“There were no days of joy in Israel greater than Tu b’Av and Yom Kippur” —Babylonian Talmud, 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’Av, the 9th of Av, the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, comes Tu b’Av, 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 mikveh, 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”).
