Chagigah חגיגה

Tractate Hagiga deals with the halakhot of the mitzva to ascend and appear in the Temple on the three pilgrimage Festivals. The analysis of these halakhot can be divided into two main categories: The offerings which the pilgrims must bring, and ritual purity and impurity, especially those aspects which are relevant to the Festivals.

The mitzvot of the Torah to ascend to the Temple and to celebrate and rejoice on the Festivals are expressed in both general and specific terms. The general obligation, “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God” (Exodus 23:17), is supplemented by a practical means of implementation by the Torah itself: “And none shall appear before Me empty-handed” (Exodus 23:15). As is clear from several places in the Torah (e.g., Deuteronomy 12:11–12), this means that pilgrims must bring with them special offerings for the Festivals. In other words, in addition to the fixed, communal Festival offerings, the details of which are set out mainly in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28–29, each individual pilgrim must sacrifice special offerings brought for the Festival. Similarly, the other, undefined commandments, i.e., the celebration of and rejoicing in the Festival, are fulfilled in a highly practical manner, through the sacrifice of certain animal offerings.

The Torah itself does not state which offerings must be brought by individuals, as the verses themselves provide mere allusions in this regard. However, by tradition of the Sages there are three types of Festival offerings: The burnt-offering of appearance, the Festival peace-offering, and the peace-offering of rejoicing. Every individual pilgrim who appears before God in the Temple must bring a burnt-offering of appearance. The Festival peace-offering is likewise obligatory, while the peace-offering of rejoicing is a separate offering that has no fixed requirement; it is brought if more meat is necessary for the rejoicing of the Festival.

In addition to these offerings, pilgrims would ascend to Jerusalem for the Festivals with the other offerings and gifts they were obligated to bring to the Temple or to the city. These included the various obligatory offerings, e.g., burnt-offerings, sin-offerings and guilt-offerings for specific sins, offerings brought in fulfillment of a vow, firstborns, animal tithe, and second tithe produce and its redemption money. These were typically brought on the Festival, not only for reasons of convenience so as to avoid several trips to Jerusalem, but also because the connection between one's sacrificial obligations and the rejoicing of the Festivals is established by the Torah itself (see, for example, Deuteronomy 12:6–12).

The numerous offerings brought by pilgrims raises the problem of the relationship between the obligatory Festival offerings and those which are not connected to the festivities of the day. The general principle that one cannot fulfill the duty to bring one offering by the sacrifice of another is applicable here, and therefore one must bring special offerings for the Festival. However, it is necessary to determine the minimum requirement of these offerings, as well as whether this measure applies by Torah law or whether the Torah simply imposes a general obligation and the Sages established a fixed value for these offerings. In the Jerusalem Talmud (Pe'a 1:1 and the beginning of Hagiga) this is treated as a general inquiry with regard to all halakhic measurements that are not mentioned in the Torah itself. Conversely, the Babylonian Talmud apparently considers this a specific problem involving the Festival offerings, which are not detailed at all in the Torah.

In any case, there are certain ways to combine an obligatory offering with animals or money that are designated for a different offering. Furthermore, they can be used for the fulfillment of the peace-offerings of rejoicing, whose obligation is less clearly delineated than that of the other two categories.

The classification of these offerings as Festival offerings raises a series of questions. First, the period of the Festival must be defined: Does it refer only to the Festival itself, or are the intermediate days of the Festival also included? If the obligation applies solely on the Festival day, how should one treat the animals sacrificed thereon?

It is prohibited to perform labor on a Festival, and several of the mitzvot of an animal offering involve the performance of labor, especially the placing of one's hands on an offering, an act that is not indispensible for the sacrificial rite. Although these mitzvot were performed regularly, and therefore one would expect there to have been an established custom in this regard, certain details of the rite were nevertheless subject to ancient disputes that were left unresolved.

Another topic dealt with in this tractate is the halakhot of ritual purity and impurity. These halakhot are tightly bound to the Temple and to consecrated items. In essence, the use of ritually impure objects is not forbidden in and of itself, but only when one will come into contact with teruma or the Temple and its sacred articles.

