worship 49
Jewish male to ‘appear before the Lord’ three times a year is prescribed
in the Torah,^ and it is likely that Jews who came from any distance
chose to bring their private free- will, sin, thanksgiving and other offer-
ings at the same time.^ The Pesach festival in the spring began on the first
evening with a mass barbecue of roasted lamb. Each lamb was eaten by
a small company of men, women and children, and the feast was accom-
panied by a narration of the exodus from Egypt. The following seven
days were marked as special by abstention from leavened foods and by
observance of holiday rest at the beginning and end of the Pesach
period. Seven weeks later, Shavuot marked the end of the grain harvest
and was celebrated, by those pilgrims who came from the land of Israel,
by offering the first fruits to the priests in a ritual described vividly in
the Mishnah:
How do they take up the First- fruits ...? They that were near brought
fresh figs and grapes, and they that were far off brought dried figs and
raisins. Before them went the ox, having its horns overlaid with gold and
a wreath of olive- leaves on its head. The flute was played before them until
they drew nigh to Jerusalem. When they had drawn nigh to Jerusalem they
sent messengers before them and bedecked their First- fruits. The rulers
and the prefects and the treasurers of the Temple went forth to meet them.
According to the honour due to them that came in used they to go forth.
And all the craftsmen in Jerusalem used to rise up before them and greet
them, saying, ‘Brethren, men of such- and- such a place, you are wel-
come!’ ... The rich brought their First- fruits in baskets, overlaid with
silver and gold, while the poor brought them in wicker baskets of peeled
willow branches, and baskets and First- fruits were given to the priests.^15
The festival of Sukkot in the early autumn marked the completion of
the agricultural year, ‘when you have gathered in the produce from your
threshing floor and your wine press’. It was designated in the Torah as
a seven- day festival of rejoicing for ‘you and your sons and your daugh-
ters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites (see p. 53), the
strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns’ – that is,
for the whole community. Since the main aspect of the festival involved
the waving in the Temple of four agricultural species (the lulav, which
consisted of palm, myrtle and willow branches bound together, and the
etrog, a citrus fruit), and dwelling in a temporary booth rather than at
home, it was easy for ordinary Jews to feel fully drawn in to the celeb-
ration. In the Mishnah, Sukkot is described simply as ‘Festival’, and it
seems to have been the best attended of the pilgrim feasts, perhaps