A week following Tisha B’Av  (the Ninth of Av) we celebrate Tu B’Av (the Fifteenth of Av), now often referred to as Hag Ha’Ahava – The Festival of Love. What is the origin of this “holiday” that is sometimes referred to as “Jewish Valentine’s Day”?

The Shulhan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law written by R. Joseph Caro 1488-1575) simply tells us: “It is the custom not to recite Tahanun (the prayer of supplication) on the fifteenth of Av” (Orah Hayyim 131:6). The Mishna Berura commentary (R. Israel Meir HaKohen, “the Hafetz Hayyim”, 1838-1933) explains: “Because according to the Gemara it was an important festival at the time of the Temple.” In other words, we know from the Talmud that Tu B’Av was once an important festival, but from the Mishna Berura it would appear that it is no longer the case. What was the source of this once great festival and why do we celebrate it today?

In the Mishna (Ta’anit 4:8) we read: “Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel said: There were no happier days for Israel than the fifteenth of Av and the Day of Atonement, for on them the daughters of Jerusalem used to go forth in white garments, and these were borrowed, that none should be embarrassed those who had not…And the daughters of Jerusalem went forth to dance in the vineyards. And what did they say? ‘Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you would choose for yourself…’”. Perhaps this is a first clue to the origin of our current Festival of Love, but why is this particular day a festival of any kind?

The Gemara (Ta’anit 30b-31a; Bava Batra 121) offers six reasons for rejoicing on Tu B’Av:

1. “It is the day on which the tribes were granted permission to intermarry.” This refers to the ban upon inter-tribal marriage established in regard to the daughters of Zelophehad: “This is what the Lord has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: They may marry anyone they wish, provided they marry into a clan of their father’s tribe” (Numbers 36:6).
2. “It is the day on which the tribe of Benjamin was permitted to return to the congregation of Israel, as it is written: Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.” (Judges 21:1).
3. “It is the day on which the generation of the wilderness ceased to die out.” This idea is related to the tradition that “on the ninth of Av it was decreed that our ancestors should not enter the Land” (Ta’anit 29a), and to the statement in Midrash Eicha Rabba that fifteen thousand of the “generation of the wilderness” would die every year on the ninth of Av.
4. “It is the day on which Hosea b. Elah removed the guards that Jeroboam b. Nebat had placed on the roads to prevent Israel from going [to Jerusalem] on pilgrimage, and he proclaimed: Let them go up to whichever shrine they desire.” This refers to guards set up by Jeroboam to prevent pilgrimage: “And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David; if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah” (I Kings 12:16-27).
5. “It is the day when permission was granted for the burial of those killed at Betar” following the Bar Kokhba rebellion.
6. “It is the day on which they stopped felling trees for the altar. It has been taught, R. Eliezer the elder says: From the fifteenth of Av onwards the strength of the sun grows less and they no longer felled trees for the altar, because they would not dry sufficiently.”

The first two reasons concern the unity of Israel and the removal of “barriers” that separate different parts of the nation. The following two reasons concern the removal of “barriers” to spiritual unity. The sixth refers to nature, which is independent of history, while the fifth refers to an event that occurred after the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem.
1. From the fact that we are offered a number of explanations, we may surmise that the sages did not know the original reason for rejoicing on the fifteenth of Av. Therefore, they suggested a variety of rationales that emphasize different values. How do these rationales explain the past in a way that makes it relevant to the present?
2. The explanation concerning the “generation of the wilderness” presents a problem inasmuch as it would seem that the dying ceased on the ninth of Av, and not on the fifteenth. The commentary of the Tosafot in Bava Batra explains: “because they were in mourning until part of the day of the fifteenth”. In other words, the dying did not cease on the fifteenth but on the ninth. As a result, the mourners rose from shiva (the seven days of mourning) on the fifteenth. Does this explanation, intended to harmonize an apparent contradiction, contribute to the relevance of Tu B’Av? Does connecting Tu B’Av to Tisha B’Av add significance to our current observance of Tu B’Av?
3. The sixth reason attributes the significance of the celebration to a natural event that affects the Temple ritual. Is this an attempt to “sanitize” an ancient “nature festival” by tying it to the Temple service?
4. The fifth reason knowingly refers to an event that occurred after the destruction of the Temple in order to explain “an important festival at the time of the Temple”. What is the purpose of this explanation?
5. And what of the Festival of Love? The second reason connects the Tu B’Av custom of the “daughters of Jerusalem” mentioned in the Mishna to the problem of finding wives for the men of the tribe of Benjamin, as we read: “So they said: Behold, there is the yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh… And they commanded the Benjaminites, saying: Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch; if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and seize each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin” (Judges 21:19-21). On the face of it, there would not appear to be any historical basis for this suggested relationship between the events. Why did the sages wish to connect them? How should we give appropriate expression to this relationship today?