Tikkun Olam

 (nablopomo day 25) Tu b'Av , or the fifteenth of Av, is a minor Jewish holiday which this year falls tomorrow, on the 26th of July.  It has ancient and modern origins.  In the era of the 2nd Temple ( Beit HaMikdash ha-Sheni ) it was a day of matchmaking, for single women to be married.  This was before the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. After the fall of the Temple, the holiday drifted into obscurity and went unobserved for centuries.  Now, with the resurrection of the State of Israel, it has popped back into popularity and is now sort of the Jewish Valentine's Day .  It is seen as chag ha-ahavah , or the "holiday of love." During the days of the Beit HaMikdash, there were religious customs associated with it.  For one thing, the Talmud and Mishna state that it was a joyous holiday, where the young unmarried women would go out into the fields dressed in white (so as not to distinguish between rich and poor), and dance and sing in the vine...

Isn't it strange that the celebrating-life holiday of Tu b'Av comes so closely after the mourning- death- and- destruction day of Tisha b'Av (yes, and I know that 15 comes after 9*) ? But Tu b'Av is a little known, little celebrated holiday in the Jewish religion. It can pass one by almost unnoticed. Well, it's time we noticed it. This is what Rav Avraham Trugman of Ohr Chadash has to say about Tu b'Av: Tu B’Av – the Holiday of Love Our sages tell us there were no days as joyous in the Jewish calendar as Tu B’Av and Yom Kippur (Taanit 26b). Considering such a strong statement it is a wonder that Tu B’Av is perhaps the least known or appreciated of the holidays. In the last generation though, the significance of this day is slowly re-entering Jewish consciousness and observance. As described in the source above, this was a day when young women would borrow white clothing from each other and go out to the vineyards to sing and dance, and of...