It
took the Jews forty years before they finally reached Israel and settled
there. Most of them became farmers, and their most important crop was
wheat, which they ground and baked into bread. They would begin to harvest
their wheat before Shavuot. When the Temple was built, they brought their
first sheaves of wheat there and offered them to God. They called this
bringing bikurim, the first crops, and the journey to Jerusalem became a
beautiful procession. Every town would pile its first crop - by now
it included fruits and vegetables - on a wagon, pulled by two bulls.
The wagons and the bulls would be decorated with flowers and gold and, of
course, with fruits and vegetables that they had harvested. The people who
led the wagon would sing and dance; some would play flutes and drums as
they marched to Jerusalem to bring their fruits to the Temple.
It
took the Jews forty years before they finally reached Israel and settled
there. Most of them became farmers, and their most important crop was
wheat, which they ground and baked into bread. They would begin to harvest
their wheat before Shavuot. When the Temple was built, they brought their
first sheaves of wheat there and offered them to God. They called this
bringing bikurim, the first crops, and the journey to Jerusalem became a
beautiful procession. Every town would pile its first crop - by now
it included fruits and vegetables - on a wagon, pulled by two bulls.
The wagons and the bulls would be decorated with flowers and gold and, of
course, with fruits and vegetables that they had harvested. The people who
led the wagon would sing and dance; some would play flutes and drums as
they marched to Jerusalem to bring their fruits to the Temple.