3,612. Selling Your Field

Hilchos Bikkurim 4:4

One who buys two trees in another person’s field must bring first fruits, but he doesn’t recite the “confession.” This is because there’s a doubt vis-à-vis his rights to the land on which the trees stand. In such a case, he should consecrate the fruits because it’s possible that they’re secular, and we don’t bring secular food into the Temple courtyard. A kohein then redeems the fruit and may then eat them. The person must take terumah and tithes from the fruits because they might be secular. He must give those tithes to kohanim (as opposed to non-kohein Leviim), because they might be first fruits, which are prohibited to non-kohanim. He shouldn’t bring the fruits himself; rather, he should send them with a messenger so that the failure to recite the “confession” won’t preclude the fruit being eaten. This is because when the first fruits “confession” isn’t recited because of a doubt regarding the fruit’s status, it may not be eaten.

Hilchos Bikkurim 4:5

If a person put aside first fruits and subsequently sold his field, he brings the first fruits but doesn’t recite the “confession.” This is because he can no longer say the part about “the land that You gave me.” The buyer need not separate additional first fruits because the seller already did so. If he does separate them, he brings them to the Temple but doesn’t recite the “confession.” If there’s another species of produce (from which the seller did not already take first fruits), the buyer puts first fruits aside, brings them to the Temple and recites the “confession.”