Do people in chutz la'aretz have to go to the beis hamikdash on Yom Tov?

The possuk says in this week’s sedrah:

שָׁלוֹשׁ פְּעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה יֵרָאֶה כָל זְכוּרְךָ אֶת פְּנֵי ה' אֱלֹקיךָ

“Three times a year all of your males should be seen before Hashem.”

Does this apply to everyone or only to people who live in Eretz Yisroel?

The gemara says in Pesachim (3b):

ההוא ארמאה דהוה סליק ואכיל פסחים בירושלים אמר כתיב  (שמות יב, מג) כל בן נכר לא יאכל בו  (שמות יב, מח) כל ערל לא יאכל בו ואנא הא קאכילנא משופרי שופרי אמר ליה רבי יהודה בן בתירא מי קא ספו לך מאליה אמר ליה לא כי סלקת להתם אימא להו ספו לי מאליה כי סליק אמר להו מאליה ספו לי אמרו ליה אליה לגבוה סלקא אמרו ליה מאן אמר לך הכי אמר להו רבי יהודה בן בתירא אמרו מאי האי דקמן בדקו בתריה ואשכחוהו דארמאה הוא וקטלוהו שלחו ליה לרבי יהודה בן בתירא שלם לך ר' יהודה בן בתירא דאת בנציבין ומצודתך פרוסה בירושלים

“There was an Aramean who used to go and eat the korban pesach in Yerusholayim. He boasted, ‘The Torah says “any non-jew should not eat the korban pesach” and “anyone without a bris should not eat the korban pesach” but I eat from the best of the best! ‘ Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira asked him, ‘Do theygive you the tail?’ He replied, “No.”

Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira said to him, ‘When you go there tell them that they should give you part of the tail.’

When he went back to Yerusholayim he asked for part of the tail. They said to him, ‘The tail is burnt on the mizbeach.Who told you to ask for this?’ He replied, ‘Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira.’ They investigated the matter and found that he was an Aramean so they killed him.

They sent a message to Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira, ‘Peace to you Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira, you are in Netzivin but your net is spread out in Yerusholayim.’”

Tosafos asks why Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira himself was not oleh regel to Yerusholayim. Tosafos says:

ורבי יהודה בן בתירה שלא עלה לרגל יש לאמר שלא היה לו קרקע... אי נמי נציבין חוץ לארץ היא

“The reason that Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira himself did not go to Yerusholayim was because he did not own land, alternatively Netzivin is in chutz la’aretz [Because Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira lived in chutz la’aretz he did not have to be oleh regel.”

Only someone who owns land in Eretz Yisroel is chayav to be oleh regel

Tosafos’ first answer, that only someone who owns land in Eretz Yisroel is chayav to be oleh regel, is based on a gemara in Pesachim on daf ches amud beis:

The gemara says:

א"ר אלעזר שלוחי מצוה אינן ניזוקין לא בהליכתן ולא בחזירתן כמאן כי האי תנא דתניא איסי בן יהודה אומר כלפי שאמרה תורה  (שמות לד, כד) ולא יחמוד איש את ארצך מלמד שתהא פרתך רועה באפר ואין חיה מזיקתה תרנגולתך מנקרת באשפה ואין חולדה מזיקתה והלא דברים ק"ו ומה אלו שדרכן לזוק אינן ניזוקין בני אדם שאין דרכן לזוק על אחת כמה וכמה אין לי אלא בהליכה בחזרה מנין תלמוד לומר  (דברים טז, ז) ופנית בבקר והלכת לאהליך מלמד שתלך ותמצא אהלך בשלום וכי מאחר דאפילו בחזירה בהליכה למה לי לכדר' אמי דא"ר אמי כל אדם שיש לו קרקע עולה לרגל ושאין לו קרקע אין עולה לרגל

“Rebbi Elozor said, messengers who go to do a mitzva are not harmed on their way there or when they return. The passuk says “no-one will covet your land when you are oleh regel” – this teaches you that your cow will graze in the pasture and no wild animal will harm it, your chicken will peck in the dung heap and no weasel will harm it.

The gemara makes a kal ve’chomer, if animals which are commonly damaged will not be hurt because you went to do a mitzva, then people, who are not commonly hurt, all the more so will not be injured when they go to a mitzva.”

The gemara continues; I only know that sheluchei mitzva are not hurt on their way there, how do I know that they are also not injured while they return? The gemara brings a passuk in Parshas Re’eh which says that after eating the korban pesach “you will go back to your tent.” [Why does the passuk need to say this, it is obvious and is also not a mitzva?] 

