Ta’anit 31

Today’s daf continues to discuss Tu B’Av, the 15th of Av, the good that happened on that day, and it gives more details about how the women would dress and what they would say to single men on that day. It’s a day of love, dancing, and finding your soul-mate – how perfect then that the rabbis extend this to the end of days:

Ulla of the city of Bira’a said that Rabbi Elazar said: In the future, in the end of days, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will arrange a dance of the righteous, and He will be sitting among them in the Garden of Eden, and each and every one of the righteous will point to God with his finger, as it is stated: “And it shall be said on that day: Behold, this is our God, for whom we waited, that He might save us. This is the Lord; for whom we waited. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation” (Isaiah 25:9).

Just as the women will be able to dance and select their loved one – so too the righteous will be able to dance and point to their God. Just as we long for a partner in life, so long for that close connection with our Higher Power. It’s a love story. A story of longing. The rabbis imagine that one day we will meet God, and will will dance, and rejoice, and it will be a slice of Gan Eden.

This marks the end of our reading of Ta’anit! Mazal tov to all of you who made it through this fabulous little section of the Talmud with it’s wonderful stories.