Said Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel ..... There were no greater festivals for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur. On these days the daughters of Jerusalem would go out... and dance in the vineyards. And what would they say? "Young man, raise your eyes and see which you select for yourself...."
And so it is written, "Go out, daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon, in the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day and on the day of his heart's rejoicing" (Song of Songs 3:11). "His wedding day" ~ this is the Giving of the Torah. "the day of his heart's rejoicing" ~ this is the building of the Holy Temple, which shall be rebuilt speedily in our days.
Talmud, Taanit 26b
The Talmud goes on to list several joyous events which occurred on the 15th day of the month of Av ....
1) The dying of the generation of the Exodus ceased.
Several months after the people of Israel were freed from Egyptian slavery, the incident of the "Spies" demonstrated their unpreparedness for the task of conquering the land of Canaan and developing it as the "Holy Land." Ha'Shem decreed that that entire generation would die out in the desert, and that their children would enter the land in their stead (as recounted in Bamidbar 13 and 14). After 40 years of wandering through the wilderness, the dying finally ended, and a new generation of Jews stood ready to enter Eretz Yisrael. It was the 15th day of Av of the year 2487 from creation (1274 BCE). As long as members of this doomed generation were still alive, Ha'Shem didn't communicate with Moshe. As soon as the last of these men died, once again Ha'Shem lovingly communicated with Moshe.
2) The tribes of Israel were permitted to intermarry.
In order to ensure the orderly division of the Holy Land between the twelve tribes of Israel, restrictions had been placed on marriages between members of two different tribes. A woman who had inherited tribal lands from her father was forbidden to marry out of her tribe, lest her children ~ members of their father's tribe ~ cause the transfer of land from one tribe to another by inheriting her estate (as recounted in Bamidbar 36). This ordinance was binding on the generation that conquered and settled the Holy Land; when the restriction was lifted, on the 15th of Av, the event was considered a cause for celebration and festivity.
3) The tribe of Benjamin was permitted to enter the community.
Av 15th was also the day on which the tribe of Benjamin, which had been excommunicated for its behaviour in the incident of the "Concubine at Givah," was readmitted into the community of Israel (as related in Shoftim 19-21 ... this occurred during the judgeship of Othniel ben Knaz, who led the people of Israel in the years 2533-2573 from creation (1228-1188 BCE)).
4) Hosea ben Eilah opened the roads to Jerusalem.
Upon the division of the Holy Land into two kingdoms following the death of King Solomon in the year 2964 from creation (797 BCE), Jeroboam ben Nebat, ruler of the breakaway Northern Kingdom of Israel, set up roadblocks to prevent his citizens from making the thrice-yearly pilgrimage to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judea. These were finally removed more than 200 years later by Hosea ben Eilah, the last king of the Northern Kingdom, on Av 15, 3187 (574 BCE).
5) The dead of Betar were allowed to be buried.
The fortress of Betar was the last holdout of the Bar Kochba rebellion. When Betar fell on the 9th of Av, 3893 (133 CE), Bar Kochba and many thousands of Jews were killed. The Romans massacred the survivors of the battle with great cruelty and would not even allow the Jews to bury their dead. When the dead of Betar were finally brought to burial on Av 15th, 3908 (148 CE), an additional blessing (HaTov VehaMeitiv) was added to the "Grace After Meals" in commemoration.
6) "The day of the breaking of the axe."
When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the annual cutting of firewood for the altar was concluded on the 15th of Av. The event was celebrated with feasting and rejoicing (as is the custom upon the conclusion of a holy endeavor) and included a ceremonial breaking of the axes which gave the day its name.
This is a direct counterpoise to the 5 Tragedies which befell Am Yisrael on Tisha B'Av ~ the 9th day of Av!
It is no coincidence that Yom Kippur and the 15th of Av served as occasions for matchmaking for the young men and women of Jerusalem:. These two days are the respective betrothal and marriage dates of Ha'Shem and Israel. Yom Kippur ~ the day on which the Second Tablets of Torah were given to Moshe, marking the fulfillment of the covenant at Mount Sinai ~ is the day of Israel's betrothal to Ha'Shem. Av 15 ~ the day that represents the rebirth which follows the great fall of the Temple's destruction on the 9th of Av ~ celebrates the ultimate consummation of our marriage with the final redemption of Moshiach. When He comes!
From the writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe .....
From the writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe .....
After relating how "the daughters of Jerusalem would go out ... and dance in the vineyards" and "whoever did not have a wife would go there" to find himself a bride, the Talmud goes on to describe three different categories of "daughters" and how each would call out to her perspective bridegroom ....
What would the beautiful ones among them say? "Look for beauty, for a woman is for beauty."What would those of prestigious lineage say? "Look for family, for a woman is for children."What would the ugly ones say? "Make your acquisition for the sake of Heaven, as long as you decorate us with jewels" (Talmud, Taanit 31a).
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that the marriage of Ha'Shem and His people also includes these three categories of "brides": ..... the souls of Israel include "beautiful" souls, souls "of prestigious lineage," and "ugly" souls, each of whom contribute their own unique dimension to our relationship with Ha'Shem.
