Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:16
"Three times in a year shall all your males appear before YHWH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before YHWH empty."
It has been wrongly assumed by the masses that the observation of the appointed times set forth in Scripture by the nation of Israel is equivalent to the observation of the same appointed times by an individual. We will demonstrate from Scripture that this is not true. National observation of YHWH's appointed times does nothing to fulfill that which an individual is commanded to do and observe and vice versa. So we will examine what the observation of the nation is supposed to be like in a Torah society as well as individual observation of the appointed times.
The divergence between national and individual observation of the appointed times is greatest in the mo'ed of Pesach. Therefore, it is here that we begin our examination.
Shemot (Exodus) 12:14
"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to YHWH; throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever."
When YHWH gave Moshe instructions on how each person was to observe the first Pesach, three times[1] in Shemot chapter twelve, YHWH states that these instructions and the subsequent observation were to be kept forever throughout our generations; that is, from the first Pesach onward, this observation was to be done again and again every year at that time of the year per the instructions given through Moshe. Man has changed those instructions in favor of his own traditions, adding some of his own and taking away some of YHWH's instructions.
[1]see Shemot 12:14, 17, 24
