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Regalim



The Three Pilgrimage Festivals, known as the Shalosh Regalim (שלוש רגלים), are three major festivals in Judaism – Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Weeks), and Sukkoth (Tents or Booths) – when the Israelites living in Israel and Judea would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as commanded by the Torah: "Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Pesach]... the Feast of Harvest [Shavuot]... and the Feast of Ingathering [Sukkoth] at the end of the year... Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God" (Exodus 23:14-17). In Jerusalem, they would participate in festivities and ritual worship in conjunction with the services of the 'Priests' at the Temple in Jerusalem.

After the destruction of the Second Temple and until the building of the Third Temple, the actual pilgrimage is no longer obligatory upon Jews. During synagogue services the related passages describing the festival being observed are read aloud from a Torah scroll on the Bimah (platform) used at the centre of the synagogue services. During the Jewish holidays in modern-day Israel, many Jews living in or near Jerusalem attend prayer services at the Western Wall.