A Celebration of Love and the Coming of the Messiah - Tu B'Av [2]

The Talmud offers a couple explanations for the connection not only to love and romance, but also marriage.

Rabbi Judah bar Ilai said that Samuel of Nehardea (died c. AD 257) described the holiday as a yearly celebration commemorating the lifting of the prohibition of intermarriage between tribes described in Numbers 36:  “This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad…only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry: So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe.” Rabbah bar Hana (died AD 322) refers to the teachings of Rabbi Johanan bar Nappaha (AD 180–279) who more generally taught that Av 15 marked the end of the prohibition of intermarriage with the tribe of Benjamin as described in Judges 20–21. Following the battle at Gibeah, there was a shortage of wives for the surviving men of Benjamin, so the men were allowed to take wives at an annual festival of the Lord at Shiloh (Judges 21:19), grabbing them as they came out to dance in the vineyards during the harvest festival.  This occurred on Tu B'Av, the beginning of the grape harvest. "The LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines."  (Nahum 2:2)

Woman in an Israeli vineyard

 Tu B'Av: the Temple, the Torah, and Loving God

Yet another Talmudic teaching states that Tu B'Av is a memorial of a decision by King Hoshea, the last king of Israel.  King Hosea voided a decree made 50 years earlier by King Jeroboam that forbade the people from making pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Rabbi Jacob Bar Acha (3rd Century) explains that Tu B'Av was the end of the woodcutting season, the annual cutting of firewood for the altar in the Holy Temple for the year. The event was celebrated with feasting, rejoicing, song, and dance, and included a ceremonial breaking of the axe. Bar Acha connected the celebratory nature of Tu B’Av with the time when the days begin to grow shorter.  And because nighttimes is considered the time to study Torah, it signals increased study of God’s Word.

 

Priest at the Altar

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rebbe Schneerson, stressed the importance of loving God—a trait that is acquired when one studies God’s Word and in this way comes to know Him. Of course, prayer, which is “the service of the heart,” is one way that we approach God in order to show Him our love.  (Chabad) Still, love did not abound during the days of Yeshua (Jesus) and the Second Temple. The rabbis say that baseless hatred of Jews against Jews ultimately resulted in the destruction of the Temple and the exile of Adonai's people. Of course, in our time, we are witnesses to Adonai's drawing His people home to the Holy Land, but the Temple has yet to be built. Yet there is always hope.  As Rabbi Avraham Isaac Kook declared, “The [Second] Temple was destroyed because of causeless hatred [among Jews]; it can be rebuilt only by causeless love.” Of course, there is no greater example of causeless love than Yeshua.  Those who follow Him become the temple of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) whose love abounds within that temple, helping us love others without cause.

"We love because he first loved us."  (1 John 4:19)

  

Tu B’Av, Redemption, and the Messiah

“As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.”  (Isaiah 62:5)

As a whole, this day of love on the Jewish calendar is still a very mysterious day; nevertheless, Orthodox Jews recognize that it points to the Messiah. Since it falls on the full moon of what is otherwise a tragic month, it hints at a future redemption. We can better understand this concept if we consider that the full moon brings light to the darkness of a month that commemorates repeated judgment of sin. Still, during Temple Times, both Yom Kippur and Tu B'Av were the traditional days for matchmaking for young men and women of Jerusalem—a redemption of sorts from singlehood into betrothal, from loneliness to the promise of intimate relationship. Likewise, Yom Kippur marks the day on which the Second Tablets were given to Moses and represents the fulfillment of the covenant at Mount Sinai—a redemption from slavery to a nation possessing a covenant with the Creator of the Universe.

An Israeli bride stands with her family. 

Jewish tradition holds that the Messiah will reveal himself to his bride on Av 15. Of course, Believers in Yeshua HaMashiach understand that He is the Bridegroom who betrothed Himself to us on the day He atoned for our sins as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  (John 1:29) He is the Bridegroom (the Lamb of God) who will be returning for His ready bride. “'Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!  Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. ... Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’”  (Revelation 19:6–9)

The Bridegroom saved His beloved for no other reason than causeless love.

And when He returns for His bride, the Glory of the Lord will enter the newly built Temple and the Messianic Era will begin. Dear reader, on Tu B'Av, let us signal the coming of the Bridegroom and ready ourselves for the marriage supper of the Lamb by loving others as He loved us—without cause. 

 

God loves Israel and has an irrevocable covenant with us.  Please be a part of His end-time plan for the complete restoration of the nation, let’s us bring the love of God to Israel and the nations. "Because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your ancestors that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery....  Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments."  (Deuteronomy 7:8–9) "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."  (Luke 10:2)