IN DELINEATING A BROAD range of laws for the Children of Israel, the Torah discusses the Pilgrimage Festivals: Three pilgrimage festivals shall you celebrate for Me (TACHOG LI) during the year. The Festival of the Matzot shall you keep; for seven days shall you eat matzot, as I commanded you, during the prescribed time in the month of springtime, for in it did you go out of Egypt. And they shall not appear in My Presence empty-handed (V’LO YEIRA’U FANAI REIKAM). And the Festival of the Reaping,
the first-fruits of your produce that you sow in the field; and the Festival of the Harvest at the end of the year, when you gather your produce in from the field. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Master (HA-ADON), Hashem (Shemot 23:14-17).

THE NOTION OF SACRED TIME has appeared in the Torah before, in the many facets of Shabbat. But this is different, for while Shabbat occurs every seven days since Creation, the Pilgrimage Festivals (regalim) are in a yearly sequence that is very closely tied to the agricultural cycle of the Land of Israel. Heretofore, Pesach has also been discussed in detail, but only in isolation. It is here, for the first time, that the Torah speaks of all three Pilgrimage Festivals as a series, projecting the way these festivals will be celebrated only when (and evidently not before) the people of Israel reap the produce of their own Land.

A COMMON DENOMINATOR of the three regalim is the obligation to celebrate:

Three pilgrimage festivals shall you celebrate for Me (TACHOG LI) during the year. And this obligation is repeated in two additional places:

Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Presence of the Master (HA-ADON), Hashem, G-d of Israel. When I dispossess nations from before you, and I broaden your boundaries, then no man will covet your land when you ascend to appear before the Presence of Hashem, your G-d, three times a year (Shemot 34:23-24).

Three times a year, all your males shall be seen in the Presence of Hashem, your G-d, in the place that He will choose: on the Festival of the Matzot, on the Festival of Weeks and on the Festival of Sukkot; and you shall not appear before Hashem empty-handed. Each person according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of Hashem, your G-d, as He has granted you (Devarim 16:16-17).

BASED ON THE TALMUD (Chagiga 6, 7, 10b), this celebration is expressed in three positive mitzvot (appearing in the Sanctuary, celebrating and rejoicing) and one negative mitzvah (not appearing empty-handed). The main points of these laws are as follows:

1. R’iyya (seeing): appearing in the Temple on the Festivals bearing burnt-offerings brought from birds or animals. There is no minimum quantity dictated by the Torah, since all that is required is not “to appear empty-handed”. However, the Rabbis obligated a burnt-offering worth at least a silver ma’a (equal to the weight of 16 barley grains). R’iyya is incumbent upon able-bodied adult males.

2. Chagiga (celebrating): to offer peace-offerings brought from animals; obligatory for able-bodied adult males.

3. Simcha (rejoicing): to offer additional peace-offerings (see also Devarim 27:7); applicable to both men and women. (Sources include Rambam, Book of the Commandments, Positive Commandments 52, 53, 54 and Negative Commandment 156; Laws of Chagiga; Sefer HaChinuch, ascribed to either R. Aharon HaLevi or R. Pinchas HaLevi of Barcelona, mid-13th Century, § 88, § 488, § 489, § 490.)

TO RETURN TO OUR VERSES, two questions present themselves:

Since R’iyya is obligatory for all festivals, why is the clause

And they shall not appear in My Presence empty-handed (V’LO YEIRA’U FANAI REIKAM)

placed in the Festival of Matzot verse (15), instead of in either the introductory first verse (14), or the summing-up last verse (17)?

Why, only here and in the parallel verse in Shemot 34:23, does the Torah use the unique phrase the Master (HA-ADON), Hashem?

IN ANSWER TO THESE QUESTIONS, Haamek Davar (R. Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, the Netziv, 1817-1893) notes that there are two separate elements to celebrating the regalim:

• TACHOG, shall you celebrate – to make a festival of joy and dancing (cf. Chagiga 10b); and

LI, for Me – imbue it with sanctity, so that it shall be dedicated to Hashem, with pilgrimage, R’iyya, Chagiga and Simcha.

THE GERM OF THIS IDEA is found in Bechor Shor (R. Yosef Bechor Shor, born c. 1140). Every agrarian society celebrates the joyous occasions of harvest, when people rejoice because of their hard-earned accomplishments. The Torah does not have to command us “you shall make” these festivals, because it assumes that we will celebrate them. The Torah does command Israel, however, to take these natural events and, in Bechor Shor’s words, “involve G-d” in them.

THE NETZIV ADDS THAT these commandments are most distinctly associated with Pesach, precisely because there is no harvest to celebrate at that time of year. Thus, the primary motivation to rejoice on Pesach is not the personal joy of the body and the field, but the commandment of Hashem. This is why
And they shall not appear in My Presence empty-handed (V’LO YEIRA’U FANAI REIKAM)
is linked with Pesach.

ACCORDING TO THE SIMPLE meaning of the text (p’shat), this celebration is independent of the Temple, and strives to strengthen our trust in Hashem. Just as He took us out of Egypt at this time, so should this time of year always be an occasion for prayer and beracha.

AND HASHEM’S BERACHA is especially needed on the Pilgrimage Festivals, when all Israelite males journey to the Temple, leaving their homes unprotected. It may be difficult to bring themselves to do this, but they are appearing before the Master, Hashem. Hashem is the Master of the Earth, and the Land of Israel – its productivity as well as our ability to hold on to it depends on His blessing.