Nevertheless, many Jews would be careful to remain in a state of ritual purity at all times, even when they dealt with non-sacred objects and foods. These people were called haverim. The opposite category of people, i.e., those who were not scrupulous with regard to ritual purity and impurity as well as with regard to several other areas of halakha, were known as amei ha'aretz. Due to the care that must be taken to preserve ritual purity, and because of the severity of the halakhot of ritual impurity, which include numerous rabbinic ordinances, the Sages decreed that amei ha'aretz should be considered ritually impure at all times. However, this level of caution and separation could be maintained only in the rest of the country and not in the Temple itself, which is shared by all Jews.

The problem of the ritual purity of sacred articles was resolved in two main ways. On the one hand, the Sages instituted a large number of restrictive decrees with regard to ritual purity and impurity which went far beyond the halakhot of the Torah. These ordinances and restrictions were designed to ensure that no ritual impurity that applied by Torah law would be found in the Temple precincts, especially concerning the red heifer and the waters of the purification offering. On the other hand, even amei ha'aretz, who were not particular about the observance of every mitzva, treated the Temple with great respect and were careful about its sanctity and ritual purity. Consequently, they too were considered trustworthy when it came to any questions involving the ritual purity of sacred articles. Furthermore, the Sages added a special decree that applied to the Festival period: When all Jews ascend to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage Festivals they are considered “Knit together [haverim] as one man” (Judges 20:11) in every regard. In the words of the psalmist, “Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together,” at those times when “the tribes ascended there...to give thanks to the name of the Lord” (Psalms 122:3–4).

Ritual purity and impurity is the most difficult and complex area of halakha. An entire order of the Mishna is devoted to the analysis of these halakhot (see the introduction of the Rambam to the order of Teharot in his Commentary on the Mishna). The discussion in tractate Hagiga focuses mainly on the differences between the halakhot of ritual purity and impurity in general and their particular application to sacred articles, concerning which many stringencies and higher standards are imposed both by Torah law and by rabbinic law. At the same time, the tractate also deals with the trustworthiness of all Jews in this regard, and the leniencies that are invoked during the pilgrimage Festivals.

Incidental to the general discussion concerning the halakhot of the Festival offerings, which are only alluded to in the Torah, an entire section of the tractate deals with areas of the Torah that are not detailed and elucidated in the Torah itself. In some cases these topics are halakhot mentioned in Torah in the form of allusions, while their main explication is found in the traditions of the Oral Law. Other matters are kept hidden by their very nature, as they are not meant to be studied by all people. These issues, which were not taught in public lectures, were called Ma'aseh Bereshit, the Act of Creation, which deals with the secrets of the creation of the world, and Ma'aseh Merkava, the Design of the Divine Chariot, which concerns the lofty, upper world and Divine Providence.

Tractate Hagiga does not clarify these esoteric subjects, but it does explain their permitted and prohibited areas of inquiry as well as why the Sages were reluctant to publicize these ideas. Moreover, they are not matters of halakha and are not connected at all to the mitzvot of the pilgrimage Festivals, yet the main analysis in the Talmud of these esoteric issues appears in this tractate. Indeed, there is an intimate connection between esoterica, which involve the heavenly entourage and the Temple of above, and tractate Hagiga, which deals with the obligations of those pilgrims who ascend to “appear before the Lord God.”

Tractate Hagiga consists of three chapters, which move back and forth from one topic to another.

Chapter One deals with the basic pilgrimage obligation and the Festival offerings, as well as the various areas of the Torah that are merely alluded to in the Torah itself and which are elucidated by the tradition of the Sages.

Chapter Two covers those matters which may not be taught in public, the manner of bringing offerings on a Festival day, and the differences between the halakhot of ritual purity and impurity as they apply to non-sacred items, teruma, and the sacred articles of the Temple.

Chapter Three discusses the higher standard that is conferred on sacred articles beyond that of teruma, and the leniencies that the Sages applied to the ritual purity of consecrated items in Jerusalem, particularly during the Festival period.