Pilgrimage+festivals

Pilgrimage festivals are a category of Jewish holidays that celebrate agricultural festivals and historic events. Three holidays, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, were designated as times when ancient Israelites traveled to the temple in Jerusalem, thus they are called “pilgrimage” festivals. In the Torah, God commands, “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the lord thy God in the place which He shall choose; on the feast of unleavened bread, and on the feast of weeks, and on the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the lord empty” (Deuteronomy 16:16).

Pilgrimage festivals reaffirmed the commitment to God and enforced the sacredness of Jerusalem as religious center of Judaism. Up onto the destruction of the second temple in 70 C.E., Jews would make pilgrimage to Jerusalem. After 70 C.E., the festivals retained the “pilgrimage” names however were celebrated within communities and congregations with prayers and various themes. Today, in Israel, many people celebrate these holidays by visiting the western wall in an attempt to reconnect with ancient Jewish traditions. DG