Tu B'Av: The Holiday of "Love" is Celebrated in Mumbai

Serving her year as a JDC Jewish Service Corps volunteer in India, Erin shares her recent experience with her adopted community.

The month of Av is like a rose. It has a beautiful blossom, but it also has thorns. This is the message that the participants of the monthly Rosh Chodesh event at the Evelyn Peters Jewish Community Center (EPJCC) in Mumbai walked away with last week. After hearing about the history and rituals of Tisha B'Av, the participants learned about a lesser known holiday which follows Tisha B'Av by six days, Tu B'Av. Tu B'Av celebrates love, while Tisha B'Av commemorates hatred and destruction. In memory of this dichotomy, participants constructed their own roses out of tissue paper, straws and green string. They also added thorns with permanent marker. After creating their roses, each participant went around and shared one rose and one thorn (one good thing and one bad thing) that happened to them in the past month. Like a rose, the month of Av helps us remember all of the tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, but at the same time all of the wonderful things that have happened too.

August 2006