Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Sunday, January 10, 2021

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, and a reiteration of the prohibition against idols, which seems to be the most important thing of all to Yahweh.


16 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name. Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.

You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary[a] of your departure from Egypt. Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work.

The Festival of Weeks

Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.

The Festival of Tabernacles

13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.

Judges

18 Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. 19 Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. 20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Worshiping Other Gods

21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, 22 and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 16:6 Or down, at the time of day

4 comments:

Don Quixote said...

These festivals are a large part of what makes Judaism, with all its glaring imperfections, such an appealing religion. When observed with adherence, Judaism becomes a way of life that provides family-oriented observances and traditions, teachable to children and enjoyable for them, even as it requires multiple daily observances on the part of adults. This sharply contrasts with, for instance, Christianity, which has elements that are just as irrational and flawed, if not more so--but does not provide the practical observances and community that Judaism, a religion in exile, required in order for its adherents to maintain cohesion and solidarity in the face of relentless persecution.

Cervantes said...

Well, I don't know that's entirely true. Christmas, Easter, and days surrounding them (e.g. Palm Sunday) have very rich traditions of family-oriented observance. They aren't codified in the equivalent of the Mishnah, and vary somewhat among denominations and countries, but they certainly exist -- although some of the most notable, such as Christmas gift-giving and Easter eggs, aren't even religious in character.

It is true, more broadly, that much of Jewish tradition is about maintaining cohesion and solidarity -- even basic identity -- under oppressive conditions. In addition to the festivals, one of the most interesting to me is the Eruv. This is a symbolic enclosure of a community that allows people to carry keys outside on the Sabbath. The dietary laws also serve that purpose.

Don Quixote said...

More specifically, I'm referring to the daily practices--bessings upon waking, washing the hands, and blessings such as the shehecheyanu; minyans for morning, afternoon and evening prayer; kashruth, which requires constant observance; yarmulkes and tallit; sheitels; the study of Talmud; the strict proscription of many kinds of work on the sabbath; mezuzot; study of texts such as the Pirkei Avot; weekly candle lighting; observances of lesser festivals such as Purim and study of lesser texts such as the Pirkei Avot, and other traditions--as opposed to the asinine belief in a man-as-deity who can expiate the sins of individuals without requiring any sort of meaningful amends to injured parties.

It is a way of life that prescribes numerous practical actions each day, as opposed to mystical beliefs of faith in an irrationally-based deity. This is a big reason Judaism has survived and continues to thrive.

Cervantes said...

Yes, but just note that traditionally, most of those practices applied only to men.

Christian denominations have differing views about sin, but I agree the idea of the crucifixion somehow "redeeming" all of humanity is absurd. But if you think about it, on Yom Kippur you don't have to actually make any amends -- you just have to repent and confess. That's more or less what Christianity demands.

There is this passage in Matthew 25, which most Christians ignore and which Calvinist theology, and probably St. Paul, explicitly seem to repudiate but for what it's worth:

34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’