Tu B'Av () is a minor

Jewish holiday Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' (, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed by Jews throughout the Hebrew calendar.This article focuses on practices of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism. ...

. In modern-day

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, it is celebrated as a holiday of love ( ), akin to

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

. It has been said to be an auspicious day for weddings.

Etymology

Called Tu B'Av because of the sound of the two Hebrew letters whose combined numerical value corresponds to that of the date (15). The value 15 is obtained by combining the values of the letter Tet (9) and Vav (6), which, together, can be read as "tu," hence the name of the festival, Tu b'Av. The number 15 can also be obtained by combining the letters Yud (10) and Hey (5), but such combination would coincide with the first two letters of the

Tetragrammaton The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliteration, transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from ...

, and thus are supplanted by the letters Tet and Vav to avoid using a name for the divine. Av is the name of the month in the Jewish calendar.

Historical significance

According to the

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

, Tu B'Av was a joyous holiday in the days of the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...

, marking the beginning of the grape harvest. On

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

and Tu B'Av, the unmarried girls of Jerusalem dressed in white garments and went out to dance in the vineyards. The

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

states that there were no holy days as happy for the Jews as Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur. Various reasons for celebrating on Tu B'Av are cited by the Talmud and Talmudic commentators:Mishna Taanit 4:8 and

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...

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Rashi on these * While the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years, female orphans without brothers could only marry within their tribe to prevent their father's inherited territory in the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

from passing on to other tribes, following the incident of the Daughters of Zelophehad. After the conquest and division of Canaan under

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

, this ban was lifted on the fifteenth of Av and inter-tribal marriage was allowed. * At the end of Israel's wandering in the wilderness, the last remnant of the generation of the sin of the spies, which had been forbidden from entering the Promised Land, found that they were not destined to die. For forty years, every Tisha B'av the Israelites made graves for themselves in which they slept expecting to be their last night; every year a proportion of them died. In the 40th year, the fifteen thousand who had remained from the first generation went to sleep in the graves and woke up the next day to their surprise. Thinking they made a mistake with the date, they kept sleeping in graves until they reached Tu B'Av and saw a full moon. Only then did they know they were going to enter the Land of Israel with the new generation. *The

Tribe of Benjamin According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The tribe was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch Jacob (later given the name Israel) and his wife Rachel. In the ...

was allowed to intermarry with the other tribes after the incident of the Concubine of Gibeah (see ). *Cutting of the wood for the main altar in the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

was completed for the year. The holiday celebrated the wood-offering brought in the Temple (see ).

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

refers to it as the Feast of Xylophory ("Wood-bearing"). *King Hoshea of the

northern kingdom The Kingdom of Israel ( ), also called the Northern Kingdom or the Kingdom of Samaria, was an History of ancient Israel and Judah, Israelite kingdom that existed in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Its beginnings date back to the firs ...

removed the sentries on the road leading to Jerusalem, allowing the ten tribes to once again have access to the

. *The nights, traditionally the ideal time for

Torah study Torah study is the study of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature, and similar works, all of which are Judaism's Sifrei kodesh, religious texts. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the study is done for the purpose of the ''mi ...

, are lengthened again after the summer

solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...

, permitting more study. *The Roman occupiers permitted burial of the victims of the massacre at Bethar during the Bar Kochba rebellion. Miraculously, the bodies had not decomposed, despite exposure to the elements for over a year.

Modern times

Tu B'Av is a day of joy that follows

Tisha B'Av Tisha B'Av ( ; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism. A commemoration of a number of disasters in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusal ...

by six days and contrasts with the sadness of Tisha B'Av. Tu B'Av does not have many established religious rituals associated with its celebration except that Tachanun is not said—either at

mincha Mincha (, ; sometimes spelled Minchah, Minhah, Mincho or Minchuh) is the afternoon prayer service in Judaism. Etymology The name ''Mincha'', meaning "gift" or "offering", is derived from the meal offering that accompanied each sacrifice offered ...

the day before or on the day itself—and a bride and groom traditionally do not fast if their wedding falls on Tu B'Av. These customs commemorate the happy events that occurred in the history of the Jewish People. In modern times, it has become a romantic Jewish holiday among secular Jews who mostly see it as the Jewish equivalent of

. After experiencing a surge in popularity in the modern state of

, Israelis prefer to celebrate love on Tu B'Av and North American Jewish organizations throw celebrations and offer teachings on Tu B'Av. It serves as a day for matchmaking, weddings, and proposing, but also for increasing Torah study. Tu B'Av is more popular than Valentine's Day since secular Jews and

Haredi Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...

celebrate Tu B'Av while Haredi are less likely to be aware of Valentine's Day.

Pop culture

In Isaac Blum's 2022 novel, '' The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen'' the story begins during Tu B'Av.

References

{{Jewish and Israeli holidays Av observances Days celebrating love Av Minor Jewish holidays nn:15. ab