Parshat Ekev-tu Bav

Parshat Ekev-Tu b’Av 5759 Dancing in the Streets Rabbi Ari Kahn During this week, a holiday of unclear significance was commemorated: the Fifteenth of Av (Tu b’Av). According to various authorities, the Torah reading of any particular week is somehow related to the events that unfold during the week. This is certainly seen to be true regarding holidays which fall during the week. The Sages divided the Torah readings with an eye on the calendar, in order that these themes may be appropriately expressed.1 One of the major lessons in this week’s Parsha is the lesson of mutual responsibility. This, along with the idea of reward and punishment, is the message of the second chapter of the Sh’ma, which is taught this week and has been institutionalized in our daily prayers. And it shall come to pass, if you shall give heed diligently to my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. That I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your cattle, that you may eat and be satisfied. (11:13-15) Unlike the first chapter of the Sh’ma, here the ideas are written in the plural. Clearly, rainfall is a national or at least a communal occurrence and not merely a localized, personal phenomenon. It is this issue of national responsibility which may be the idea behind the connection with Tu b’Av. The Mishna’s description of the import of the day contains a surprising analogy. This hitherto unknown day is compared with Yom Kippur, arguably the holiest day of the year.2 R. Shimon ben Gamaliel said: There never were in Israel greater days of joy than the Fifteenth of Av and the Day of Atonement. On these days the daughters of Jerusalem used to walk out in white garments which they borrowed in order not to put to shame any one who had none. All these garments required ritual dipping. The daughters of Jerusalem came out and danced in the vineyards exclaiming at the same time, “Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself. Do not set your eyes on beauty but set your eyes on [good] family. ‘Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that fears the lord, she shall be praised’. And it further says, ‘Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her works praise her in the gates’. Likewise it says, ‘Go forth, o ye daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon, even 1

This opinion has been expressed by numerous scholars including the Shla Hakadosh, Ba’al Hatanya, Rav Zadok Hakohen. 2 Rav Menachem Azarya Defano, and Rav Zadok Hakohen (Yisrael Kedoshim section 5) both point at the power of minhag –custom- at the core of this day. We know of Torah festivals, and Rabbinic festivals; Tu B’Av has its unique charisma as an expression of the power of custom.

upon the crown wherewith his mother had crowned him on the day of his espousals, and on the day of the gladness of his heart’. ‘On the day of his espousals:’ this refers to the day of the giving of the law. ‘And in the day of the gladness of his heart:’ this refers to the building of the Temple; may it be rebuilt speedily in our days. (Ta’anit 26b) This Mishna is the concluding Mishna of the tractate of Ta’anit, which deals with fast days and the laws of fasting. The previous Mishna had taught the laws of the ninth of Av. Now the Mishna continues to the next day of importance in Av – Tu b’Av. Ostensibly the intent of the Mishna is to end on a positive note, especially after all the tragedies which had been previously enumerated. Indeed, the Mishna concludes with the building of the Temple, clearly a cause for monumental joy. A scene of dancing and celebration is described, raising two questions: This description seems dissonant with our understanding of Yom Kippur. And secondly, what is the significance of Tu b’Av whereby it would deserve the same celebration as Yom Kippur? The Talmud explains the joy of Yom Kippur while posing the question about Tu b’Av: I can understand the Day of Atonement, because it is a day of forgiveness and pardon and on it the second Tablets of the Law were given, but what happened on the Fifteenth of Av? (Ta’anit 30b) The ecstatic joy, which is absent from the contemporary experience of Yom Kippur, is taken for granted in the Talmud. The experience of Yom Kippur was palatably different in Temple times. We are told that the red string in the Temple turned white, serving as a veritable spiritual barometer of G-d’s forgiveness of man. When the people were shown this tangible sign of forgiveness, celebration erupted. R. Yishmael said: But they had another sign too: a thread of crimson wool was tied to the door of the Temple, and when the he-goat reached the wilderness the thread turned white, as it is written: ‘Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow’. (Yoma 68b) They would accompany him (the Kohen Gadol) to his house. He would arrange for a day of festivity for his friends whenever he had come forth from the Sanctuary in peace. (Yoma 70b) This type of joy was spontaneous, even though it was a yearly occurrence on Yom Kippur. Singing, dancing and celebration broke out all over. The women of Jerusalem began dancing in the vineyards. Marriage was on their minds. Perhaps this is the reference at the end of the Mishna: ‘On the day of his espousals:’ this refers to the day of the giving of the law. The Talmud had described Yom Kippur as a day of “forgiveness and pardon and on it the second Tablets of the Law were given.” Yom

