hint to the Rabbis' enactment of giving at least 1/60 for Bikurim. According to his calcuations, the rabbinic minimum is alluded to in this week's Parasha.

1. The Torah says that the Bikurim should be put into a "Teneh" [=a certain type of basket]. Bartenura, in his commentary to the Mishna (Tamid 3:6 and Kelim 12:3), explains that a Teneh can hold half of a "Se'ah" (a measure of dry volume). Thus, the Torah intimates that the amount to be brought for Bikurim is 1/2 Se'ah. But 1/2 Se'ah in proportion to what total amount of produce?

2. In Ketubot 111b we are told that when the Jews fulfill the will of God perfectly, even their poorest vines will produce so many grapes that it will take two donkeys to carry off the yield of each vine (see also Maharsha ad loc.). A textual basis is given for this assertion. We may assume that the Torah, when describing the Mitzvah of Bikurim, is referring to the optimum situation where the people follow the word of Hashem perfectly. We are thus dealing with a vineyard in which each vine is blessed with two donkeys worth of produce.

3. How much can a donkey carry? In Bava Metzia 80a we are taught that a donkey's load is up to 15 Se'ah of wheat (see Rashi, s.v. "Chayav" -- Rav Menachem Eliezer assumes that a Se'ah of grapes weighs approximately the same as a Se'ah of wheat -MK). Two donkeys' worth would thus be 30 Se'ah of grapes.

4. The minimum amount of property that one must own in order to be obligated in the Mitzvah of Bikurim is one tree and its surrounding land (Bikurim 1:11). Thus the minimum amount of produce from which Bikurim would be separated is one tree's worth, and that amount fits into a Teneh. (Although two people who are partners in a tree must also bring Bikurim, as we learn in Chullin 136b, the partners would most likely bring their Bikurim from this one tree in one basket -MK.)

5. We have shown that the smallest vineyard from which Bikurim is brought is one vine, and that even the worst vines in Israel produce (under optimal circumstances) 30 Se'ah of grapes. The "Teneh" mentioned in the verse, into which the Bikurim are placed, contains half a Se'ah. Half a Se'ah is 1/60th of the amount of produce grown in such an orchard. This implies that even in the smallest orchard that is obligated in Bikurim, half a Se'ah must be set aside. We thus find that the Torah indeed alludes to the 1/60 minimum set by the Rabbis!