Shalosh Regalim
Pesach - Shavuot - Sukkot

I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Psalm 121:1

Three Times a Year –  Deuteronomy 16

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.

Calendar for Shalosh Regalim

Shalosh Regalim refers to the three pilgrimage festivals required in Judaism;

  • Pesach (Passover – physical salvation),
  • Shavuot (Weeks, Pentecost – spiritual salvation),
  • and Sukkot (Tents, Booths, or Tabernacles – Joyous thanks for God’s encompassing protection).

These 3 feasts can be observed in 2 arcs.

  • 1st Arc – “Salvation Arc”
    • Shabbos haGadol
    • Pesach, Passover
    • Counting Omer
    • First Fruit
    • Pentecost
  • 2nd Arc – “Living in Joy Under God Arc”
    • Rosh haShanah
    • Yom Kippur
    • Sukkot, Booths
    • Hoshana Rabbah
    • Shemini Atzeret
    • Simchat Torah Arc

Mitzvot

These festivals are mitzvot [plural of mitzvah]. Many see mitzvah as a command or a good deed. The meaning of mitzvah is deeper and richer when we identify individual mitzvah and how they point to our relationship with God.

As a Christian, why am I talking about Jewish festivals? The words of Jesus explain my interest, “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Mathew 5:17.

Two of these feasts have been fulfilled and are part of the Christian calendar. Passover is set to Easter and Weeks is set to Pentecost.

I do not claim to try to follow any mitzvot beyond what is central to Judaism, the Shema, and what the Church refers to the 2nd greatest command. 

  • Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
  • Leviticus 19:18 ‘… but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD

Mishnah

Individual Mitzvah are found in the five books of the Torah:

  • Genesis (creation) or Bəreshit (in the beginning)
  • Exodus (exit) or Shəmot (Names)
  • Leviticus (relating to Levites) or Vayikra (and He called)
  • Numbers (numbers) or Bəmidbar (In the desert … )
  • Deuteronomy (second law) or Dəvarim (Things or Words)

The Mishnah, the written version of the traditional ‘Oral Law’, and was set in writing about 200 CE

  • Mishnah – Composition
    • Six main divisions called ‘Orders’.
    • ‘Orders’ divide further into ‘tractates’.
    • Finally, ‘tractates’are composed of ‘parakim’, which are paragraphs.
      • Each paragraph makes up one of the 611 of the 613 laws.
      • These 611 laws are added to the first two commands
      • Tradition tells that all of Israel heard the 1st two commands from Sinai
        • I am your God …
        • You shall have no other gods …
    • The 6 Orders of the Mishnah
      • ZERAIM – Seeds
      • MOED – Festival
      • NASHIM – Women
      • NEZIKIN – Damages
      • KODASHIM – Holy things
      • TOHORO – Purities

Two Feasts Fulfilled
One Feast Left

The cross, Passover, brought salvation for all who come to have faith in Jesus. 

In the Old Testament Pentecost, a week of weeks after the Passover, was God bonding Himself to the Jewish people. In the New Testament, Pentecost is God giving birth to the Church (Acts 2).

Jesus was crucified at the time the pascal lamb was sacrificed. The church was born when the disciples of Jesus were celebrating Pentecost.

With the Roman destruction of the 2nd Temple, Herod’s Temple, in 70 CE, the words, “Let us go to the house of the Lord,” became bitter. Many mitzvot are were related to the Temple and can no longer be practiced.

This series will look at many of the connections between Jesus, the Messiah, and the pilgrimage festivals. I am confident you will find many points for inspiration.

Three Houses Gone
One to Come

Before being crucified, Jesus claimed to be the Temple of God. This, as well as discussing the destruction of the Temple, were two of the main reasons why the priest and rulers of the day condemned Jesus to death.

John 2:18 The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

There have been three structures, maintained by the Jewish people, which have housed the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark contained:

  • the Ten Commandments,
  • Aaron’s rod that budded,
  • and mana, the food God supplied Israel in the desert;


The Three Houses

  • 1- Tabernacle, tent structure initiated in time of Moses,
    • replaced by the 1st Temple
  • 2 -1st Temple, prepared in King David’s reign and built under King Solomon about 1000 BCE,
    • destroyed about 587 BCE
  • 3 – 2nd Temple, supported by Cyrus the Great and Darius I of Persia, built in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah 537-516 BCE,
    • destroyed by the Romans under Titus in 70 CE,

The New Testament Gospels take the time to show Jesus celebrating these feasts in Jerusalem with His disciples. The New Testament book, Letter to the Hebrews, discusses aspects of the temple and temple service related to the work of Jesus as Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, forever.

Psalms 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever, According to the order of Melchizedek.”

There is to be a 3rd Temple before the return of Jesus, the Messiah.

The New Testament also refers to believers as the Temple of God.

Pesach - Passover

1 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.

Shavuot - Pentecost

9 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 …

Sukkot - Booths

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….

Pesach - Passover – Physical Salvation
Shavuot - Weeks – Spiritual Salvation
Sukkot - Tents – Living in Joy Under God

Sources and Further Reading

Biblical Sources

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Source Texts and Commentary

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Articles, Books, and Reflections

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