The mishna cites a passage that concludes its discussion of the month of Av, as well as the entire tractate of Ta’anit, on a positive note. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as joyous for the Jewish people as the fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur, as on them the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white clothes, which each woman borrowed from another. Why were they borrowed? They did this so as not to embarrass one who did not have her own white garments. All the garments that the women borrowed require immersion, as those who previously wore them might have been ritually impure. And the daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards. And what would they say? Young man, please lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself for a wife. Do not set your eyes toward beauty, but set your eyes toward a good family, as the verse states: “Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30), and it further says: “Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:31). And similarly, it says in another verse: “Go forth, daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon, upon the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the gladness of his heart” (Song of Songs 3:11). This verse is explained as an allusion to special days: “On the day of his wedding”; this is the giving of the Torah through the second set of tablets on Yom Kippur. The name King Solomon in this context, which also means king of peace, is interpreted as a reference to God. “And on the day of the gladness of his heart”; this is the building of the Temple, may it be rebuilt speedily in our days.
תנן התם אמר רבן שמעון בן גמליאל לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמשה עשר באב וכיום הכפורים שבהן בנות ירושלים יוצאות בכלי לבן שאולין שלא לבייש את מי שאין לו בשלמא יום הכפורים יום סליחה ומחילה יום שנתנו בו לוחות אחרונות אלא חמשה עשר באב מאי היא
§ The Gemara discusses a mishna that addresses the issue of inter-tribal marriages. We learned in a mishna there (Ta’anit 26b): Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as joyous for the Jewish people as the fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur, as on these days the daughters of Jerusalem would emerge in white garments, which each woman borrowed from another. Why did they borrow garments? They did this so as not to embarrass one who did not have her own white garments. The Gemara analyzes the mishna: Granted that Yom Kippur is a day of joy, because it is a day of pardon and forgiveness, and moreover, it is the day on which the last Tablets of the Covenant were given. But what is the special joy of the fifteenth of Av?
שכלו מתי מדבר - דתניא כל ארבעים שנה שהיו במדבר בכל ערב תשעה באב היה הכרוז יוצא ואומר צאו לחפור והיה כל אחד ואחד יוצא וחופר לו קבר וישן בו שמא ימות קודם שיחפור ולמחר הכרוז יוצא וקורא יבדלו חיים מן המתים וכל שהיה בו נפש חיים היה עומד ויוצא וכל שנה היו עושין כן ובשנת ארבעים שנה עשו ולמחר עמדו כולן חיים וכיון שראו כך תמהו ואמרו שמא טעינו בחשבון החדש חזרו ושכבו בקבריהן בלילות עד ליל חמשה עשר וכיון שראו שנתמלאה הלבנה בט"ו ולא מת אחד מהם ידעו שחשבון חדש מכוון וכבר מ' שנה של גזרה נשלמו קבעו אותו הדור לאותו היום יו"ט:
1 "[the day] on which the deaths ceased in the desert" - As it was taught in a braita, all 40 years that they were in the desert, every Erev Tisha B’av, the proclaimer would go out and say: let each individual go out and dig [his grave]. And every single person would go out and dig for themselves a grave, and sleep in it, in case they would die before they had dug. And the next day, the proclaimer would go out and proclaim: let the living separate themselves from the dead. And every one who had the soul of life would rise and go out [of his grave]. And every year they would do this. And in the 40th year, they did it, and the next morning everyone stood up alive. And when they saw this, they were astonished, and they said, ‘perhaps we made a mistake in calculating the month [and it is not yet Tisha B’Av].’ They returned and slept in their graves each night until the 15th, and since they saw that the moon was full on Tu [B’av] and no one had died among them, they knew that the calculation of the month was in line, and that the 40 years of the decree had been completed, they established that day as a Yom Tov.
Tachanun is not said on the following days: Rosh Chodesh, the fifteenth of Av,13At one time observed as a festival for the numerous wonderful events of this day: 1) The day that God’s decree that 600,000 of those that came into the wilderness shall die before the Jews enter Eretz Yisrael, ended. 2) The day that it became permissible for Jewish women to marry into other tribes of Israel (see Numbers 36:6–9). Also it was the day that the Tribe of Benyamin was again permitted to intermarry with the other tribes of Israel, after being ostracized for a period of time. 3) Jerobaam, the king, had posted soldiers for many years not allowing the Jews their pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the Three Festivals. Hosea, King of Israel, opened the roads to Jerusalem on Av 15. 4) When the Second Temple was completed the land was totally desolate, so much so, that no wood could be found for burning on the Altar. Many Jews jeopardized their lives and disobeyed the authorities and brought wood for the Altar. The day when cutting this wood was completed was Av 15