Time for another Shabbos Nachamu & Tu B'Av Roundup

The last Mishnah in Taanit (4:8) is positioned so that we end on a good note rather than with the fast of Tisha B'av. It is the famous piece on Tu B'Av:

Rabban Shimon the son of Gamliel said: There were no holidays so joyous for the Jewish People as the Fifteenth of Av and Yom HaKippurim, for on those days, daughters of Yerushalayim would go out dressed in borrowed white clothing, so as not to embarrass the one who didn't have. . . And the daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards. And what would they [the women] say?

"Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you are choosing for yourself. Don't look only at physical beauty - look rather at the family - 'For charm is false, and beauty is vanity. A G-d - fearing woman is the one to be praised...' ("Mishlei"/Proverbs 31:30)

I wrote several posts on Tu B'Av over the years. The first one  gives the origins of the day with the 6 positive historical events.  The next explores variants on what the nubile women would say in the vineyards with additional insight into allegorical significance and textual analysis of differing accounts.  

The following year I shared new thoughts on Tu B'Av and then in 2015 I revisited with yet another take. Tht year, I also wrote about  Shabbos Nachamu . A related blog is The Last Laugh.

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