A Jewish Valentine's Day?

(8) Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said, "Never were there more joyous festivals in Israel than the 15th of Av and the Day of Atonement, for on them the maidens of Jerusalem used to go out dressed in white garments—borrowed ones, in order not to cause shame to those who had them not of their own;—these clothes were also to be previously immersed, and thus they went out and danced in the vineyards, saying, Young men, look and observe well whom you are about to choose [as a spouse]; regard not beauty [alone], but rather look to a virtuous family, for 'Gracefulness is deceitful, and beauty is a vain thing, but the woman that feareth the Lord, she is worthy of praise' (Prov. 31:3)...

And the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur): upon which the second set of Tablets (of the 10 Commandments) were given. This is a day of forgiveness and reconciliation.

The mishna also stated that the daughters of the Jewish people would go out and dance in the vineyards. A tanna taught: One who did not have a wife would turn to there to find one.

§ The mishna taught: As on them [the 15th of Av and the Day of Atonement] the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white clothes, and on the fifteenth of Av they would go out to the vineyards and dance. The Sages taught this tradition in greater detail: The daughter of the king borrows white garments from the daughter of the High Priest; the daughter of the High Priest borrows from the daughter of the deputy High Priest; the daughter of the deputy High Priest borrows from the daughter of the priest anointed for war, i.e., the priest who would read verses of Torah and address the army as they prepared for battle; the daughter of the priest anointed for war borrows from the daughter of a common priest; and all the Jewish people borrow from each other. Why would they all borrow garments? They did this so as not to embarrass one who did not have her own white garments.

The daughter of the High Priest borrows from the daughter of the Deputy High Priest: Each person borrowed from someone who was "lower" than them in social status, which was done so that nobody would have especially fancy clothes. This was done for the sake of the poor women. Additionally, the structure by which clothes were exchanged was intended so that you never had a pair of people exchange to one another, in which case it would just be that they were exchanging clothes, and anybody who was left without a person to exchange with would be embarrassed. The concern about embarrassment is also why everybody wore white; this was done so as not to embarrass poor women who only had white clothes, and could not afford colorful clothes.

(1) The daughters of Tzelophechad, of Manassite family—son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh son of Joseph—came forward. The names of the daughters were Machla, Noa, Chogla, Milca, and Tirza. (2) They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and they said, (3) “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of the faction, Korach’s faction, which banded together against the LORD, but died for his own sin; and he has left no sons. (4) Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen!” (5) Moses brought their case before the LORD. (6) And the LORD said to Moses, (7) “The plea of Tzelophechad’s daughters is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen; transfer their father’s share to them. (8) “Further, speak to the Israelite people as follows: ‘If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter. (9) If he has no daughter, you shall assign his property to his brothers. (10) If he has no brothers, you shall assign his property to his father’s brothers. (11) If his father had no brothers, you shall assign his property to his nearest relative in his own clan, and he shall inherit it.’ This shall be the law of procedure for the Israelites, in accordance with the LORD’s command to Moses.”

(1) The family heads in the clan of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, one of the Josephite clans, came forward and appealed to Moses and the chieftains, family heads of the Israelites. (2) They said, “The LORD commanded my lord to assign the land to the Israelites as shares by lot, and my lord was further commanded by the LORD to assign the share of our kinsman Tzelophechad to his daughters. (3) Now, if they marry persons from another Israelite tribe, their share will be cut off from our ancestral portion and be added to the portion of the tribe into which they marry; thus our allotted portion will be diminished. (4) And even when the Israelites observe the jubilee, their share will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their share will be cut off from the ancestral portion of our tribe.” (5) So Moses, at the LORD’s bidding, instructed the Israelites, saying: “The plea of the Josephite tribe is just. (6) This is what the LORD has commanded concerning the daughters of Tzelophechad: They may marry anyone they wish, provided they marry into a clan of their father’s tribe. (7) No inheritance of the Israelites may pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelites must remain bound each to the ancestral portion of his tribe. (8) Every daughter among the Israelite tribes who inherits a share must marry someone from a clan of her father’s tribe, in order that every Israelite may keep his ancestral share. (9) Thus no inheritance shall pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelite tribes shall remain bound each to its portion.” (10) The daughters of Tzelophechad did as the LORD had commanded Moses: (11) Machla, Tirza, Chogla, Milca, and Noa, Tzelophechad’s daughters, were married to sons of their uncles, (12) marrying into clans of descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph; and so their share remained in the tribe of their father’s clan. (13) These are the commandments and regulations that the LORD enjoined upon the Israelites, through Moses, on the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.

What is the special joy of the fifteenth of Av? Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: This was the day on which the members of different tribes were permitted to enter one another’s tribe, by marriage. It was initially prohibited to marry between tribes, so as to keep each plot of land within the portion of the tribe that originally inherited it. This halakha was instituted by the Torah in the wake of a complaint by the relatives of the daughters of Tzelophechad, who were worried that if these women married men from other tribes, the inheritance of Tzelophechad would be lost from his tribe (see Numbers 36:1–12). What did they expound, in support of their conclusion that this halakha was no longer in effect? The verse states: “This is the matter that the Lord has commanded concerning the daughters of Tzelophechad, saying: Let them marry whom they think best; only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry” (Numbers 36:5). They derived from the verse that this matter shall be practiced only in this generation, when Eretz Yisrael was divided among the tribes, but afterward members of different tribes were permitted to marry. On the day this barrier separating the tribes was removed, the Sages established a permanent day of rejoicing.

(1) "...therefore the fifteenth of Av is in the nature of a sweetening and a repair of the ninth of Av"

(18) Rabbi Eliezer Hisma said: the laws of mixed bird offerings and the key to the calculations of menstruation days these, these are the body of the halakhah. The calculation of the equinoxes and gematria are the desserts of wisdom.