What is Tu B'Av and Why it may be Israel's Strangest Holy Day

10 Views

Thanks! Share it with your friends!

You disliked this video. Thanks for the feedback!

Problems playing the video? Click Here to reload

Watch Videos: Random  |  New  |  Popular

All Essays  |  Report Video   |   Share Video

   - Buy Us a Coffee -

Published Jul 27, 2026

Rabbi Daniel Rowe

Tu B'Av is often called Israel's Valentine's Day, but its roots go far deeper than romance.

The Talmud gives six different reasons for celebrating this date, from tribal reconciliation to the end of the desert generation's deaths to the wood offerings for the Temple altar. None of them seem to explain why this became a day for joy and marriage.

Rabbi Daniel Rowe unpacks a teaching from Rabbi Noach Weinberg zt’l that ties all six reasons together through the concept of nechama, comfort, and shows how Tu B'Av opens the seven weeks leading to Yom Kippur, a journey from mourning to renewed vision.

Aish is partnering with 70+ Jewish Organisations for the biggest Jewish speed dating event.

Sign up here: tubav2026.com/AishRR

00:00 What is Tu B'Av
00:59 Why these days were chosen for marriage
01:55 The first Yom Kippur and national forgiveness
02:16 Reason 1: The tribes agree to intermarry
03:11 Reason 2: The tribe of Benjamin is welcomed back
03:39 Reason 3: The desert generation stops dying
04:47 Reason 4: The dead of Beitar are finally buried
05:36 Reason 5: The wood chopping for the altar ends
06:02 The Seven Weeks of Comfort begin
06:52 What nechama really means
08:17 Comfort as a shift in mindset
09:44 Letting go according to Maimonides
10:27 Why all six reasons share one theme
12:35 From mourning the Temple to moving forward
13:53 Changing how we see the world
14:49 The path from Tu B'Av to Yom Kippur

Be sure to subscribe to the channel for weekly videos on Jewish philosophy, wisdom, and world-changing ideas.
in English