Tu B’Av (the middle of the month of Av) is nightfall August 11th this year. "The Hebrew month of Av (or Menachem-Av, the consoler of Av) is the fifth of the twelve months of the Jewish calendar. The name Av literally means "father." It derives from the root which means "to will" or "to desire."
While it has been relegated to the minor festivals on the Jewish calendar, it was at one time mentioned by a number of Jewish sources as the happiest, most important celebration.
Tu B'Av has so many traditions associated with it that are parallels for the rapture. One of the most compelling is that the Jews while wandering in the desert were (according to the Midrash) commanded by Moses to sleep in their graves once each year as punishment for not believing the spies who were sent to scout out the promised land. The Jews who slept in their graves each year would arise from their graves the next day and discover that 15,000 of the older generation had died in the night. This continued to happen until all of the older generation had died off. When at the end of forty years, the dying stopped. Tu B'Av was thus celebrated because they knew that at long last they were freed from the curse of the grave and free to enter the promised land under the leadership of Joshua.
· We all know that the name of Jesus is derived from Joshua.
· I suspect we all are aware that there is a parallel between the promised land and Heaven. The land flowing with milk and honey.
· Tu B'Av commemorates when all the chosen people rose from their graves alive! When no one had died in their graves thus signifying that at last they were free to enter the promised land!
· The Jews celebrated by allowing the virgins to dress in white and dance in the vineyards to attract husbands.
· The celebration of Tu B'Av became closely associated with courtship, marriage and the triumph of life over death.
· After the Jews had entered the promised land, each year Tu B'Av was celebrated as one of the most important holidays. It was a time of celebration!
“(Av) It is the month of the "low point" of the Jewish calendar (the 9th of Av, the day of the sin of the spies and the destruction of both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem) as well as the month of the "high point" of the Jewish calender (the 15th of Av--"there are no happier days for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom HaKippurim" (Mishnah Ta'anit 26:)--the day of finding one's predestined soul-mate)."
...." Relative to all other souls of Israel, the soul of Mashiach, who comes to redeem Israel from her state of (spiritual as well as physical) exile, is like a groom to his bride. After his birth on the 9th of Av he reveals himself to his bride and betroths her on the 15th of Av."
For more on Tu B’Av, go here: https://www.templeinstitute.org/tu-bav-5771.htm
YBIC
Bruce Baber