Daf Yomi - Rosh Hashana 16 - Pilgrimage

The Gemara states that Rabbi Yitzchak said that one is obligated to visit his teacher during the festival. This is derived from the verse that states "Why are you going to him today? It is neither a New Moon nor a Shabbos!" This verse was said regarding the woman from Shuneim, who Elisha had blessed with a child and then the child became ill and died. When the woman told her husband that she was returning to Elisha to inform him of the child’s demise, her husband, unaware of what had occurred, inquired why she was going to Elisha. The Gemara states that the verse implies that on the New Moon and on Shabbos one is obligated to visit his teacher.

A question is asked as to why the halacha of visiting one's Rebbe on a Yom Tov is not brought down in Shulchan Aruch. The Noda Beyahuda answers that this was only in the times of the Beis Hamikdosh when there was a mitzva of aliyah l'regel, however after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh, the mitzva of going to your Rebbe also became batel. He explains that the Sages did not want that the honor of the student (Talmid chochom) should be greater than that of the Rav (Shechina).

There are those that ask on the Noda Beyehuda is from the Gemora in Sukkah 27 and other Gemoros where we see that they went to the Reish Gilusa on Yom Tov and Rashi states it was to fulfill the mitzva of going to a Rebbe on Yom Tov. The Beis Hamikdosh had already been destroyed by then and nevertheless they went.

My brother, Reb Ben, cited a Maharitz Chayos (which I have not been able to locate as of yet) that quotes a Midrash that states explicitly that they fulfilled this mitzva even after the Beis Hamikdosh was destroyed.