ABSTRACT
The institution of pilgrimage is evident in all world religions and was also important in the pagan religions of ancient Greece and Rome. Victor Turner set up a typology of pilgrimage comprising four categories. In Rava's lifetime Christian pilgrimage intensified with the encouragement of the Emperor Constantine, who in 325 built the Church of the Annunciation. Pilgrims now flock to Meron on 18 Iyar, the minor festival of Lag baOmer, which is said to be the anniversary of Simeon's ascent' to the higher world. Saints, holy shrines, frequent pilgrimages, belief in miraculous power of saints and holy men, though pre-Islamic, were often adopted and shared by Muslims and Jews across North Africa. No account of Jewish pilgrimage can omit reference to the greatest Hebrew poet of medieval times, Yehuda Halevi, who combines in his poetry imagination, linguistic clarity and fluency, and deep personal religious experience. Aliya l'Regel, the classical biblical pilgrimage, remains the model though not currently in operation.
