Mem Moment | Building as Love
Tu b’Av
Tu b’Av—fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Av—was traditionally a day of celebration connected to two major events, one embedded in the annual agricultural cycle and the other in the historical narrative of the Jewish people: (1) the beginning of the grape harvest (agricultural) and (2) the splitting of the wood, the first step in the building of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem (historical). The Mishnah teaches that the young maidens of Israel, adorned in pristine white clothes, would celebrate by flocking to the fields and vineyards to dance together. The Sages taught “Lo hayu yamim tovim l’Yisrael”—there are no greater days for the Jewish people—than Yom Kippur and Tu b’Av, and invoke, for both holidays, the imagery of the receiving of Torah and of a wedding.
Tu b’Av, “Hebrew Valentine’s Day” as many folks know it, is about love. Like piles of wood that become grand buildings and bushels of grapes that become wine, love in all its forms is about transformation and the hope of what is surely to come. The holiday’s two themes—agricultural and historical—are lenses that allow us to see two different sides of love’s transformative potential: the splitting of the wood calls to mind exciting beginnings and the harvest evokes triumphant culmination after a long wait. May our love be infused with celebration, with dedication, and with transformation, an—as Rabbi Menachem Creditor comments on Psalm 89—may our building be with love.