AV
Table of Contents
The Fifteenth of Av (Hamishah 'Asar be-Av) was a time of rejoicing
and a popular festival in Second Temple Times. According to the Talmud,
on this day eligible maidens dressed themselves in borrowed white garments
(so that the poorer girls would not feel shamed) and went out to dance
in the vineyards; young men would attend the vineyards, and select their
wives from among the girls.[1]
The Fifteenth of Av is also referred to as Tu be-Av: "Tu" is
the combination of the Hebrew letters tet and vav, whose
numerical value is together fifteen.
The day was probably originally a nature festival - the last day (at
the climax of the solar heat) of bringing wood to the Temple altar.
The Talmud offers other explanations for the source of this day, among
them the anniversary of the day the tribes were first permitted to intermarry
or when the dead of the battle at Betar could finally be buried after
the Bar Kokhba Revolt.[2]
