Tu B'Av - The Jewish Day of Love

The holiday of Tu B'Av is celebrated on the fifteenth of the Hebrew month of Av and derives its name because the Hebrew letters 'Tu (ט"ו)' add up to the number 15. The first mention of the fifteenth of Av appears in the Mishnah. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: 'There were no better [i.e., more joyous] days for the people of Israel than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, because on these days the daughters of Jerusalem would go out dressed in white... and dance in the vineyards.' Unmarried women joined their potential partners in the vineyards and would say: 'Lift up your eyes and think whom you choose [to marry].'

The Gemara (a later, interpretive layer of the Mishnah) tries to find the origins of this date as a special joyous day and offers several explanations. One of them is that on this day, the biblical 'tribes of Israel were allowed to intermingle with each other,' namely, to marry women from other tribes (Talmud, Taanit 30b). This explanation is somewhat surprising, as nowhere in the Bible is there a prohibition on 'intertribal marriages' between the 12 tribes of Israel. Presumably, this Talmudic source refers to the story in the Book of Judges (chapter 21): After the civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and the other tribes of Israel, the tribes swore not to enter into marriage with men from the tribe of Benjamin.

In many ways, Tu B'Av, which Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel calls one of the happiest days of the Jewish year, seems to complement Tisha B'Av, the saddest day of the year, occurring less than a week before it. Similar to how the Talmud recounts a number of tragic events that befell the Jewish people on Tisha B'Av, the rabbis attribute many joyous events to Tu B'Av in Taanit 30b.

On this day in biblical times, according to Rabbi Yehuda, members of the various Israeli tribes were once again allowed to marry each other after 'intertribal marriages' between the tribes had initially been prohibited. Possibly, this hints at the story from the Book of Judges, when after the civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and the other tribes, the tribes swore not to marry the tribe of Benjamin. Regarding Yom Kippur, the Talmud asserts that it is a day of joy, 'because it includes elements of mercy and forgiveness,' and also because it was on this day that the second set of tablets were given to the Jewish people.

It is worth noting that Tu B'Av, like other Jewish holidays (Passover, Sukkot, Tu Bishvat), begins on the night of the 14th to the 15th of the Hebrew month, as this night is a full moon according to our lunar calendar. Associating the full moon night with romance, love, and fertility is not uncommon in ancient cultures.

For almost 19 centuries - from the destruction of Jerusalem until the restoration of Jewish independence in the state of Israel in 1948 - the only notable date in Tu B'Av was that the morning prayer did not include the penitential prayer (Tachanun).

In recent decades, Israeli civil culture encourages singing and dancing festivals on the night of Tu B'Av. The entertainment and beauty industries work overtime on this day. This day does not have an official legal status of a holiday - it is a regular workday, and the Israeli rabbinate has not initiated any additions to the liturgy or called for the introduction of any ancient religious practices. The cultural gap between secular society in Israel and the orthodox rabbinate makes it unlikely that these two will find common ground in celebrating this ancient/modern holiday in the foreseeable future.

For many centuries, Tu B'Av was almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar, but in recent decades, especially in the modern state of Israel, it has been revived. In its modern incarnation, it is gradually becoming the Hebrew-Jewish Day of Love, somewhat reminiscent of Valentine's Day in English-speaking countries.