Kippur is viewed as a day which encapsulates the commitment between the Jewish People and G-d. It is the day that the Jews finally took their vows and were forgiven for the indiscretion involving the Golden Calf. The Seventeenth of Tammuz, the day Moshe came down with the Tablets in hand, should have been the day when the Jews solidified their commitment with G-d. Instead it became a day of infamy. The fate of the entire community was held in abeyance in the following weeks until Moshe was invited once again to ascend the mount on the first day of Elul. Forty days later, on the Tenth of Tishrei, the day celebrated henceforth as Yom Kippur, Moshe descended with the second Tablets as well as G-d’s message that He had forgiven the Jewish Nation. This is what the Mishna describes as “the day of his espousals”. This idea dovetails with the teaching that one’s wedding day is a day of personal forgiveness, and has a cathartic, “Yom Kippur- like” element.3 This may also explain the practice of reading the section of the Torah which enumerates forbidden relations on Yom Kippur afternoon: The backdrop of celebration in the streets explains this choice of Torah selection, both as a warning against unmitigated, excessive frivolity, and as a demarcation of forbidden relations. While the celebratory aspect of Yom Kippur has been identified, the Fifteenth of Av remains elusive. The Talmud offers numerous explanations for the joy on that day: Rav Yehdah said in the name of Shmuel: It is the day on which permission was granted to the tribes to inter-marry. … R. Yoseph said in the name of R. Nachman: It is the day on which the tribe of Binyamin was permitted to reenter the congregation [following the episode of the concubine in Givah]. … Rabbah b. Bar Chanah said in the name of R. Yochanan: It is the day on which the generation of the wilderness ceased to die out. …‘Ulla said: It is the day on which Hoshea the son of Elah removed the guards which Yeravam the son of Nevat had placed on the roads to prevent Israel from going [up to Jerusalem] on pilgrimage, and he proclaimed ‘Let them go up to whichever shrine they desire.’ R. Mattenah said: It is the day when permission was granted for those killed at Betar to be buried. …Rabbah and R. Joseph both said: It is the day on which [every year] they ceased to fell trees for the altar. It has been taught: R. Eliezer the elder says: From the Fifteenth of Av onwards the strength of the sun grows less and they no longer felled trees for the altar, because they would not dry [sufficiently]. R. Menashya said: And they called it the Day of the Breaking of the Axe. From this day onwards, he who increases [his knowledge through study] will have his life prolonged, but he who does not increase [his knowledge] will have his life taken away. What is meant by ‘taken away’? — R. Yoseph learnt: Him his mother will bury. (Ta’anit 30b-31a) While the Talmud offers six different reasons for celebration on Tu b’Av, many of these reasons seem insufficient to cause the type of celebration described. Many commentaries agree upon the primary cause of celebration, citing the others listed above as additional 3

This idea may be found in The Jerusalem Talmud

events that transpired on that day. The Midrash describes the first “Tu b’Av” ever celebrated: R. Abin and R. Yochanan said: It was the day when the grave-digging ceased for those who died in the wilderness. R. Levi said: On every eve of the Ninth of Av Moshe used to send a herald throughout the camp and announce, ‘Go out to dig graves’; and they used to go out and dig graves in which they slept. On the morrow he sent out a herald to announce, ‘Arise and separate the dead from the living.’ They would then stand up and find themselves in round figures: 15,000 short of 600,000. In the last of the forty years, they acted similarly and found themselves in undiminished numerical strength. They said, ‘It appears that we erred in our calculation’; so they acted similarly on the nights of the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th. When the moon was full they said, ‘It seems that the Holy One, blessed be He, has annulled that decree from us all’; so they proceeded to make [the fifteenth] a holiday. Their sins subsequently caused it to become a day of mourning in this world, in the twofold destruction of the Temple. That is what is written, ’Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of them that weep.’ Hence, “And the people wept that night” (Bamidbar 14, 1). (Midrash Rabbah – Eichah, Prologue 33) This description is certainly morbid, yet it succeeds in capturing the pathos of the yearly Tisha b’Av commemoration. On a conceptual level, the Fifteenth marks the end of the Ninth of Av. The cryin g in the desert at the report of the spies created a negative paradigm for the rejection of the Land of Israel and it’s holiness, and even more, the rejection of G-d. This potential was unleashed in future generations when Jews rejected sacred ideas. The Fifteenth of Av marked the end of the death sentence for the sin of the spies. This alone would be sufficient rationale for the Mishna to conclude with a teaching about Tu b’Av. During First Temple times the people certainly did not fast on Tisha b’Av but they may have celebrated Tu b’Av. But what of the other explanations offered by the Talmud? Arguably the strangest choice relates to the pagan king4 Hoshea the son of Elah. He did not lead people toward Jerusalem, toward the service of G-d; rather he displayed remarkably liberal thinking and was not particular whether his constituents served G-d in the Beit HaMikdash or foreign deities! Why would this be a cause for celebration? Hoshea’s decree reversed the nefarious deeds of his predecessor on the throne, Yeravam. Yet even this reversal seems insufficient cause for celebration: Hoshea merely removed the guards charged with preventing pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Furthermore, during Hoshea’s reign the Ten Tribes were carried into captivity. In order to understand the significance of Hoshea’s decree we must first understand the implications of Yeravam’s actions. Due to the