This gemara explains that this teaches you that you will go and you will find your tent in peace.”

The gemara asks; If you know from this passuk that on their return sheluchei mitzva einon nizokin then why do you need a passuk to tell you that on their way there they are not harmed?

The gemara answers that this is correct, we do not need the first passuk for this, rather the possuk of “ולא יחמוד איש את ארצך” is used for a different derasha. It tells you that only people who have land are obligated to be oleh regel and people who do not have land are not obligated to be oleh regel.”

We see that people who do not have land are not chayav to be oleh regel. (Although tosafos uses this gemara le’halacha, the Rambam and the Meiri do not pasken like this.)

Rb Rephoel Kook adds that according to tosafos, it is not sufficient to own land, the land must be in Eretz Yisroel. He proves this from the following gemara:

The gemara says in Eruchin (29a) that the halachos of sedeh cherem only apply when there is yovel (If someone declares their field to be a cherem – which is a type of hekdesh – when they redeem it they have to give the money for the field to either the cohanim or to the beis hamikdosh).

The gemara asks that there was a person in Pumpedisa who made his field into a cherem and Rav Yehudah and Ulla said that he had to redeem his field?

The gemara answers:

לא קשיא הא במקרקעי הא במטלטלי והא מעשה דפומבדיתא במקרקעי נמי הוה מקרקעי דחוצה לארץ כמטלטלי דארץ ישראל דמי

“The possuk that says that there is no cherem at a time when there is no yovel is referring to land, in the case of Rav Yehudah and Ulla it was movable items (metaltelin). The gemara asks, but the case in Punpedisa was with land (so we should say there is no cherem)? The gemara answers that land in chutz la’aretz has the same significance as metaltelin in Eretz Yisroel.”

Only people in Eretz Yisroel are chayav to be oleh regel

The acharonim have difficulty in finding a source for Tosafos’ second answer, that people in chutz la’aretz are not chayav to be oleh regel. The Maharam Shik brings a source as follows:

The gemara says in kiddushin (37b) that for the entire 40 years that the benei yisroel were in the midbar they only brought one korban pesach, and that this was a genai for the benei yisroel.  Tosafos asks why indeed they did not bring the korban pesach during the other years and gives two answers. The first answer is that Rebbi Yishmoel says in the gemara there that whenever the Torah talks about doing a mitzva after coming to eretz yisroel it means that the mitzva only applies after conquering Eretz Yisroel and settling in it.  The Torah refers to bias ha’aretz – coming to eretz yisroel – with regards to the korban pesach. Therefore, according to Rebbi Yishmoel, the benei yisroel were not obligated to bring the korban pesach in the midbar.

This is why the benei yisroel did not bring the korban pesach in the midbar.

The maharam shik brings that Rebbi Akiva asks on Rebbi Yishmoel:

“How can you say that whenever the Torah says you should do a mitzva after coming to Eretz Yisroel it means that the mitzva applies only after they come to Eretz Yisroel. We know that shabbos applies in Eretz Yisroel and also chutz la’aretz although regarding shabbos the Torah uses the word moshavos – your settlements?”

The maharam shik says that you see from Rebbi Akiva’s question that when Rebbi Yishmoel says that mitzvos where Eretz Yisroel is specified only apply after coming to Eretz Yisroel, he also means that the mitzva does not apply after leaving Eretz Yisroel.

This is therefore the source for Tosafos in Pesachim that people in chutz la’aretz are not chayav to be oleh regel.

30 days travel

The mishneh le’melech (referenced in the gilyon hasha on Tosafos, Pesachim 3b) says that the Rambam does not agree to Tosafos’ halacha and that people in chutz la’aretz are also chayav to be oleh regel. Nevertheless, the She’elas Yaavetz says (based on the gemara in Pesachim 70b) that even if someone lives in Eretz Yisroel, if they are over 30 days journey from Yerusholayim, they do not need to be oleh regel.

The gemara says that יהודה בן דורתאי went to live in the south of eretz yisroel so that he would not be chayav to be oleh regel. (He held that the chagigah is docheh shabbos, however the chachamim held it was not. He did not want to be chayav to be oleh regel because had he been, then according to him, on shabbos he would have been mevatel the mitzva of brining the chagigah.)

The She’elas Yaavetz explains that the reason he was patur is because he lived over 30 days travel from the beis hamikdash. The chiyuvim that relate to Yom Tov only begin 30 days before Yom Tov, for this reason a person is chayav to learn the halachos of Yom Tov 30 days before Yom Tov. Therefore if when these 30 days start it would not be possible for him to reach the beis hamikdosh, he is patur from going.