To my beloved Tifereth Community,
This Friday we celebrate
Tu B’Av
(the fifteenth of
Av
), the Jewish holiday of love. The Talmud states that
Tu B’Av
and Yom Kippur are the happiest days for all of Israel. The day comes after the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, the 9th of
Av
(
Tisha B’Av
). On the 9th of
Av
we mourn the destruction of the Temple and the exile of our people due to baseless hatred towards one and other.
Entering
Tu B’Av
with
Tisha B’Av
fresh in my mind, it is clear to me that if we want to redeem ourselves and rebuild a world of peace and harmony; we need to act with love to all.
I wrote the song “
Tu B’av
” a couple of months after I finished my army service. I was frequenting Jerusalem’s local springs (
ma’ayanot
), and I wished to convey the atmosphere around Israel’s ma’ayan culture – hiking with friends to simply spend time in the beautiful nature of Israel.
The verses describe “a typical evening at a Jerusalem spring” on the one hand, and the holiday of
Tu B’av
on the other. In the times of the Temple, unmarried women would borrow each other’s clothes and go up to the highest point north of Jerusalem to find a match. Why did they wear borrowed clothing? They did this so that the men could not tell which tribe they were from; it was an equalizer.
The chorus – “You’ve got to listen to her song, whispering through the birds that everyone belongs” – refers to one of my favorite teachings. Namely, that because birds fly in the heavens, they speak with heavenly wisdom.
To me, on
Tu B’Av
and all year round, the birds are whispering to me clearly that in this holy place called Jerusalem, no matter your faith, “EVERYONE BELONGS”.
Shabbat Shalom
,
Cantor Hanan Leberman