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For more on this king see II Melachim, Chapter 15:30. “And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him, and killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Yotham the son of Uzziah.”

spiritual failings of Shlomo, G-d wrested part of the monarchy from the Davidic family. And it came to pass at that time when Yeravam went from Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahiya the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and the two were alone in the field; And Ahiya caught the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces; And he said to Yeravam, 'Take you ten pieces; for thus said the Lord, the G-d of Israel, 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom from the hand of Shlomo, and will give ten tribes to you; But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel; (1 Melachim 11:29-32) Yeravam ignored G-d’s plan and built an alternative place of worship in an attempt to deter the people from Jerusalem, and, perhaps, allegiance to the Family of David. Motivated by jealousy, totally misdirected and self-centered, Yeravam did the unthinkable: he built places of worship replete with Golden Calves: Then Yeravam built Sh'chem in Mount Ephraim, and lived there; and went out from there, and built Penuel. And Yeravam said in his heart, 'Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David; If this people go up to do sacrifice in the House of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn back to their Lord, to Rehavam King of Yehudah, and they shall kill me, and go back to Rehavam King of Yehudah. (1 Melachim 12:25-27) And the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Beit-El, and the other he placed in Dan. (1 Kings 12:28,29) Now we gain some insight into the actions of Hoshea: Unlike Yerovam, Hoshea was not afraid or jealous of Jerusalem or David’s family. He may have been an idolater, but he was not filled with spiritually self-destructive venom and hatred.[For more on Yeravam see my “Notes” on Parshat Vay’chi 5759.] Thus, his removal of the guards stationed by Yerovam, indicative of a healing from the hatred and jealousy, and a possibility for reconciliation. The root of human hatred harks back to the fratricide perpetrated by Cain. In the Jewish community, the core is the hatred of the sons of Leah toward the sons of Rachel. Yeravam’s scheme proved that a son of Rachel could be just as bad, if not worse than the sons of Leah. The idea of a Temple is a manifestation of the unity of Israel. Within the community there are diverse spiritual potentials. The primary tribes are Yehuda the son of Leah who would be king, and the tribe of Yosef, the favorite son, the son of Rachel. It may be argued that had the sons of Ya’akov all been united the Temple would have stood in the portion of Yosef (Jerusalem) and kingship would have been the realm of Yehuda. With the sons of Rachel and Leah united, this Temple would never have fallen. Unfortunately the brothers are

never able to resolve their differences with Yosef. The son of Rachel who becomes the unifying symbol of the people is Binyamin, and the Temple will therefore stand in his portion. This explains the tears of Yosef and Binyamin at the moment when Yosef reveals himself to his brothers:[See my “Notes” on Vayigash 5758] And he fell upon his brother Binyamin’s neck, and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck. (Bereishit 45:14) R. Eleazar said: He wept for the two Temples which were destined to be in the territory of Benjamin and to be destroyed. And Binyamin wept upon his neck: he wept for the Tabernacle of Shiloh which was destined to be in the territory of Yosef and to be destroyed. (Megila 16b – see Rashi Bereishit 45:14) The hatred of the brothers created the spiritual power for the hatred which would one day destroy the Temple. Furthermore, this simmering conflict causes the Temple to be built in the portion of Binyamin, and not in the portion of Yosef. This is the same hatred that poisoned Yeravam and motivated him to place guards in the path of would-be pilgrims to Jerusalem. On Tu b’Av, when Hoshea rescinds the evil edict of Yeravam, the division and hatred cease.5 This theme of division and reunion may be the key to some of the other reasons offered by the Talmud. Significantly, the prohibition of inter-tribal marriage began with the daughters of Zelofchad – from the tribe of Yosef. Surely, this law, which maintained each tribe as insulated and separate, also had a negative impact on interpersonal relationships between Jews. Likewise, the isolation of the tribe of Binyamin is now seen in a different light: Their role in the episode of the concubine of Givah was certainly an outrage [See the Shoftim, Chapters 19,20,21]. But the isolation of an entire tribe, specifically of the son of Rachel, was even more significant in light of the ongoing division between the sons of Rachel and the sons of Leah. Tu b’Av, in all three of these episodes, marks a merging of the sons of Rachel who had become estranged from the community. Tu b’Av, then, is a day which has the potential to rebuild the Temple. Unity of the community is a prerequisite for building the Temple. This is the intention of the last phrase in the Mishna which we saw at the outset: Likewise it says, ‘go forth, o ye daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon, even upon the crown wherewith his mother had crowned him on the day of his espousals, and on the day of the gladness of his heart’. ‘On the day of his espousals:’ this refers to the day of the giving of the law. ‘And on the day of the gladness of his heart:’ this refers to the building of the Temple; may it be rebuilt speedily in our days. (Ta’anit 26b)

