Shabbat Gathering: Jewish Valentine's Day.

Gud Shabbos Khaveyrim, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:

Zoom
Meeting ID: 883 8469 4181
Password: 822665
Phone: +1 312 626 6799

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Here we go.

This week, we observed Tu b'Av, the Jewish version of Valentine's Day.

The Torah isn’t the first book I think of when I think about romantic literature. It might not be on the list at all if it weren’t for the Song of Songs. The first mention of Tu b’Av is in the Talmud:

There were no better days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)? (Ta’anit, Chapter 4)

Later in the Talmud, it’s explained that on this day the Biblical “tribes of Israel were permitted to mingle with each other,” namely: to marry women from other tribes (Talmud, Ta’anit 30b).

This is how it worked.

Back in Temple times, near the beginning of the grape harvest, around dusk, unmarried women would gather at the edge of a field with their best white dresses. The women would exchange clothes in the moonlight with each other to disguise their identities and social status. It was a way to prevent the single men from guessing their identities and making a match based on the size of a dowry.

The sun would set. The moon would rise. And the women would take to the field and dance and dance and dance. The single men would watch the women dancing and select a partner. Think of it as a pre-television version of The Bachelorette. Rashi wrote that there was no happier holiday than Tu b’Av.

And may it be for all of us a blessing.

See you tonight!
Mit vareme grusn,
(With warm regards,)

All my love,
brian.

PS

Sean Graham's d'var.
On July 25, 2026, Sean Graham delivered a dvar Torah in honor of his conversion. You can read it here.

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