The fifteenth of Av ט״ו באב

The Talmud names six reasons, and all of them are about one thing—a prohibition lifted and unity restored. On this day those in the wilderness who had been refused entry to the Land ceased to die. The tribe of Benjamin was permitted to take wives from the other tribes after the war of the concubine at Gibeah. The ban on heiresses marrying outside their tribe was annulled. Jeroboam had to take the guards off the roads, and the northerners went up to Jerusalem again. The slain of Betar were allowed burial. And the cutting of wood for the altar was finished.

"On these days," says the Mishnah, "the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white garments, borrowed, so as not to shame the one who had none, and dance in the vineyards." This is not a marriage market: everyone borrowed, the noblest included, so that no one could be told apart.

The day is marked by no meal and no special readings—only penitential prayers are not said. It stands six days after the ninth of Av, and in that nearness is its meaning.