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On Tisha B’Av the tribes of Yosef and Yehuda were united: When the spies returned only Yehoshua and Calev, from the tribes of Yosef and Yehuda respectively, remained steadfast in their desire to enter Israel. They serve as the prototypes for the Messiah from Yosef, and the Messiah from David (Yehuda), who usher in the messianic era. See Sukka 52a

After describing the unique celebration of Yom Kippur and Tu B’Av, the Mishna intertwines the Giving of the Law and building of the Temple. As we have seen, “the giving of the Law” refers to Yom Kippur. Now we understand why the reference to “the building of the Temple” refers to Tu b’Av. On this day the daughters of Jerusalem would share their clothes and dance merrily in the streets, united. The Zohar identifies the type of material the garments are made from: “Scarlet” (tola'at shani) is connected with the Fifteenth day of Av, a day on which the daughters of Israel used to walk forth in silken dresses. (Zohar Sh’mot 135a) The significance of silk is not immediately apparent. This may be a mystical message: Silk is not like wool or linen. The Vilna Gaon points out that the prohibition of mixing wool and linen – shatnezemanates from the hatred between Cain and Abel. On these glorious days the daughters of Jerusalem freely share their clothing, with no hatred or jealousy in their hearts. Perhaps this served as a type of a healing for the hatred which was directed toward Yosef, symbolized by his coat of many colors. This may also be the significance of the Talmud’s description of G-d attempt to lure Yeravam back into the fold: ‘After this thing Yeravam turned not from his evil way.’ What is meant by, ‘after this thing’? — R. Abba said: After the Holy One, blessed be He, had seized Yeravam by his garment and urged him, ‘Repent; then I, thou, and the son of Yishai [i.e.. David] will walk in the Garden of Eden.’ ‘And who shall be at the head?’ inquired he. ‘The son of Yishai shall be at the head.’ ‘If so,’ [he replied] ‘I do not desire [it].’(Sanhedrin 102a) G-d grabbed him by his clothing to break his jealousy; alas, Yeravam could only join if he was given center stage and the leading role. Ultimately he was unable to control his self-centeredness. This is the secret of Tu b’Av and the reason that marriages abound on this day. The ability for a couple to marry is based on each one controlling innate egoism and narcissism. Marriage is the most basic of relationships. The rebuilding of the Temple is dependent on the community being able to unite in a similar manner. The first step is controlling hatred and jealousy, breaking the boundaries that exist between people. Tu b’Av is a day which commemorates this type of healing behavior. The Talmud therefore associates the mitzva of bringing joy to the newly married couple with building Jerusalem: And if he does gladden him (i.e., the groom) what is his reward?… R. Nahman b. Isaac says: It is as if he had restored one of the ruins of Jerusalem. (Brachot 6b) We are taught that in the future the fast days marking the Temple’s destruction will be transformed into days of celebration:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall become times of joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts to the house of Yehuda; therefore love truth and peace. (Zecharia 8:19) Rav Zadok Hakohen from Lublin taught that the Ninth of Av will indeed become a holiday – a seven-day holiday similar to Pesach. The first day will commemorate the coming of the Messiah. Then there will be Chol haMoed, and on the seventh day – Tu B’Av - the Temple will be rebuilt. The day when Jews came out of their graves years ago will mark the spiritual rebirth of the entire nation, symbolized by the building of the Temple. This will be followed by the ultimate Resurrection, once again the people will climb out from their graves, as the world reaches its perfection and completion. On that day the joy in the streets will be echoed in the vineyards surrounding Jerusalem, and will reverberate throughout the entire world. © 1999 Rabbi Ari Kahn, All Rights Reserved