The 15th of Av is a joyous day (no supplications are said in prayer) for the following reasons cited in the Talmud (Taanit 31a)<\/p>\n
The end of death in the desert<\/strong> Intertribal marriage ban overturned<\/strong> Readmission of the tribe of Binam\u00edn<\/strong> Ierovam barricades removed<\/strong> The dead of Betar were buried<\/strong> Couples' Day<\/strong> Axe Breaking Day<\/strong> Video of the year 2017
\nAfter 38 years of wandering in the desert, as punishment for not wanting to enter the Promised Land, the death of the generation that left Egypt ended on the 15th of Av in the year 1274 BCE.<\/p>\n
\nTo ensure the proper division of land among the tribes of the Land of Israel, there were certain restrictions on marriage between members of different tribes. A woman who had inherited land from her father was forbidden to marry a man from another tribe, lest her children inherit the land and transfer it to another tribe's portion. This ordinance only applied to the generation that entered and conquered the Land of Israel between 1273 and 1258 BCE. This restriction was abolished on the 15th of Av and was observed as a holiday.<\/p>\n
\nThe tribe of Benjamin, which had been excommunicated for its conduct in the "Concubine in Gibeah" incident, was readmitted into the community of Israel on the 15th of Av (circa 1228 BCE). See Shoftim 19-21.<\/p>\n
\nFollowing the division of the Land of Israel after the death of King Solomon in 797 BCE, Jeroboam ben Nebat, king of the northern kingdom of Israel, erected barricades on the roads to Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah, to prevent his citizens from traveling there for the three pilgrimage festivals of Judaism. On the 15th of Av, 200 years later, in 574 BCE, King Hoshea ben Elah of Israel removed them.<\/p>\n
\nThe fortress of Betar was the last to be conquered by the Romans after the Bar Kokhba revolt, on the 9th of Av in 133 CE. Thousands of Jews were massacred, and the cruel Romans did not allow the dead to be buried. For 15 years, the remains of the massacred lay scattered across the battlefield. Finally, on the 15th of Av in 148 CE, these dead were laid to rest.<\/p>\n
\nIn ancient Israel, it was the custom that on the 15th of Av "the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed clothes (so as not to shame those who did not have one)... and dance in the vineyards" and "whoever did not have a wife would go there" to find one.<\/p>\n
\nWhen the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the annual cutting of trees for the altar ended on the 15th of Av. The event was celebrated with feasting and joy and ended with a ceremonial breaking of the axes that gave the day its name.<\/p>\n
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