The Shabbat Congregational Kiddush
in the Silverstein Hall
is sponsored by Yakov Adler
to commemorate the yahrzeit for his father. .

The Celebration of Tu B’av

By Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom

R. Shimon ben Gamliel said “There never were greater days of joy in Yisrael than the fifteenth of Av and Yom HaKippurim” (Taanit 4:8). The
Gemara asks: I can understand Yom HaKippurim, because it is a day of forgiveness and on it the second Luchot were given, but what happened on Tu B’Av? The Gemara provides six reasons for the celebration of Tu B’Av. One of the reasons given is that the tribes were allowed to intermarry on Tu B’Av.

In Bamidbar 27, the daughters of Tzlofhad are concerned that since their father has already died and he had no sons, his name will be lost. Moshe tells them that if a man dies with no sons, his estate goes to his daughter(s).
Later the chieftains of Tzlofhad’s tribe (Menashe) come to Moshe with a similar complaint. If Tzlofhad’s daughters inherit his land which is part of Menashe and they marry a member of another tribe, the land will revert to that tribe.

Moshe responds that according to the original command, B’not Tzlofhad would inherit their father’s land but they were restricted to marrying within their own tribe. Intermarriage between tribes was somewhat restricted – one could only marry a woman from another tribe if she had at least one brother. The Gemara maintains that the celebration of Tu B’Av is related to the suspension of this restriction, as a
result of the conquest of the Land and the completion of settlement.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel “It is the day on which permission was granted to the tribes to intermarry. Scripture says, This is the thing which Hashem commanded concerning the daughters of Tzlofhad meaning it shall hold good for this generation only”. Just as Yom HaKippurim celebrates a return to the way things ought to be between Man and G-d, Tu B’Av is a commemoration of restoration of the way things ought to be among the members of Am Yisrael.

Although each tribe has its own identity, the goal of the events which brought us to Eretz Yisrael was to unify us as one nation. The most intense expression of this unity is in the ability to weave lives together via marriage, which enhances the fabric of each family and of the nation. In order to preserve tribal identity, it was necessary to restrict this intermarriage until the people were settled in the Land but as soon as that restriction could be lifted and the potential for national unity restored, it was.

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