JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

festivals
cludes also Rosh Ha-Shanah and the Day of Atonement, as in
the verse “These are the appointed seasons of the Lord, even
holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their appointed
season” (Lev. 23:4). At times the term “appointed seasons” is
used for all the days which are “holy convocations,” including
the Sabbath. Rosh Ḥodesh, on which work is not forbidden
by biblical injunction and which is not mentioned at all with
the festivals in Leviticus, is nevertheless included among “the
appointed seasons” in the section on sacrifices (Num. 28:11). It
seems that the prophets, too, sometimes use “appointed seasons”
to refer to the Sabbath and Rosh Ḥodesh though mostly
these days are not indicated. In one instance only the three
pilgrim festivals are included “on the appointed seasons, three
times in the year” (II Chron. 8:13). Thus the term “season” generally
has a wider meaning in the Bible than “feast” because
only the three pilgrim festivals are called “feast,” whereas “season”
usually comprises also Rosh Ha-Shanah and the Day of
Atonement. A day of feasting and joy, whether fixed by individuals
or established by the whole people to be observed by
succeeding generations, which does not entail special sacrifices,
is called yom tov (I Sam. 25:8; Esth. 8:17).
The festivals, like the Sabbath, have their origin in Divine
commandments. Leviticus commands not only “it is a
Sabbath unto the Lord” (23:3) and “the Sabbaths of the Lord,”
but also “the appointed seasons of the Lord” (23:4, 44). In the
Bible the common expression “feast of the Lord” (see Hos.
9:5) or “a feast to the Lord” refers to Passover as well as to
Shavuot and to Sukkot. Similarly, the festival which the children
of Israel were to celebrate with sacrifices to the Lord in
the wilderness is termed “feast.” Aaron, too, at the incident of
the golden calf, proclaims “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the
Lord” (Ex. 32:5).
The Source of the Festivals
In the pagan religions of the ancient East, the festivals were
established by man in order to find favor with the deity and
prevent disasters. It was against this concept that the prophets
militated (cf. *Sacrifices). The biblical concept, on the other
hand, is the exact antithesis, for not only are the festivals commanded
by God but the service on these days as well. The festival
sacrifices (Musaf ) are not offered for any material reward,
but in obedience to the Divine command. Among the sins of
*Jeroboam is mentioned his ordainment of a feast “like unto
the feast that is in Judah” on the 15th of the eighth month “in
the month which he had devised of his own heart,” and his
bringing sacrifices on it (I Kings 12:32–33). Apart from this incident,
there is no mention in the Bible of alterations to the festivals
as stated in the Pentateuch or the creation of new ones;
“the feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh” (Judg. 21:19)
is seemingly one of the festivals mentioned in the Pentateuch.
In the Bible various reasons are given for the festivals. Some
are specifically connected with the exodus from Egypt. Passover,
the feast of unleavened bread, is celebrated on the anniversary
of the day that God led the children of Israel out of
Egypt. The paschal lamb was commanded for all generations
to commemorate “that He passed over the houses of the children
of Israel in Egypt” (Ex. 12:27) and the unleavened bread
is in memory of the haste with which the Israelites left Egypt.
Similarly, the reason for dwelling in tabernacles on Sukkot is
“that your generations may know that I made the children of
Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land
of Egypt” (Lev. 23:43); and even for Shavuot it is said, “And
thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt;
and thou shalt observe and do these statutes” (Deut. 16:12; cf.
Naḥmanides ad loc.; cf. Deut. 5:15 on Sabbath). The recital on
the offering of the first fruits also testifies to the exodus from
Egypt (Deut. 26:5–10). Together with their theological-historical
sources, the festivals are also connected with the annual
agricultural cycle. Shavuot is the festival “of the first fruits of
wheat harvest” (Ex. 34:22) on which two loaves made from
the new wheat crop were offered; hence its names: “the harvest
feast” and “the day of the first fruits.” Sukkot is “the feast
of the ingathering” at the end of the agricultural year when
the ingathering from the threshing floor and the winepress is
completed. Even Passover, in the spring, apart from the commemoration
of the exodus, has an agricultural basis. The Omer
sacrifice of the new barley was offered on the second day of the
festival and permitted the partaking of the new grain crop.
The festivals thus seem to be rooted in two distinct
sources which, according to some scholars, are independent
of each other. They claim that the agricultural festivals antedate
their theological-historical source, specifically pointing
to the fact that Passover and Sukkot are celebrated in seasons
when night and day are roughly of equal length. Their contention,
however, is unacceptable since each festival in the
Pentateuch is based on two distinct types of reasons stated
sometimes even in the same paragraph. In the case of Passover,
the agricultural motif is added to the clearly historical
aspect of the festival, while with Sukkot, the historical aspect
of the festival is added to the agricultural although this historical
aspect is not specifically connected with the time of
the year of Sukkot. At any rate the distinction between “the
ancient folk festivals” and the later “theological festivals” is
doubtful. Contrary to the three pilgrim festivals which are
mentioned in the Bible together with their double motifs, no
reason, save it being a Divine precept, is given for the day of
“memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns” (i.e., the later
Rosh Ha-Shanah), celebrated on the first day of the seventh
month. The Day of Atonement, however, was inaugurated for
the atonement of sins.
Celebration of the Festival
The Pentateuch cites two specific commandments in connection
with the “seasons of the Lord, holy convocations”: work is
forbidden and, as a remembrance, sacrifices are to be brought
to the accompaniment of trumpet blowing before the Lord
(Num. 10:10). The Bible also specifically commands rejoicing
on Shavuot (Deut. 16:11) and especially on Sukkot (Lev. 23:40;
Deut. 16:14–15; cf. Neh. 8:17). Such commandments, however,
were common to all the festivals, as is proven for instance by
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