Click here for the Scholar chat schedule.
Email us your question and we'll try to respond within 24 hours.
Type in your email address here:
Select a topic:
Type in your question here:
The Scholar is ready to answer your question. Click the button below to chat now.
A Scholar is currently unavailable at this time, so please check back again. In the meantime you can click here to email Moses your question or search our archives for related topics.
PRINT EMAIL COMMENT
“The Jewish people had no greater holidays than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur.”1
Many joyous events occurred on this day, known as “Tu b’Av.”:
1. After the episode of the spies, it was decreed that all Jewish males between the ages of twenty and sixty would die in the desert. Every year thereafter, on the night of Tishah b’Av – the very night that this decree was made – all men who had reached sixty years of age in the past year would dig graves, lie down in the graves and await their death (– pretty eerie!). On the fortieth year, the men dug the graves, but the sun rose in the morning and no one had perished. Thinking that perhaps they had mistakenly dug their graves a day early, they once again went to sleep in their graves on the next night. They continued this practice until they saw the full moon on the 15th of the month. At this point they realized that they had not erred in their calendar calculations; rather G-d’s fury had abated, and they were free to enter the Holy Land.
2. Moses commanded the daughters of Tzelofchad to marry within their own tribe.2 This injunction also applied to any woman who inherited real-estate from her father. After Israel was completely divided amongst the Tribes, this injunction was lifted – on the 15th of Av – enabling Jewish girls to marry whomever their hearts desired.3
Despite being exposed to the elements for a long period of time, none of the bodies had decomposed!
4. When the northern ten tribes seceded from Davidic rule and established their independent kingdom,5 Jeroboam, the first king of the newly formed empire, established manned roadblocks to stop anyone who wanted to make pilgrimage to the Holy Temple. As a “substitute” for the Temple, he erected two pagan temples, one in the northern end and one on the southern end of his territory. Years later, Hoshea the son of Elah, the last king of the Northern Kingdom removed the roadblocks and allowed his subjects to visit the Temple in Jerusalem – on the 15th of Av.6
5. After the Romans conquered the fortified city of Beitar, they mercilessly slaughtered all its inhabitants. To humiliate the Jews, Hadrian Caesar did not allow their bodies to be interred; instead he used the bodies to fence in a large vineyard he owned. The hundreds of thousands of corpses were stacked atop each other and formed a fence which was nearly 43 miles in circumference! When Hadrian died more than a decade later, the next Caesar permitted the Jews to bury the remains of the Beitar residents. Miraculously, the Jews who went to bury their brethren found that their bodies were intact; despite being exposed to the elements for a long period of time, none of the bodies had decomposed! The permission to bury the dead was granted on the 15th of Av.
6. The 15th of Av was the last day when wood was chopped for the altar. After this date, which marks the onset of autumn, the sun’s strength begins to wane and the wood is moister – and unfit for the altar. The completion of the Mitzvah of chopping wood was accompanied by celebrations and feasts.
Due to the festive nature of the day, we omit the Tachanun from the prayers.
Though we are seemingly in the heart of summer, the days are gradually shortening and the nighttime hours are lengthening. The Talmud7 encourages us to utilize these additional peaceful nighttime hours to study more Torah: “From hereon [after the 15th of Av], one who increases [Torah study] will [have his years] increased!”
In anticipation of the new year which is just around the corner, Tu b’Av is the day when many traditionally begin wishing their fellows, “ketivah vachatimah tovah”—“may you be inscribed and sealed for [a] good [year].”
Footnotes
ADD A COMMENT
