Heads Up! Tu b'Av Super-Duper Moon

14 Av 5774

Shavua tov!

Get Set For Super (Duper?) Moon 2 of 3 For 2014...we’re currently in a cycle of supermoons this summer.

From MSNBC news...

"This is the summer of the supermoon, with three full moons in a row that appear bigger and brighter than normal. But this weekend marks the year's most super-duper supermoon: When the moon rises on Sunday evening, it'll be as close as a full moon ever gets to Earth during 2014."

Let's all hope this bodes well for the fortunes of Am Yisrael whose symbol is the moon.

A further note about the 15th of Av from Chabad.org...

The 15th of Av is undoubtedly the most mysterious day of the Jewish calendar. A search of the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) reveals no observances or customs for this date, except for the instruction that the tachanun (confession of sins) and similar portions should be omitted from the daily prayers (as is the case with all festive dates), and that beginning on the 15th of Av one should increase one’s study of Torah, since at this time of the year the nights begin to grow longer, and “the night was created for study.” And the Talmud tells us that many years ago the “daughters of Jerusalem would go dance in the vineyards” on the 15th of Av, and “whoever did not have a wife would go there” to find himself a bride.

And this is the day which the Talmud considers the greatest festival of the year, with Yom Kippur (!) a close second!

Indeed, the 15th of Av cannot but be a mystery. As the “full moon” of the tragic month of Av, it is the festival of the future redemption, and thus a day whose essence, by definition, is unknowable to our unredeemed selves.

I hope to have a picture of the "super-duper" moon rising over the Jordan Valley for you tomorrow night!