Q&A: The Commandment of Pilgrimage to the Temple
The Commandment of Pilgrimage to the Temple
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Can the commandment of pilgrimage to the Temple be viewed the way the counting of the Omer is viewed, in terms of each individual commandment versus the whole?
That is: with the counting of the Omer, there is a commandment to count each day on its own, and there is also a commandment to count a total of “seven complete weeks.”
About the commandment of pilgrimage it says: “Three times a year all your males shall appear…”
If I went up on Sukkot and Passover but did not go up on Shavuot, have I violated only the commandment of pilgrimage on Shavuot, or also the requirement not having gone up 3 times in the year?
Answer
There is no connection between the two. Each topic has to be discussed on its own terms. The pilgrimage commandment simply is not fulfilled if you did not go up. Just as there is a commandment of prayer to pray each day, but if you did not pray on one of the days, you have violated it.
Discussion on Answer
With the counting of the Omer, that is a dispute. As I said, each issue is judged on its own terms.
The comparison I made was because the Torah specifies a certain number of pilgrimages, and in addition also spells them out individually.
With the counting of the Omer too, a certain number is stated, yet each day is considered a commandment in its own right.
If I did not count one day of the Omer, I have not fulfilled the commandment of counting 50 days; that is why people say to continue counting without a blessing.
I thought the same thing might apply here: if I missed one pilgrimage, then I missed the commandment of going up 3 times a year, but I would still be obligated to go up on whatever remains of the year.
The comparison is not just because a number is involved.
For example: if on the additional offering of Passover we did not offer 7 lambs but only 6, it is not that each lamb is counted separately; rather, this is either 1—fulfillment of the commandment of offering the additional sacrifices, or 0—not offering.
Why is this really not the same thing? (Maybe you’ll say that no one counted it that way, but why not, really?)