TU BAV - May we ascend and be on the level of Kol Yisrael, where all of the Jewish people are unified as one whole entity, and where the Shechinah dwells amidst us. May we merit to always live with true Dveykus in Hashem, and at the same time feel a kinship and close connection with all of the Jewish People, in the zechus of the awesome Yom Tov of Tu B’Av.

From Likutei Yam HaChochma - Rav Y.M.Morgenstern

The day of Tu B’Av is the initial root of the Heavenly shidduch, a world that is so high and lofty that it is impossible to rise to it except on two days of the year: Purim, in which we go there from below to above; and Tu B’Av, in which we go from above to below (starting from the Creator’s point of view, as it were). That is where we touch upon the Heavenly marriage between the Jewish people and their Father in Heaven. In fact, Hashem’s intention was that, originally, the Jewish people would be brought to the world, where all of them could say, “Behold, my G-d, this is what we hoped for, for Him, and He has indeed saved us.” הִנֵּ֨ה אֱלֹקינוּ זֶ֛ה קִוִּ֥ינוּ ל֖וֹ וְיוֹשִׁיעֵ֑נוּ׃ That is why Chazal tell us that, “There were no better festivals for the Jewish people than Tu B’Av” (Taanis 26b), אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל: לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים

for it is the secret of the most hidden and concealed world that we can ascend to.

The purpose of Creation is to make a dwelling place on this world for Hashem. Hashem’s will is that we elevate the physicality of this world back to Him, so that His light can settle on it. Thus our main tikkun is when we connect to Malchus, wherein the light of Chochmah can shine, and that is how we can become elevated and sanctify the Creation.

Malchus first needs to be “sweetened” through Binah. For Malchus is the receiving level, similar to a woman, who makes herself into a receptacle for her husband. The feminine aspect represents the desire to receive. But how can Malchus bring about the revelation of G-dliness, which is the will to give and bestow, when Malchus is in fact the antithesis of this, since Malchus wants to receive? That is why Malchus needs to be sweetened with Binah. *Malchus always begins deficient and wants to fill its void*. One needs Binah, which is the power of serving Hashem lishmah (for its own sake), and then one is “marrying a woman (Malchus) for the sake of Heaven.”

However, at the root of everything is the secret of the intrinsic reality (“etzem”), in which we must inevitably serve Hashem shelo lishmah (for our own sake). For Hashem desired to make a dwelling place below in this world, and the purpose of Creation is to inform us that we have no reality of our own for there is nothing besides Hashem. Ayn od milvado. He wants to be revealed to us so that we can all proclaim, הִנֵּ֨ה אֱלֹקינוּ זֶ֛ה קִוִּ֥ינוּ ל֖וֹ וְיוֹשִׁיעֵ֑נוּ “Behold, my G-d, this is what I hoped, for Him, and He has saved us.” One might become mistaken about this and think that the purpose of Creation is not for our hard work in serving Him, but rather to enjoy this world, since everything is G-dliness anyway.

But that is certainly not the correct path to follow. It is obvious to any normal and sensible person that the vanities of this world make a person coarse and materialistic, and certainly indulgence in physical pleasures will distance a person from reaching his purpose and from having Emunah in the oneness of Hashem.

Instead of this, the proper path to go on is to realize that a person should eat and drink l’sheim shamayim in order to satisfy his soul, and not to eat and drink to simply satisfy his physical cravings...

The world of Atzilus is the dimension of dveykus with Hashem. In the dveykus of Atzilus, a person is entirely on high, thinking about his attachment to the Creator and totally ignoring the reality of the lower worlds, which are called Briya, Yetzira and Asiya (BiY”A). However, higher than this is the dveykus in the world of Adam Kadmon, in which one can be “both above and below, because it is all one.” (This was said by the Apter Rav zy”o). One can only attain this level after one has risen to Atzilus. If one wants to begin from Adam Kadmon and be “above and below” simultaneously, he will remain below, because he has not preceded it with the level of dveykus on the level of Atzilus – he has not yet reached the level where he is thinking totally and unceasingly about his attachment with the Creator.

