- Tu B'Av (ט״ו באב, lit.' fifteenth of Av') is a minor Jewish holiday.
- It is called Tu B'Av because of the sound of the two Hebrew letters whose combined numerical value corresponds to that of the date (15). The value 15 is obtained by combining the values of the letters Tes (9) and Vav (6), which, together, can be read as "tu," hence the name of the festival, Tu b'Av.
- The number 15 can also be obtained by combining the letters Yud (10) and Hey (5), but such a combination would coincide with the first two letters of the Tetragrammaton, which are thus supplanted by the letters Tet and Vav to avoid using a name for the divine.
- The Mishna tells us that Tu B'Av was a joyous holiday in the days of the Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem, marking the beginning of the grape harvest.
- On Yom Kippur and Tu B'Av, the unmarried females of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period (before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.) would wear white garments and dance in the vineyards, seeking to draw a suitable spouse.
- The Talmud states that no holy days were as happy for the Jews as Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur.
- While the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years, female orphans without brothers could only marry within their tribe to prevent their father's inherited territory in the Land of Israel from passing on to other tribes following the incident of the Daughters of Zelophehad. After the conquest and division of Canaan under Yehoshua, this ban was lifted on the fifteenth of Av, and inter-tribal marriage was allowed.
- The last generation who sinned with the spies found that they were not destined to die after sleeping in graves every Tisha B'av for forty years. In the 40th year, they woke up surprised and, on Tu B'Av, realized they would enter the Land of Israel with the new generation.
- Wood cutting for the main altar in the Beis Hamikdash was completed for the year, and Tu B'Av celebrated the wood service brought into the Temple (see Nechemiah 13:31).
- King Hoshea of the northern kingdom removed the roadblocks leading to Jerusalem, allowing the ten tribes to reaccess the Temple.
- The nights, traditionally the ideal time for Torah study, are lengthened on Tu B'Av after the summer solstice, enabling more study.
- The Roman occupiers permitted the burial of the victims of the massacre at Betar during the Bar Kochba rebellion. Miraculously, the bodies had not decomposed despite exposure to the elements for over a year.
- Tu B'Av is a day of joy that follows Tisha B'Av by six days and contrasts with the sadness of Tisha B'Av in many ways.
- Tu B'Av does not have many established religious rituals associated with its celebration except that Tachanun is not said—either at mincha, the day before, or on the day itself—and a bride and groom do not fast if their wedding falls on Tu B'Av.
- Tu B'Av is a most mysterious day. A search of the Shulchan Aruch reveals barely a difference in observances or customs for this date.
- Tu B'Av falls out forty-five days before Rosh Hashanah; this is also the first day we begin to wish each other a kesivah vachasimah tovah, to be signed and sealed for a good year.
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