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Beit HaMikdash

A pilgrim from the Galilee

You travel south for Pesach with your village.Reconstruction educational simulation: A choice this site made to draw or model something the sources do not fully specify. About 7 minutes
Reconstruction: pilgrims carrying baskets of first fruits climb a stepped limestone street toward the Temple; the Sanctuary's square front with its doorless opening and stacked lintels rises at the top of the street.

  1. Scene 1 of 7

    Leaving home

    The Torah asks every household to 'appear before the Lord' three times a year. Your village sets out days before the festival, carrying food for the road. Someone starts a psalm, and the rest join in.

  2. Scene 2 of 7

    The first sight

    On the last ridge, the walls of Jerusalem appear, and above them the pale tower of the Sanctuary. Someone recites: 'I rejoiced when they said unto me: Let us go unto the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem.'

  3. Scene 3 of 7 · The Temple Mount

    Preparing

    You immerse in a mikveh before going up. Entering the Mount, you turn to the right with the crowd and circle; a woman walking the other way is a mourner, and people say to her, 'May He who dwells in this house comfort you.'

  4. Scene 4 of 7 · The Azarah (inner courtyard)

    The three groups

    On the afternoon of the fourteenth, your group enters the Azarah with its lamb. The doors close. Trumpets sound. Priests stand in rows holding basins of silver and gold, passing them hand to hand toward the altar.

  5. Scene 5 of 7 · The Fifteen Steps

    Hallel

    The Levites sing Hallel while your group is inside. The Mishnah notes the third group was so small that the Levites never reached the start of Psalm 116.

  6. Scene 6 of 7

    The meal

    That night, in a borrowed room in Jerusalem, your group eats the Pesach offering with matzah and bitter herbs and tells the story of the Exodus. The same order is still kept at every Seder.

  7. Scene 7 of 7

    Home

    On the road north, the psalm starts again. The song you sang going up is the song you carry home.

    Narrative detail, not a sourced claim.