Pilgrimage Revival

(First published in Image Magazine – Pilgrimage Revival – IMAGE Magazine)

One of the most familiar and elevating of Jewish rituals in ancient Israel was the thrice-yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the Aliya Laregel. Jews came with their families and offerings to Jerusalem to celebrate Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, “to behold the pleasantness of the Lord and to meditate in His sanctuary” (Tehillim 27:4). It was not only a life-changing experience; it was also life-shaping, life-affirming. It placed Jerusalem and the Holy Temple at the epicenter of every Jew’s consciousness. And it did more than that.

The Aliya Laregel was a time of bonding for all Jews, as Jerusalem was celebrated as “the city that is united together” (Tehillim 122:3), the city “which confers fellowship on all of Israel. And when? Only when the tribes ascend together on the festivals” (Talmud Yerushalmi, Chagigah 3:6). All Jews assembled in Jerusalem: the young and old, the rich and poor, men and women, the various tribes from the north, center, and south of Israel. Despite the throngs of people, “no person ever said, ‘there is no room for me to lodge overnight in Jerusalem’” (Avot 5:5). The great medieval commentator Don Yitzchak Abarbanel noted that, in truth, it is a great miracle, that in an overcrowded setting, no one ever felt uncomfortable.
Even diverse levels of religious observance were muted on the festivals. All Jews were presumed to heed the laws of ritual purity. Everyone could eat other’s food and drink each other’s wine. No Jew could be declared impure, such as with tzara’at, on the festivals. A nation that was divided into tribes – today, into political parties and religious factions – found its commonality on the festivals, with Aliya Laregel. Jerusalem, which we are taught was never divided among the tribes (Washington DC paralleled this practice), reached its spiritual apex on the holidays, as all Jews felt a deep, personal, and intimate connection with the Holy City, their nation’s capital and seat of government, the spiritual center of Jewish life, the place where the Divine presence was intensely experienced.
Imagine if Aliya Laregel could be revived today, not in the strictly halachic sense because the Holy Temple has not yet been rebuilt, but practically. Imagine if Jews from across the world ascended to Jerusalem three times a year on the festivals. The spiritual, political, and psychological benefits would be enormous and overwhelming. We would strengthen the attachment of all Jews to each other, a connection that is often frayed for sundry reasons. Most simply, we would affirm in the eyes of the world (and Jews) the profound bond between the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem, our capital since the time of King David – and a bond that is important to underscore in light of our enemies who seek to delegitimize and disenfranchise the Jewish people from Jerusalem and the land of Israel.
Imagine if all Jews, of all backgrounds and various ethnicities, gathered in Jerusalem on Pesach to re-experience our formative moment as a nation some thirty-three centuries ago, liberated from bondage to become G-d’s chosen people; on Shavuot, to reclaim the Torah as our heritage and birthright; and on Sukkot, to acknowledge and be grateful for G-d’s protective hand that has preserved us until today, after millennia of exile, persecution, and suffering, only to return us to our land, declare independence, and reestablish the Jewish state – a feat without precedent in all of human history.
Together, we would celebrate our origins (Pesach), our mission (Shavuot), and the blessings of Divine Providence (Sukkot).
The Jewish people would be uplifted and transformed. The world – we can continue to imagine – would be galvanized to appreciate the extraordinary return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and to the world stage in all our glory.
Reviving Aliya Laregel – the pilgrimage dimension of the three festivals – is more feasible than we might otherwise think. Many tens of thousands of Jews already come every festival to Jerusalem. The streets are packed, the Old City is alive, the Kotel is buzzing. We already have realized the vision of Zecharia the prophet: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand because of old age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets” (4:4).
That already is the reality – and the renaissance of Aliya Laregel will further unite all Jews and deepen our connection with Jerusalem. Start with one festival. Let’s do it!