Everywhere I look, people are offering solutions to bring "Peace in the Middle East." This problem has existed since before any of us were born, but somehow, everyone has a simple solution. I would like to discuss not another new solution, but a very old one. I would like to discuss a solution from the Torah.
The Torah, in Shemot 34, gives us the commandment of going up to Jerusalem three times a year. All able-bodied male Jews are required to come to the Temple in Jerusalem on each of the three "regalim" - Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, and bring with them an offering. (We are told more details about this mitzva in Devarim 16.) The exact type of offering is not specified; every person may bring as much or as little as he is able to afford. What is important is that he comes with his family to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday with the rest of the nation.
It must have been an amazing scene! Jews from all over the world would come together in the holiest place on earth, at the holiest times of the year. Hotels would fill their rooms, and local residents would open up their homes. Each family would select a beautiful offering to bring to the Temple, and they would sit together in Jerusalem, in the glow of the Beit Hamikdash, and eat and sing and enjoy the holiday together.
But, there is more! The Torah continues by giving a promise to the nation of Israel if we follow this commandment. Shemot 34:24 states: "כי אוריש גוים מפניך, והרחבתי את גבלך, ולא יחמד איש את ארצך, בעלתך לראות את פני האדן ה' א-להי ישראל" "I will cast away nations before you, and I will enlarge your borders. No man will desire your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times a year." Right there, God, through the gift of His mitzvot, gives us the solution to "Peace in the Middle East!" All we need to do is come to Jerusalem to spend our holidays there.
Can the solution to such a difficult problem really be that simple? All we need to do is go to Jerusalem three times a year, and all our problems will be solved? We won't know if we don't try it. And if we are truly believers in the promises of the Torah and in the word of God, then we should take this quite seriously, and find consolation in the fact that God has promised us the land of Israel, and He wants us to be there. So, why don't we do it?
From a technical perspective, We are unable to completely fulfill this mitzva now,without the Beit Hamikdash. The essential aspect of this mitzva is to enter the Azara, the main courtyard, of the Beit Hamikdash, and bring our offering. The painful lament which we say in every mussaf prayer details this predicament: "אין אנחנו יכולים לעלות ולראות ולהשתחות לפניך ולעשות חובותינו בבית בחירתך" "We are unable to go up, and appear, and bow before you, and fulfill our obligations in the house of Your choice (the Beit Hamikdash)." I always smile a little when I say the phrase, "אין אנחנו יכולים לעלות", "we are unable to go up (make aliyah), since of course we do have that ability. But aliyah here refers to "olat reia," the mitzva dicussed earlier of bringing an offering to the Temple on the holiday.
However, we do have a two great gifts which were not granted to our ancestors, even in the time when the Temple was standing. We have Jewish control of Jerusalem, and every Jew in the world is welcome inour holy city. We also have airplanes, which can get us there from all cornersof the earth in less than a day. It is safer, cheaper, and easier to get to Israel than it has ever been.
The blessings which God tells us will come to us if we fulfull this mitzva are easily at hand. And I would argue that even from a rational perspective, it is clear that these promises will come true if we fulfill it. Can you imagine the reaction of the world if one million Jews arrived in Israel three times a year? Even more, can you imagine how happy Jews in Israel would be to greet those visitors, after the decimation that the tourism industry has suffered over the last few years, and after the difficult times which they have been suffering through alone?
What everyone in Israel and the rest of the world is hearing now is that it is too dangerous to go to Israel, and that it is too difficult to make a living there. They are also hearing that we would be happy to turn over parts of our homeland to our enemies, if only they would accept it. This certainly encourages our enemies, since we seem to be giving up our claim to the land. But certainly "no man will desire our land" when one million Jews come three times a year to say, even though we may not live there, that Israel is our land, Jerusalem is our holy city, and Har Habayit is the focal point of our religious hopes and dreams. Our borders will by necessity expand to accomodate this influx, and the nations, those who are attempting an "Islamization" of Jerusalem, will be cast away, when it is clear that it is the Jews for whom Jerusalem is the holiest of cities.
As with all idealized visions, there must be a practical component. Kumah has proposed that the Israeli airlines (there are now more than one) sell a "Three Times a Year" ticket. One ticket, say for the price of two regular tickets, will allow the holder to come to Israel any three times during the next year, especially for the holidays, when the airlines usually raise their prices. A reduced hotel rate can be optionally added to the price of the ticket. To encourage travel to Israel for the three holidays, hotel fares should be reduced, not increased, as surely people will take this opportunity to spend their holidays in Israel instead of the Bahamas. The airlines and hotels will be getting money in advance and increased business. The tourism industry will receive a giant boost which will more than make up for the reduced rates. Jews all over the world will have an incentive to make multiple trips to Israel that may have otherwise been cost-prohibitive. And most importantly, the three holidays will again crown Israel and Jerusalem with their former glory, when "we go to appear before the Lord our God, three times a year."