But the precondition necessary in order to reach Adam Kadmon, which is the “pole that stretches from one end to the other”, is through the world of Kol Yisrael – to be in total unity with all of the Jewish people, and to see the faces of all the tzaddikim. Certainly at the beginning of avodas Hashem we need to forget about the lower worlds (BiY”A) and to concentrate exclusively on thoughts of dveykus with the Creator, to yearn and connect only to Him (thereby rising to the world of Atzilus). But afterwards we must come to the level where we can be thinking of other people as well, to be “one man with one heart” with each Jew. כאיש אחד, בלב אחד

When we begin to serve Hashem, we must first rise to Atzilus and think only about dveykus in Hashem, forgetting about this world completely. Most people are too busy thinking about others and they do not yearn at all for dveykus with Hashem, and because of this they fall into thoughts of jealousy, ta’avos (desires and wishes) and honor-seeking, all of which take a person out of this world. The tzaddik has to wake them up and get them to stop thinking all day about other people, and to remind them that, instead, one should be entirely interested and only desiring to become close to Hashem. This is where one rises to the level of Atzilus. This must be the beginning and initial stage of serving Hashem. It is a wondrous and great level.

But after that, one can come to an even deeper level where, instead of forgetting about people, one can be “above and below at once”. It is possible to be totally immersed in dveykus with Hashem, yet at the same time he is concerned about every single Jew, as one man with one heart. This is the level of Adam Kadmon אָדָם קַדְמוֹן.

The day of Tu B’Av is the “beginning of the thoughts”, i.e. the thought which preceded the end of the actions סוף מעשה מחשבה תחילה (“sof ma’aseh b’machshovo techiloh”) – “40 days before the formation of the fetus”, which happens on the day of the creation of the world, the 25th of Elul. The day of Tu B’Av is a day in which we are meant to receive a longing and a great thirst to fulfill the desire of the Shechina / Malchus. “This is Hashem, that we hoped for Him”. We cannot come to that level completely unless we are seeing each other as one whole (for then we can all express together the words, “This is Hashem”); הִנֵּ֨ה אֱלֹקינוּ זֶ֛ה קִוִּ֥ינוּ ל֖וֹ׃ where we have risen to the world of Kol Yisrael, which is when we have enjoyment, pleasure and bliss to think about every Jew in the world, and we can connect to the avodah of every Jew. *We can only arrive at this higher level after we have come first to the dveykus of the world of Atzilus, in which we forget about the entire Creation*. Only after that can we all see each other in a way that does not take away from our state of being alone and at one with the Creator. [This is seemingly paradoxical. On the one hand, we are only thinking about Hashem and experiencing total dveykus in Him. On the other hand, we feel a powerful bond to every single Jew everywhere. Yet in the World of Adam Kadmon, also called the world of “Kol Yisroel”, these two aspects become synthesized.]

On Tu B’Av, the tribes were allowed to marry into each other. Until then, this was not allowed. This is a hint that, initially, one’s avodah is to forget about others and just concentrate on serving Hashem. As Rav Nachman of Breslov zy”o said, “People don’t recognize the work of others, they can only recognize their own work. I will serve my Creator with my unique strengths and in my own way, while my friend serves the Creator in his way.” That is the beginning and first level of serving Hashem. But that is not yet the ultimate goal. *One needs to be able to also connect with others and enjoy the avodas Hashem that others are doing, and that is the depth of why on Tu B’Av* the Shevotim (tribes) began to marry into each other.

It says in the Gemorro in Ta’anis that Tu B’Av was also the day when the people succeeded in stopping Yeravam ben Nevat from preventing the nation from ascending to Yerushalayim on the Yomim Tovim. On Tu B’Av, they could now ascend and see the Beis HaMikdash, for they were at the level of the rarified world of Kol Yisrael, where all of the Jewish people are unified as one whole entity, and where the Shechinah dwells amidst them. May we merit to always live with true Dveykus in Hashem, and at the same time feel a kinship and close connection with all of the Jewish People, in the zechus of the awesome Yom Tov of Tu B’Av, Amen.