The three principal feasts, headed by Passover, annually gather all Israel “before the Lord” at the sanctuary where the ark of the covenant stands. By having the people stand before the visible place of the Presence, the law nurtured in them the desire and the search for an encounter with their God. It is no accident that the righteous of the Old Testament are said to have desired to see and hear Him even though they did not see during their lives God's final revelation in Man. Without this desire, it is impossible even today either to see or to hear God. For us too, therefore, a religious feast can become a place of encounter with the Lord, kindling in us the desire always to stand before His face, rejoice in Him, and live by Him.

The Book of Deuteronomy repeats the laws about the main Yahwist religious festivals that we find in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. At the same time, three obligatory festivals are established, the necessary minimum of participation in religious life that still allows a person to be considered a Yahwist. Here, of course, a whole series of questions arises. The first and main one comes down to how far it is possible at all to limit a person's spiritual life to three religious festivals, and therefore to three weeks a year. It is completely obvious that this is not enough for any normal, full spiritual life.

Why, then, does Deuteronomy prescribe such a minimum? Because, evidently, it has in view above all the religious component of spiritual life. Deuteronomy is generally one of the most religiously saturated Old Testament texts. It is permeated by the religiosity characteristic of the period when it was written, permeated as no other book of the Old Testament is. Religiosity, by its very nature, inevitably turns out to be formal. Here there must necessarily be certain clearly defined external criteria that make it possible to judge how far a person's behavior corresponds to the religious norm of the community to which he belongs, and how far one can speak at all of a person's belonging to the corresponding community. Participation in religious events, especially in the festive assemblies of one's community, is one of the main criteria. A person who does not come to the assemblies is considered to have fallen away from the community; a person who is not allowed into them is excommunicated. At the same time, since religious consciousness as a rule does not distinguish between religious life and spiritual life, excommunication from the community is automatically perceived by religious people as excommunication from God as well. A person who is truly, thoroughly, and consistently religious is usually completely sure that it is the community that determines the relationship of its members with God.

Against this background, Deuteronomy's prescriptions about the three obligatory festivals look rather like a minimum of religious requirements concerning participation in the religious life of the Yahwist community. This minimum was meant to push no one away, and of course it could in no way hinder those seeking a deeper spiritual life, which is precisely what was required.