- The Jewish Day of Love
- The 15th of Av: Love and Rebirth
- A lot more than Jewish valentine's day
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Tu B'Av - minor Jewish holiday of love
(ח) אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים
(8) Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel said: There were no days of joy in Israel greater than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur.
בשלמא יום הכפורים משום דאית ביה סליחה ומחילה יום שניתנו בו לוחות האחרונות
אלא ט"ו באב מאי היא
The Gemara asks: Granted, Yom Kippur is a day of joy because it has the elements of pardon and forgiveness, and moreover, it is the day on which the last pair of tablets were given.
However, what is the special joy of the fifteenth of Av?
What is Yom Kippur?
What happened on that day?
Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The fifteenth of Av was the day on which the deaths of the Jews in the wilderness ceased.
When the Jews realized that the decree that God would not speak to Moses had been lifted, they established that day as a permanent day of rejoicing.
Tu B'av, serves as a rectification and reconciliation of the sin of the spies similar to how Yom Kippur serves that purpose with the sin of the Golden Calf.
- Famous Torah of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on the sin of the spies. They wanted to live a Godly existence (like in the desert) and they could not reconcile how this is possible in Israel, when they'd need to work the land and immerse themselves in its physicality.
- the lesson here is, precisely by immersing in our physical existence, in matters of the flesh, in the desires of hte body and channeling them, facing them and elevating them we attain the purpose of Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur.
ט"ו באב מאי היא אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל יום שהותרו שבטים לבוא זה בזה
Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: This was the day on which the members of different tribes were permitted to enter one another’s tribe, by intermarriage. It was initially prohibited to intermarry between tribes, so as to keep each plot of land within the portion of the tribe that originally inherited it.
אמר רב יוסף אמר רב נחמן יום שהותר שבט בנימן לבוא בקהל שנאמר (שופטים כא, א) ואיש ישראל נשבע במצפה לאמר איש ממנו לא יתן בתו לבנימן לאשה מאי דרוש אמר רב ממנו ולא מבנינו
Rav Yosef said that Rav Naḥman said: The fifteenth of Av was the day on which the tribe of Benjamin was permitted to enter the congregation of the Jewish people. After the tragic incident at Gibeah, for which the tribe of Benjamin was blamed, the other tribes ostracized them. They took an oath to prohibit themselves from marrying a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
עולא אמר יום שביטל הושע בן אלה פרוסדיות שהושיב ירבעם בן נבט על הדרכים שלא יעלו ישראל לרגל ואמר לאיזה שירצו יעלו
Ulla said: The fifteenth of Av was the day on which King Hoshea, son of Ela, canceled the guards that Jeroboam, son of Nevat, placed on the roads so that the Jews would not ascend to Jerusalem for the pilgrim Festival. And Hoshea, son of Ela, said that they may ascend to wherever they wish, i.e., they may go to Jerusalem, Bethel, or Dan.
רב מתנה אמר יום שנתנו הרוגי ביתר לקבורה.
Rav Mattana said: There was an additional salvation on this day, as it was the day that the slain of Beitar were brought to burial, several years after the battle at Beitar (see Gittin 57a).
So what is Tu B'Av all about?
What is the underlying theme?
What should be the proper google response for Tu B'Av
- Rupture and Repair are at the heart of Tu B'Av which keys in on the joy that emerges from repair fragmentation which exceeds the joy from the original unification.
- this is the cycle of relationships, particularly marriage. We come together and go through a cycle of closeness--- distance--- greater closeness ---- distance etc... In the words of the kabbalists, this is a cycle of running and returning (distancing and closing in) (citing Ezekiel 1:14.)
- The High Holiday structure bears this in mind. Rosh Hashana is the day of the creation of Man. The day that God said: Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and they shall be one flesh (Bereshit 2:24.) A coming together in Marriage. So too, on this day, we reunify with God as the day of creation is the day we became partners with Him.
- [noteworthy, that this cycle is also reflected in the creation story. In the Image of God, He created them, Male and Female He created them. A major approach in our commentaries is that Man and Women were created as one Being. Yet, they were then separated and Adam told to find his soul mate (his Ezek K'Negdo) "and to be one flesh." Yet, why tell them to be one flesh if, originally, they were. Why separate in the first place only to become one again? Because the oneness the emanates from rupture is superior to simple oneness. We are constantly asked to deepen our relationship, to grow ever closer through this process of "running and returning."
- Rosh Hashana is thus day of unification and bonding. Then, comes Yom Kippur which highlights the repair of the rupture of this unification which is part and parcel of the rhythm and cycle of life and of relationships.
(ח) אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים
שֶׁבָּהֶן בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם יוֹצְאוֹת בִּכְלֵי לָבָן שְׁאוּלִין, שֶׁלֹּא לְבַיֵּשׁ אֶת מִי שֶׁאֵין לוֹ.
וּבְנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם יוֹצְאוֹת וְחוֹלוֹת בַּכְּרָמִים. וּמֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרוֹת, בָּחוּר, שָׂא נָא עֵינֶיךָ וּרְאֵה, מָה אַתָּה בוֹרֵר לָךְ.
...
תנא מי שאין לו אשה נפנה לשם:
(8) Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel said: There were no days of joy in Israel greater than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur.
On these days the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white garments in order not to shame any one who had none.
The daughters of Jerusalem come out and dance in the vineyards. What would they say? Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself.
...
A tanna taught: One who did not have a wife would turn to there to find one.
