Travel To Jerusalem: Jewish Festival Requirements

Three major Jewish festivals required travel to Jerusalem: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. These festivals are known as the Three Pilgrimage Festivals or Shalosh Regalim in Hebrew. During these festivals, all Israelites who were able were expected to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem to participate in festivities and ritual worship. These festivals coincide with important harvest times in Israel and commemorate significant events in Jewish history, such as the Exodus from Egypt and the revelation of the Torah at Sinai.

Passover (Pesach)

The festival celebrates the Hebrews' freedom from slavery and the “passing over” of the forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, when God “smote the land of Egypt” on the eve of the Exodus. According to the Book of Exodus, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to slaughter a lamb and mark their door frames with its blood. That night, God would send the Angel of Death to bring about the tenth plague, in which the firstborn of Egypt would be killed. But when the angel saw the blood on the Israelites' door frames, he would pass over their homes, and the plague would not enter.

The story is part of the broader Exodus narrative, in which the Israelites, while living in Egypt, are enslaved en masse by the Pharaoh. Yahweh, the god of the Israelites, appears to Moses in a burning bush and commands him to confront the Pharaoh. To show his power, Yahweh inflicts a series of ten plagues on the Egyptians, culminating in the plague of the death of the firstborn.

The biblical commandment to keep Passover is recorded in the Book of Leviticus:

> In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at dusk is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord; seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work. And ye shall bring an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days; in the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work.

The Hebrew calendar date of Passover is Nissan 15-22, and it begins at sunset the day before. The Rabbinical Jewish calendar is adjusted so that 15 Nisan always coincides with Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. The Hebrew day starts and ends at sunset, so the holiday starts at sunset the day before.

Passover is celebrated for seven days in Israel, and eight days outside of the country. The first and last days are major Jewish holidays, during which special prayer services are held, and no work is performed. The intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed ("Weekdays [of] the Festival"), during which necessary work can be performed.

The highlight of Passover is the Seder, a fifteen-step family-oriented tradition and ritual-packed feast observed on each of the first two nights of the holiday. The focal points of the Seder are:

• Eating bitter herbs to commemorate the bitter slavery endured by the Israelites.
• Drinking four cups of wine or grape juice, a royal drink to celebrate newfound freedom.
• The recitation of the Haggadah, a liturgy that describes in detail the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

The Haggadah is a standardised ritual account of the Exodus story, in fulfilment of the biblical commandment: "And thou shalt tell [Higgadata] thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt."

Shavuot (Feast of Weeks)

Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, is one of the three Pilgrimage Festivals or Shalosh Regalim, during which Jews were expected to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. The other two are Passover and Sukkot.

Shavuot occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, which in the 21st century falls between May 15 and June 14 on the Gregorian calendar. The date is linked to that of Passover, as the Torah mandates the seven-week Counting of the Omer, beginning on the second day of Passover, to be immediately followed by Shavuot.

Shavuot is also known as the "Festival of Weeks", "Festival of Reaping", and "Day of the First Fruits". The word Shavuot means "'weeks' in Hebrew, and marks the conclusion of the Counting of the Omer. It is one of the three "convocations of the Lord" that, along with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, constitute the "appointed times" (Leviticus 23:4) for Israel to gather in Jerusalem.

The festival is a celebration of the wheat harvest in the Land of Israel, as well as the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai. According to rabbinic tradition, Shavuot also marks the date of the revelation of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, which, according to the tradition of Orthodox Judaism, occurred in 1312 BCE.

Shavuot is traditionally celebrated in Israel for one day and for two days in the diaspora. Modern observances include reciting additional prayers, making kiddush, partaking of meals, and being in a state of joy. It is also customary to read the Book of Ruth, eat dairy foods, and decorate the home and synagogue with harvest produce or greenery.

Sukkot (Feast of Booths)

Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles, is a seven-day festival that marks the end of the harvest time and the agricultural year in the land of Israel. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, along with Passover and Pentecost, during which native-born Jewish men were commanded to travel to Jerusalem and make an offering at the Temple.

The festival is held to commemorate the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt, during which time they lived in temporary shelters and were protected by God. It is also a joyous celebration of the harvest, during which people would traditionally live and eat their meals in a sukkah, a temporary hut covered with branches, and give thanks to God for the year's harvest.

The first day of the festival is a Shabbat-like holiday when work is forbidden, followed by Chol HaMoed, intermediate days when certain types of work are permitted. The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah, during which a special synagogue service is held. The festival is closed with another day of rest called Shemini Atzeret, which coincides with the eighth day of Sukkot outside of Israel.

The Hebrew word Sukkot is the plural of sukkah, meaning 'booth' or 'tabernacle'. The sukkah is a temporary dwelling in which farmers would live during the harvesting period. The booths are constructed using four types of plant material, or 'species': palm branches, the branch of a thick tree, fruit, and willows. The Torah commands that these booths be lived in for the duration of the festival, and that no work should be done on the first day.

Sukkot is also characterised by festive meals, processions, and the reading of the Torah. It is a time of rejoicing and giving thanks to God, and a reminder of God's provision and protection during the Israelites' time in the wilderness.

Rosh Hashanah (New Year)

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is a day of celebration and intense prayer. It is a day when Jews believe God weighs their good deeds against the bad and decides their fate for the coming year.

Rosh Hashanah is derived from the Hebrew words "Rosh", meaning beginning, and "Shanah", meaning year. On this day, families gather to have a traditional dinner (Seder) where they bless different foods with specific meanings. Some people also wear new clothes to honour the upcoming year. In Jerusalem, Rosh Hashanah is celebrated with religious and family traditions, as well as festive parties.

Observant Jews typically attend special prayers at synagogues, while for more secular Jews, this is a day of rest. The traditional dinner or Seder includes symbolic foods such as unleavened bread, which represents the only kind of bread consumed during the holiday.

In ancient times, Rosh Hashanah was one of the three major pilgrimage festivals in Judaism, along with Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. During these festivals, all Israelites who were able were expected to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem, as commanded by the Torah. Men were specifically required to appear at the Temple and participate in the festivities and ritual worship.

Today, while the actual pilgrimages are no longer obligatory, many observant Jews in or near Jerusalem make an effort to attend prayer services at the Western Wall, emulating the ancient pilgrimages.

Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Law)

The Three Pilgrimage Festivals, or Shalosh Regalim, are three major festivals in Judaism when all Israelites who were able were expected to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. These festivals are Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

In addition to these three major festivals, there is another Jewish holiday called Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Law). This holiday celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle. It is a component of the Biblical Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret ("Eighth Day of Assembly"), which follows immediately after Sukkot.

The main celebrations of Simchat Torah take place in the synagogue during evening and morning services. In many congregations, this is the only time of year when the Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark and read at night. The scrolls are carried around the sanctuary in a series of seven circuits called hakafot. The morning service includes the reading of the last parashah of Deuteronomy and the first parashah of Genesis. On each occasion when the ark is opened, the worshippers leave their seats to dance and sing with the Torah scrolls in a joyous celebration that can last for several hours.

In Orthodox synagogues, men and boys predominate in the dancing, while women and older girls often have their own dancing circles or look on from behind a partition. In Conservative and Progressive congregations, men and women dance together. In some congregations, the Torah scrolls are carried out into the streets and the dancing may continue far into the evening.

Simchat Torah is a joyous holiday when Jewish people express their gratitude to God for giving them the gift of the Torah. It is considered a mitzvah (good deed) to dance with the Torah and to rejoice over it.

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