מוֹעֲדֵי ה' - שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים

Through the joy of the three pilgrimage festivals, one merits the light of the face, and through this, they revive the holy intellect, through which one comes to the attainment of divinity (30:6).

The primary joy comes from the mitzvot, and the primary joy is in the heart. For each person, according to what they estimate in their heart of the greatness of the Creator, His unity, and His oneness, Blessed be His Name, it is fitting for them to rejoice greatly in every mitzvah they perform, that they merit to do the will of the Blessed Name, the Creator, the Unique, the Primordial, the Eternal, Blessed be His Name forever. The primary joy of all the mitzvot performed throughout the year gathers together during the three pilgrimage festivals, and this is the joy of the festival. For then, this holy joy of all the good points of all the mitzvot performed throughout the year is gathered and aroused. Each person must greatly strive to draw upon themselves this holy joy of the mitzvot, which is the joy of the festival, throughout the entire year. All the more so on the holy festival itself, when one is obligated to rejoice greatly, as it is written, “And you shall rejoice in your festival,” for then the joy of all the mitzvot gathers together, a joy without measure or value, as each person understands in their heart, as mentioned above (ibid.).

A remedy to be saved from arrogance is to honor the festivals, receive them with joy and gladness, and delight them with food, drink, and clothing as appropriate according to one’s ability (135).

When one receives the festival properly, it is in the aspect of receiving the presence of their teacher during the festival, even if they are many parsaot away from their teacher. Conversely, if they are connected to the tzaddik, they can sense the holiness of the festival. Through this, they elevate the kingdom of holiness from among the husks, the kingdom of wickedness falls, and the power of the kingdom of idol-worshippers and constellations is nullified (ibid.).

On a festival, one must repent with joy, for on all festivals, the world is judged, as our rabbis of blessed memory said, “In four periods…” Therefore, one must repent then. Through this, the kingdom of holiness is extracted from among the husks, as mentioned above, and the redemption is brought closer (ibid.).

One who stumbles, becomes divided, falls, and the world laughs at them, causing them shame, all this comes to them because they blemished the joy of the festival (235).

Through properly honoring the three pilgrimage festivals with food, drink, and fine clothing according to one’s ability, with holiness and purity of thought, with joy and a good heart, and other matters of the holiness and joy of the festival, through this, one merits to know G-d and draw understanding to the heart. Through this, they rectify three evil traits that are the essence of everything: the desire for wealth, the desire for illicit relations, and the desire for eating. For each festival rectifies one of these three traits mentioned above: on Passover, the desire for wealth is rectified; on Shavuot, the desire for illicit relations is rectified; on Sukkot, the desire for eating is rectified. Therefore, one must be very careful to greatly honor the three pilgrimage festivals to merit being freed from these three evil desires mentioned above, for the essence of Judaism depends on rectifying these three desires. Through this, one merits the abundances of prophecy, perfect prayer, healing, the sparking of the Messiah, and so forth, until they merit that their dominion over the angels is fulfilled, for this is why the Jew was created, and this is the primary purpose and end of Israel (Part II, 1).

The holy festival calls, proclaims, and reveals the will, that everything is by the will of the Blessed Name alone, and there is no obligation of nature at all. For on each festival, the Blessed Name performed with us awesome signs that are contrary to nature: on Passover, the exodus from Egypt, where He brought us out of Egypt with awesome signs; on Shavuot, the giving of the Torah, where He gave the Torah with awesome signs; on Sukkot, the encompassing clouds of glory. Through all these awesome signs and wonders He performed with us during the three pilgrimage festivals, it was revealed that everything is by His will alone, Blessed be He, and there is no obligation of nature at all. But one must incline their ear and heart well to hear this holy call. Through this, one merits the joy of the festival. For each person, according to how much they merit to hear in their heart the call mentioned above of the festival, that everything is by His will alone, Blessed be He, so too do they merit the joy of the festival. All this is merited through charity [see Charity]. Therefore, one must increase charity before each festival to merit through this the complete joy of the festival (4:6).