A Biblical Pilgrimage.
We are in the most important month of the Jewish calendar. After celebrating the Jewish New Year and The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), this week we are celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). In the days of the Temple, this was a time to pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Since this pilgrimage is currently impossible, how can we best recapture this experience today?
What is “Pilgrimage” in Hebrew?
The English term “pilgrimage” is derived from the Latin word peregrinus, which means “stranger”. This underscores the extent to which a pilgrim is an outsider who travels a long distance to visit a religious site. In Hebrew, the word for pilgrimage conveys a very different idea. The term is aliyah la-regel (עֲלִיָּה לָרֶגֶל), which literally means “ascent on foot”. What is the significance of this rather peculiar term?
Reaching spiritual holiness
In the days of the Bible, every festival season, Jews walked hundreds of miles by foot, regel (רֶגֶל), from all over the Mediterranean Basin to reach Israel. They then had to climb the steep ascent, Aliyah (עֲלִיָּה), to Jerusalem. There is a more spiritual explanation to this word; coming to Jerusalem, involved a spiritual ascent (aliyah) toward holiness. This reflects the Jewish belief that God’s presence is most strongly felt in Jerusalem.
Make your pilgrimage with Hebrew!The term aliyah la-regel has entirely different meaning than the term pilgrimage: When you finally arrive at the Temple, you are not a stranger; you are home. Our goal at the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies is to make you feel at home when reading the Bible in Hebrew.
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.