Sunday Sermonette: The pilgrimage festivals

Most of Deuteronomy 16 simply reiterates the commandments in Exodus 23, repeated in Exodus 34, to keep the so-called pilgrimage festivals. In Hebrew these are called Pesach, the Passover; Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks; and Succot, the Festival of Tabernacles (or booths). The Torah puts these festivals in future tense, because it pretends to have been written in an imaginary past before the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, but of course the Torah was actually written in the Second Temple period so the pilgrimages had been occurring for some 300 years, before being interrupted by the Babylonian captivity and destruction of the First Temple. The pilgrimage festivals required all of the men to go to the Temple and make sacrifices. It is not clear whether the women and other family members accompanied them. Since the destruction of the Second Temple, the pilgrimages no longer take place, but these festivals are still celebrated locally, with a new set of traditions. Notably, the Pesach is largely celebrated at home, with a ritual family dinner, so all are indeed included. This is unusual as most observances, in Judaism as in other religions, are centered in the house of worship. There is some dispute about the origins of the Seder tradition, but it is first found in the Mishnah, not the Tanakh. The construction of booths for Succot was specified in Exodus, and many Jews who are able still do so.There is a bit tacked on to the end of this chapter about judges being honest...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs