Tu B'Av - A Jewish Day of Love

Tu B’Av or the fifteenth of the month of Av is a minor holiday whose main theme is that of love. In Israel today, Tu b’Av has become the equivalent of Valentine’s Day and is known as Chag HaAhava—literally, the festival or the holiday of love.

Tu B’Av occupies a very unique place on our calendar and in our liturgical cycle. It comes right on the heels of Tisha B’Av, a day of national mourning on which both Temples were destroyed. The Shabbat immediately following Tisha B’Av is known as Shabbat Nachhamu, or the Shabbat of comfort whose name is taken from the first few words of the haftarah from the Book of Isaiah read on this Shabbat which is the first of the seven haftarot of consolation which we will read on the Shabbatot from now up until Rosh Hashanah. With its focus on the love that we have for others, Tu B’Av allows us to feel a sense of wholeness and renewal after our feelings of sadness and sorrow on Tisha B’Av. Tu B’Av is also interesting in that it is on the full moon. Our tradition states that as the nights are now lengthening, there is more time for one to engage in Torah study, as many feel that the night is a particularly apt time to learn.

Tu B’Av’s observances have waxed and waned over the centuries. It was widely observed during the Second Temple period. In the Mishnah, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel taught that there were no days as joyous for the Jewish people as Tu B’Av and Yom Kippur. The juxtaposition between these two days is rather striking, being that Yom Kippur is our holiest day of the year. What does it have in common with Tu B’Av? Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel explains that the reason for the joy on these days was because the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white and dance in the vineyards, presumably looking for husbands. Each woman, regardless of her social status wore the same robe and each woman borrowed her robe from another so that no one would feel self-conscious about her social station.

The Talmud teaches that many other events occurred on Tu B’Av, including that the ban on women marrying outside their tribe was lifted and the decree against the Exodus Generation, which was fated to die in the desert as a result of the sin of the spies was lifted. During the time of the Second Temple, Tu B’Av marked the last day on which wood could be cut and brought for the alter.

Tu B’Av, being a rather obscure and mysterious day has often gone unnoticed in our holiday cycle. For many centuries, the sole observance on the day was that Tachanun, the supplications which are said during Shacharit (the morning service) and Mincha (the afternoon service) are omitted as it is considered a festive day. Today, there has been renewed interest in the day, particularly in Israel, where it has evolved into the equivalent in many ways of Valentine’s Day. Tu B’Av is a very popular day to hold a wedding. Traditionally, the bride and groom fast on their wedding day, as this day as considered to be their personal Yom Kippur. However, if a wedding falls on Tu B’Av, the bride and groom do not fast.