32 | JULY 22 • 2021 

The Great Restoration

S

lowly but surely, the 
lives we enjoyed B.C. 
(Before COVID) are 
beginning to return. We’re 
beginning to have Shabbos 
guests again, 
and schools are 
planning on 
returning to 
(almost) nor-
mal in the fall. 
Shuls are slowly 
returning to 
normal, planning 
full in-person High Holiday 
services and even bringing back 
their Kiddushes.
As we return to these parts 
of our lives, we can now better 
appreciate what we previously 
took for granted. After living 
our lives apart, we find new joy 
in reconnecting. These causes 
for celebration enable us to find 
new meaning in the upcoming 
“minor” holiday of Tu b’
Av (the 
15th of the month of Av).
Although seemingly minor, 
the Mishnah (Taanit 26b) 
describes it as one of the two 
happiest days of the Jewish 
calendar (the other is Yom 
Kippur, though that’s for anoth-
er discussion). Those somewhat 
familiar with it know it as the 
Jewish Valentine’s Day. When 
the Temple still stood, single 
women would borrow each 
other’s white dresses (so as to 
not embarrass those whose 
dresses weren’t as beautiful) and 
dance in the fields. Single men 
would see the women dancing, 
approach them and, eventually, 
get married.
The Gemara (Ta’anit 30b) 
asks why Tu b’
Av is such a 
happy day and provides six 

explanations (30b-31a). Each of 
them can be better appreciated 
in light of our year and a half 
of COVID and our return to 
normalcy.
The first is that it celebrates 
the end of the Israelites’ dying 
in the desert. The spies came 
back with their report about 
the Promised Land on the 
night of Tisha b’
Av. According 
to the Midrash, as part of the 
Israelites’ punishment for 
accepting the spies’ defama-
tion, they had to dig their own 
graves and lie in them the night 
of Tisha b’
Av not knowing if 

they would wake up the next 
morning. That morning, those 
who lived that year got up, 
while those who died would 
remain in the graves they had 
dug for themselves.
In their 40th year, the 
Israelites dug their own graves 
again, but, the next morning, 
they were surprised to discover 
that no one had died the previ-
ous night. They assumed that 
they must have miscalculated 
the date, so they lied in their 
graves the next night. And then 
the next. And then the next. 
Finally, by the 15th of Av, they 
noticed the full moon, and 

realized that they had not erred 
after all, and that G-d had final-
ly ended the annual plague.
Right now, we are finally 
beginning to climb out of our 
self-dug graves. Over the past 
year and a half, we were con-
fining ourselves to our homes 
whenever possible, unsure 
when the plague would end. 
Despite remaining mostly 
homebound and masked out-
side, we were still anxious about 
whether we may have somehow 
caught it from a delivery person 
or someone in a store. Those 
of us who had to work in per-

son were terrified of catching 
COVID from a coworker, and 
even more terrified should 
we see them cough. Those 
living by themselves couldn’t 
receive visitors or help other 
than deliver meal packages 
and feared dying alone with no 
one able to help. With COVID 
finally ebbing, we have finally 
seen the full moon signifying 
the end to this plague.

TIME TO MARRY
Two other reasons given 
relate to marriage. Shmuel of 
Nehardea of third-century 
Babylonia teaches that, in the 

desert, the Israelites of each 
tribe weren’t allowed to inter-
marry with those of other 
tribes. It was on Tu b’
Av that 
they were given permission to 
do so.
The third- to fourth-century 
Babylonian sage Rav Nachman 
answers that Tu b’
Av was the 
day when the rest of Israel 
found a way to intermarry with 
the tribe of Benjamin. At the 
end of Judges, the rest of Israel 
wages war against and routs the 
tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:14-
48). Right after the war, the 
men of Israel swear that they 
will never let their daughters 
marry them (Judges 21:1). Soon 
afterward, their feelings toward 
Benjamin change; they regret 
making the vow, but they are 
nonetheless constrained by it 
(Judges 21:3-18). It is on Tu b’
Av 
that they figure out a loophole 
enabling Benjamin to marry 
into the rest of Israel (Judges 
21:19-23).
Because of COVID, wed-
dings have either been put on 
hold or held outdoors with 
a limited number of guests. 
While there were certainly 
dates, many single people, espe-
cially those who are immuno-
compromised, did not, making 
them undoubtedly feel very 
lonely. For those unable to date 
or marry due to COVID, Tu 
b’
Av symbolizes and expresses 
their renewed ability to date 
and marry again.
Even for those of us who 
were already married, COVID 
has also prevented us from 
connecting with others. Friends 
had been unable to meet other 
than over Zoom or socially 

Rabbi David 
Polsky

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

The special significance of Tu b’Av in light of COVID.

