Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Chagigah 2 – Celebration and joy

As we saw in many places, the Holidays (Passover, Shavuot, and Succot) are for celebration and enjoyment. This is actually an obligation: one must make merry. One of the ways of doing so is by bringing the "celebration" sacrifice (chagigah) and eating the meat.

More specifically, one must come to the Temple during a Holiday. Having arrived, one should bring a sacrifice because the Torah said, "Do not appear before Me empty-handed." But who is this "one?" In other words, who is obligated to visit the Temple and bring the sacrifice?

All males are obligated to go to the Temple, following the commandment of "Three times a year every male must appear before God, the Master of the Universe." Women and minors do not have to go. Also not included are people of undetermined sex (tumtum), hermaphrodite, a deaf-mute, deranged, and one who physically can't walk up the Temple Mount.

Why does the rule start with "All males" if later it gives all the details? - This is to silently include an additional class of people, half-free and half-slave. We have discussed this unique situation before: this person cannot marry a slave woman because he is free but cannot marry a free woman because he is a slave. He does not have to visit the Temple either. However, the Sages later establishes that the court should force the slave's master to free the half-slave part.


Art: Village Celebrations by David The Younger Teniers

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