| The Tu B'Av Dance | Why Tu B'Av? | The Worst is Behind Us | Jewish Unity | The Tisha B'Av - Tu B'Av Relationship | The Tu B'Av Dance The Mishna (Ta'anit 4:8), surprisingly enough, proclaims, "There were no greater holidays (yamim tovim) for Israel than Tu B'av and Yom Kippur, for on them the girls of Jerusalem used to go out in borrowed white dresses ... and dance in the vineyards. What would they say? 'Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself ...' " Art: Jack Davis In earlier times Tu B'av was a festival dedicated to young Jewish men and women finding their mates. Even today, the wall posters of Jerusalem announce special Tu B'av prayers for finding a match. Why choose the fifteenth of Av for such a celebration? Surely there is ample opportunity on the intermediate days of Pesach or Sukkot to have the Jewish singles meet? Why pick a week after Tisha B'av? Why Tu B'Av? The Talmud (Taanit 30b-31a) quotes six reasons why Tu B'av was made a holiday: Marriage between different tribes of Israel was permitted that day. In the desert, a ban on inter-tribal marriage insured that land would not pass out of the hands of the tribe it originally belonged to. [See Numbers 36] Intermarriage with the tribe of Benjamin was once again permitted after the Pilegesh B'giva civil war. [See Judges 21] (R. Yosef in the name of R. Nachman) The generation that left Egypt ceased to die in the wilderness. Consequently, Moses returned to his previous high level of prophecy. (Rabba bar bar Channa in the name of R. Yochanan) King Hosea permitted residents of the Northern Kingdom to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, once again. (Ulla) The dead of the great fallen city of Betar were granted burial by the Roman government. Starting on the fifteenth of Av the sharp heat of the sun begins to wane. Wood cut after that date was thus unfit for use on the Altar -- it was feared to be wormy. The Worst is Behind Us Reasons 3 and 5 are reminiscent of two of the events that Tisha B'av commemorates: It was on Tisha B'av night that God decreed that the generation of the wilderness would not enter the Land of Israel; and it was on the same day about fifteen hundred years later that Betar fell to the Romans and its dead were left unburied. Tu B'av, in contrast, marks the end of the death of the desert generation and the end of the disgrace brought on by the exposed bodies of Betar. Tu B'av comes when things are at least starting to move in a positive direction. No Temple has been rebuilt, and the people of Israel have not yet entered the land - but the worst is over. Perhaps this is even reflected in the weather -- from Tu B'av on, the fierce heat of the sun subsides; the days are becoming shorter. Jewish Unity Reasons 1, 2, and 4 express a common theme that must surface soon after Tisha B'av -- Jewish unity. Marriage only within one's own tribe, though crucial for establishing tribal identity in that first generation, would have left Israel a loose confederation of states and not a unified nation. A cease-fire that would have left Benjamin politically associated with the rest of the tribes but still forbade marrying them would have, in effect, still cut off one tribe from the rest of Israel. The ability for all of the tribes to marry each other - necessary to facilitate a deep, fundamental sense of Jewish oneness - is worth celebrating. Likewise, Hoshea ben Elah, the last of the kings of the Northern Kingdom, took a step away from a total break-off by allowing the pilgrimages that Jereboam, his predecessor, forbade. He thereby tacitly recognized Jerusalem as the spiritual center of a unified Israel. The Tisha B'Av - Tu B'Av Relationship Tu B'av allows us to breath easy after Tisha B'av - the worst has passed and it starts to get better. It comes with a message, though - we must counteract the national fragmentation that brought about the destruction of our Temple by celebrating the unity of the Jewish people. 15th Av Curios Tu B'Av and Tisha B'Av Fences of Holiness