Happy Tu B’Av, the happiest day in the Jewish calendar. But what is Tu B’Av? Lets try to understand what this joyous day is all about.

The mishna in Taanit tells us that on Tu B’Av, "The maidens went out in the fields and vineyards and danced, and would try to encourage the boys to take note of them. The attractive ones would emphasize their looks and those from good families would emphasize their yichus". Some women would say that if you dress me with fine jewels then we will be more beautiful. The Talmud clarifies all this, in case it is not clear to anyone: Those that had no wives would go there to this ceremony to procure a spouse.

This ceremony took place on Yom Kippur and on Tu B’Av. The Talmud is reconciled to the idea that this would take place on Yom Kippur, after all, the torah was given a second time on Yom Kippur. But what was so special about this, the fifteenth of av, as to warrant this joyous festival of matchmaking? Why this day? 6 theories are given. I would like to mention 4 of the reasons given, figure out how they are all connected to each other, and relate them to the times in which we live.

 Theory number one: On that day the early rabbis figured out that it was permitted to the members of the different tribes to intermarry. Until then they thought that the torah wanted everyone to marry only members of their own tribe. It was on this very day that they figured out, based on the verses, that this law only applied on entry into the land but not for all times. Tribes could intermarry each other.

Theory number two: Tu B’Av is a joyous day because on that day the members of the tribe of Benjamin were permitted to intermarry with the other tribes. Why would you think that one couldn’t marry the tribe of Binyamin? Because the other tribes had sworn in the end of the book of judges "Not any one of us shall give his daughter unto Benjamin for wife." On this very day it was decided that that vow only applied to that generation. Today we can marry from any tribe we want to.

Theory number 3 in the Talmud: "On that day the guards appointed by Jeroboam to prevent the Israelites from coming to Yerusahalaim were abolished by Hoshea the son of Elah, and he said: 'Let them go wherever they choose.'" When the tribes of Israel became divided into two, a northern kingdom of the ten tribes and a southern Judean kingdom, Jerobam, the first northern evil king forbade people to go to Jerusalem for the holidays. But on this very day the guards were removed and all Jews could come together in Jerusalem at least 3 times a year.

So far, if we ask, what do all these theories have in common? What is the theme of the day? We would have to say it was a theme of tribal unity. Today is a day to celebrate the unity of the Jewish people and it is symbolized by this marital rite. But then comes a final theory. Let’s see if we can connect the dots and explain how this last theory relates to the theme of the unity of the tribes.

Theory number four: "On that day permission was given to bury the dead who were killed in battle at the city of Betar." Betar was the last stronghold of Jews who attempted to have independence before modern times. They were smashed by the Romans and massacred across the hills. On this very day, the Romans finally acceded and allowed the Jews to burry their dead. We viewed this not as a footnote to failed resistance, but as an act of G-d that he allowed us to burry our dead. Here the Jews had just lost all hope of resurrecting their kingdom in that generation, and the Jews were celebrating, and blessing G-d for being so good to us. To this day we say the fourth blessing of the benching in honor of this so called great day when Jews were allowed to burry their dead. How bizarre! How can we rejoice on a day like this, a day of burial of the destroyed community of Betar?!

 Betar was the last stronghold of bar kochva’s kingdom. Many rabbis and others criticized this stronghold of the false messiah, bar kochva who ruled in this city. Some have suggested that it would have been better had he not challenged the Romans. Perhaps they would have let us continue to live as loyal Romans in Israel to this day. We could be against them politically, but number one, we appreciated that these were Jews in Betar who were dedicated the dignity and resurrection of the Jewish people. We came to burry them and to honor them and to this day we are grateful they were buried altogether. How does this relate to it being a day of unity? This was the day when all Jews, supporters of bar kochva and opponents went to pay kindness to the rebels and burry them properly.

Today is the day,Tu B’Av, this is the time, a time to reengage with Israel. Some of you are just back from Israel, some are moving to Israel, some are living in Israel. What about the rest of us who are somehow comfortably ensconced in America? By contrast, our lives are so mundane. Our lives and activities at best touch on our local community, not on the vision of a nation.

Parashat va’etchanan asks us to become engaged yet again, to remember the day we stood at Sinai, to remember the passion, the spirit of that day, the giving of the ten commandments. And in the shema, we are asked to make Judaism, torah, and learning a part of our daily lives whether at home or on the road.

Today is Tu B’Av, a day of coming together. Let us celebrate the eternal unity of the Jewish people. Let us reunite spiritually and who knows, maybe one day even physically with our brothers and sisters in Israel, let us reengage emotionally and spiritually with the vision of the State of Israel and our goal as religious Zionists. Let us reengage with Sinai, with the torah, and with G-d. Good Shabbos.