Tu B'Av: The Return of Love

Just six days after the breaking of Tisha B'Av, the calendar turns to its very opposite. Tu B'Av, the fifteenth of Av, is named by our sages as one of the most joyful days of the entire year.The moon that went dark at the start of the month now stands full again. The mourning of the Temple gives way to love, to reunion, and to the quiet promise that what was broken can be mended.Our sages describe how on this day the daughters of Jerusalem would go out to dance in the vineyards in borrowed white dresses, so that no one would be shamed for having less than another. The whole day is built on a love that lifts everyone equally, the healing of the very baseless hatred that brought the destruction.This is the secret of Tu B'Av. The same month that holds the deepest fall also holds the return of love. Redemption is not born only from the breaking. It is born from the love we choose afterward.May this Tu B'Av open your heart to love given and love received, and may it draw the final redemption near.