I am starting a discussion with a non-denoninational friend about the many denominations. I am wondering if someone can tell me, How many times, either a year or in their lifetime, were an Israelite required to go the temple in ancient times?,
By the time of Jesus, Jews usually went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the feast of the Passover and to make the Passover sacrifice, known in Hebrew as the
Korban Pesach in the Temple (cf. Luke 2:41-42).
Every family large enough to completely consume a young lamb or wild goat was required to offer one for sacrifice at the Jewish Temple on the afternoon of the 14th day of Nissan, and eat it that night, which was the 15th of Nissan (remember that the Jews reckoned a day as starting at sundown). The animal was slain on the eve of the Passover, on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, after the
tamid (daily) sacrifice had been killed.
Pilgrims and tourists were a year-round affair in Jerusalem, yet within a given year, there are three festivals (The
Shalosh regalim) where every Jew who was able were required to make a pilgrimage to the holy city:
Sukkot, the Feast of Booths (cf. John 7:2, 8-10);
Pesach, the Passover; and
Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks; i.e. Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:1, 5).
Add to that persons who committed sins that require a sacrifice. They were virtually compelled to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to seek atonement as making sacrifices in a different place other than the Temple in Jerusalem is frowned upon.
informative!