There are two types of love, say the Chassidic masters. There is a love that is generated by the person's own mind and heart, when she meditates on the greatness and desirability of a person (or thing, or state) and thereby develops feelings of love and attraction to him/her/it. Then there is an inborn love: .... a love that a person has not created himself ~ indeed, he may be unaware that he possesses it ~ but which resides in his heart from birth, a natural bond and attraction to something that is implanted in his soul by virtue of who and what he is.
"You shall love Ha'Shem" (Devarim 6:5) is a crucial component of our relationship with the Almighty. Aside from the fact that loving Ha'Shem is itself a Mitzvah, it is also a pre-requisite for the proper observance of all the Mitzvot. As Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi elaborates in his Tanya, Mitzvot which are not motivated by a love of Ha'Shem are performed mechanically and erratically. Only one who loves Ha;Sgem serves Him in a manner that is both integral and enduring.
By studying what Ha'Shem has revealed about Himself to us in His Torah, and contemplating and meditating upon these truths, one develops a feeling of love toward Him .... a desire to approach His great and magnificent being, to unite and become one with it. Indeed, this is one of the primary functions of human davening, "the service of the heart". To generate a feeling of love for the Creator by meditating on His greatness and majesty.
But also the person who does not succeed in creating a "self-generated" love by these means can attain a love of Ha'Shem, by resorting to the inborn love for Him we each possess as "an inheritance from our forefathers." Abraham, the first Jew, was the very embodiment of divine love ("Abraham, who loves Me," in Ha'Shems words .... ), and Ha'Shem rewarded him with the gift of "fatherhood" ~ the ability to bequeath this love to his descendants. So each and every Jew has Abraham's love of Ha'Shem encoded in his spiritual genes. As with all inborn characteristics, this love may be buried in the subconscious, stifled by the dross of material life ... but it can always be wakened and called upon to stimulate and vitalize our observance of the mitzvot.
The advantages of the second type of love are obvious. Every Jew possesses it ~ and the ability to realize it ~ regardless of the extent of his cognitive and meditative skills or his spiritual sensitivity. Furthermore, a self-generated love will always be limited by the finite capacities of the mind and heart which have created it, and will fluctuate in accordance with the person's mental and emotional state at any given moment; our inborn love, being divinely granted, is infinite and unequivocal.
But there are advantages to self-generated love as well. Though lesser in essence and scope, it is more keenly felt, more exuberantly experienced. For such is our nature .... what we create is more precious to us than the most valuable endowment, what we conceive of ourselves is somehow more relevant and real than what is learned from the greatest master. So although the stimulation of our inherited love for Ha'Shem would suffice to drive our observance of the mitzvot, we should nevertheless strive to enhance our relationship with Him with the ecstasy and passion that only a love created by our own faculties and initiative can bring. In the words of our sages, "Although a fire came down [on the Altar] from the heavens, it is imperative to also kindle a man-made fire."
Therein lies the deeper significance of the Talmud's description of how "the beautiful ones,"those of prestigious lineage" and "the ugly ones" among the daughters of Jerusalem conducted their courtship dance in the vineyards on Av 15th. "
The dancing maidens of Jerusalem calling out their virtues to their prospective bridegrooms echo the call of the souls of Israel to their Divine Groom. Among these are the beautiful souls, those who have achieved a best-of-both-worlds perfection in their love of the Almighty: a passionate, self-generated love set upon the immutable foundation of inherited love. "A woman is for beauty," call these souls to Ha'Shem take us as your bride, and You will be rewarded by the pleasure You derive when Your creations realize the potential for perfection You have invested in them.
Then there are the souls of "prestigious lineage." We cannot offer you the flawless beauty of our perfect sisters ~ they call to Ha'Shem ~ but we have unearthed the hereditary love You have implanted in us. "A woman is for children": our relationship might not, as of yet, yield beauty, but it will bear fruit ~ the mitzvot generated by our natural love for You. (In the words of the Midrash Pesikta Zutrati on Bereshit 6:9 "The offspring of the righteous are good deeds.") For is not Your ultimate purpose in creation that Your creations fulfill your will? Our love for you might not excite our senses and illuminate our lives, but we offer You the rewards of family ~ the good deeds that are the tangible, enduring offspring of Israel's commitment to her Creator.
And the ugly ones? Those who have neither roused their minds and hearts to desire their Creator, nor wakened their hereditary loyalty to Him? Those who never generated a self-created love and whose inborn love lies dormant under a squalid veneer of apathy and iniquity? They cry: "Make Your acquisition for the sake of Heaven!"
"Do for Your sake, if not for ours," call the "ugly" souls of Israel. Take us as Your own, despite our appearance, because only You know what lies behind our appearance, and only You know the truth of what You can inspire in us. For You know that, in truth, "The daughters of Israel are beautiful, it is only that poverty obscures their beauty." You know that our "ugliness" is not our true essence, but imposed upon us by the spiritual poverty of galut.
If we have failed to realize our potential for beauty and fruitfulness, then it is left to You to "decorate us with jewels" to shower us with the gifts that will waken our quintessential bond to You and bring to light our innate perfection.
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