פּירוש אויף דברים 26:2

מראשית [THEN THOU SHALT TAKE] OF THE FIRST [OF ALL THE FRUIT OF THE GROUND] — of the first fruits, but not all the first fruits, for not all fruits are subject to the duty of bringing to the Temple their first-fruits, only the seven chief kinds of products of Israel alone, for there is mentioned here ארץ, “the land” (אשר תביא מארצך) and it states there (Deuteronomy 8:8) “a land (ארץ) of wheat, and barley, etc.”, (thus suggesting an analogy — that the fruits of the land referred to here are those enumerated there). What is it that Scripture is speaking of there? Of the seven products through which the land of Israel is distinguished! So, too, here it speaks only of the distinguished products of the land of Israel which are seven species only (Sifrei Devarim 297:4; Menachot 84b).

pannier a kind of basket; compare “your breadbasket” [28: 5]. This detail applies only to those who live near the Sanctuary site [the halakha [Sifrey on this verse; see also Tosefta Bikkurim 2:8] does not distinguish in this regard between someone who lives nearby and someone who lives far away — Translator].

THEN THOU SHALT TAKE OF THE FIRST OF ALL THE FRUIT OF THE GROUND, WHICH THOU SHALT BRING IN FROM THY LAND. [The meaning thereof is] that you shall take of the first of all the fruit which you will bring into the house from your Land, which the Eternal your G-d gives you. He commands that one should set aside that fruit in the field and designate it as first-fruit and then bring it into his house and put it in a vessel fit to be taken to the Sanctuary [in Jerusalem].¹Literally: “the Chosen House.” See Vol. IV, p. 178, Note 120. — “Fit to be taken to the Sanctuary,” this is undoubtedly a reference to what is stated in the Mishnah, that those who could afford it, “brought their first-fruits in baskets overlaid with silver and gold, while poor people brought them in wicker baskets of peeled willow-branches” (Bikurim 3:8). Now, Scripture did not prescribe an amount for the first-fruits, instead, even one grain [or berry] of that species exempts the entire field, similar to the law of terumah (the heave-offering) where one grain exempts the whole pile of grain.²This is the law of the Torah. The Rabbis however, established a minimum amount for the heave-offering to the priest. A liberal person should give one fortieth of his crop, a moderate person, one fiftieth; and a niggardly person, one sixtieth. In the case of first-fruits, the measure is one sixtieth of the produce, this law applying equally to all people (Chullin 137b).