Tu B’Av — The Day of Joy
Hebrew: ט״ו באב | When: 15 Av
The Mishnah’s Declaration
“There were no greater Yom Tovim for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur” (Mishnah, Taanis 4:8). This striking statement from the Mishnah places Tu B’Av — the 15th of Av — alongside Yom Kippur as a peak day of joy. The Talmud (Taanis 30b-31a) then lists six historical events that occurred on this day, several of them marking the end of tragedies or the opening of new possibilities.
Among them: it was the day the tribes of Israel were permitted to intermarry freely (after the prohibition related to the daughters of Tzelofchad); it was the day the bodies of those killed at Beitar (after the Bar Kochba revolt) were finally permitted to be buried; it was the day the generation of the desert stopped dying.
The Vine-Gatherers’ Dance
The Mishnah describes a remarkable custom: on Tu B’Av, young women would go out to the vineyards wearing borrowed white dresses (so the poor would not be embarrassed) and dance, calling out to the young men: “Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself — do not look at beauty but at family.” This is the origin of the popular understanding of Tu B’Av as a Jewish “day of love.”
But in Chassidus, the dancing in the vineyard is a metaphor for something deeper: the Jewish soul, adorned not in its own garments but in borrowed ones (Torah, mitzvos — which are ultimately G-d’s garments, worn by the soul), calling out to the divine.
The Spiritual Significance: Light After Darkness
Tu B’Av falls just six days after Tisha B’Av — the day of the greatest destruction and mourning. The transition from Tisha B’Av to Tu B’Av is one of the most dramatic reversals in the Jewish calendar. The Kabbalists note that Tu B’Av marks the beginning of the sun’s retreat — from this day, the days begin to shorten significantly. What appears as a diminishment is actually an invitation: “Go study Torah,” says the Talmud — for now the nights grow longer and Torah study can deepen.
In Chassidus: Av is the month whose mazal is Aryeh (lion), month of strength and fire — but also the month of destruction. Tu B’Av is when that fire is redirected from destruction to divine service, from the fiery grief of Tisha B’Av to the fiery joy of avodah.
Tu B’Av and Teshuvah
One of the six events the Talmud lists: “On the 15th of Av, the woodcutters ceased [their work for the Temple].” The Talmud explains that from this point, the sun’s strength is insufficient to fully dry the wood, so it was stopped so that moisture wouldn’t rot the Temple wood. And: from this day forward, whoever adds [Torah study at night] will have his life added.
This is the Tu B’Av teaching for daily life: the plateau has been reached; now turn inward, study, grow. The outward festivity finds its pnimiyut in the deeper learning that follows.