“There were no days of joy in IsraelLit. ''the one who struggles with God.'' Israel means many things. It is first used with reference to Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel (Genesis 32:29), the one who struggles with God. Jacob's children, the Jewish people, become B'nai Israel, the children of Israel. The name also refers to the land of Israel and the State of Israel. greater than Tu b’Av and Yom KippurThe holiest day of the Jewish year and the culmination of a season of self-reflection. Jews fast, abstain from other worldly pleasures, and gather in prayers that last throughout the day. Following Ne'ilah, the final prayers, during which Jews envision the Gates of Repentance closing, the shofar is sounded in one long blast to conclude the holy day. It is customary to begin building one's sukkah as soon as the day ends.” —Babylonian TalmudThe rabbinic compendium of lore and legend composed between 200 and 500 CE. Study of the Talmud is the focus of rabbinic scholarship. The Talmud has two versions, the main Babylonian version (Bavli) and the smaller Jerusalem version (Yerushalmi). It is written in Rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic., Tractate Ta’anit 4:8
The moon blooms into her fullness
radiant and ripe
we rise for divine pairings
immerse our white dresses
sharing them, remaking ourselves
spiraling through vineyards
picking our lovers
sanctifying our future
singing “ketivah v’hatimah tovah—
may your inscription and seal be for good”
luminous
hearts dancing
toward the day when we are most like angels
planting seeds of generations yet to be
and joy
in the tractate on fasting
Chant: “Ketivah v’hatimah tovah”
Ketivah
v’hatimah
tovah
May you be scribed
May you be sealed
May you be blessed
with all goodness …
Ketivah
v’hatimah
tovah
* This chant offers an opportunity to offer your own blessings after “May you be blessed with all goodness.” You may wish to add, for example, “May you be blessed with peace … May you be blessed with health …May you be blessed with love …”
Note: Six days after Tisha b’AvThe holiday on which the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem is commemorated through fasting and prayers., the 9th of Av, the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, comes Tu b’AvTu B'Av is a little-known summer holiday similar to modern May Day. Young, unmarried Jewish women are said to have gone out into the fields dressed in white, where they selected young men as partners. Contemporary Jews, especially in Israel, have begun to recreate this holiday., the 15th of Av, a full-moon festival, celebrated in ancient times as the beginning of the grape harvest, which concluded on Yom Kippur. On Tu b’Av, young women immersed their white dresses in mikvehThe ritual bath. The waters of the mikveh symbolically purify – they are seen as waters of rebirth. A convert immerses in the mikveh as part of conversion. Many Orthodox married women go to the mikveh following their period and before resuming sexual relations. Couples go to the mikveh before being married. Many, including some men, immerse before Yom Kippur; some go every Friday before Shabbat., and then shared clothing, so that no one could tell who was the daughter of a rich family and who the daughter of a poor family. They danced in the vineyards, calling out to the men who came to join with them, so the men should look at their inner qualities, not their outer beauty. It was the custom from Tu b’Av on to speak the greeting “May your inscription and seal be for good” (ketivah v’hatimah tovah). The Talmud discusses Tu b’Av at the end of Ta’anit (“Fasts”).
