Contest: Tweet to your love on Tu b'Av #15av
August 3, 2009
The date
Tu b'Av -- The 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av -- the full moon at the height of summer -- this year, Tuesday night August 4 and Wednesday August 5 -- is the Jewish Valentine's Day.In ancient times, "There were no better [i.e. happier] days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose [to be your wife]..." (Mishna Taanit, Chapter 4)." (Learn more about Tu b'Av at MyJewishLearning.com.
Our celebration
Ben Yehuda Press and MyJewishLearning.com are sponsoring a twitter-wide celebration of love on Tu b'av. Go to Twitter.com. Join if you aren't already a member. And then post a note to or about your true love. Add #15av to the end of your note (that's hash-one-five-ay-vee) so we'll know that it's an entry.The contest begins Tuesday night and continuing until Wednesday night. You can follow the entries in real time on the Ben Yehuda Press home page.
The prizes
The three best tweets with the #15av label -- best as defined arbitrarily by the heart of each individual judge -- will receive a free copy of In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs by Shefa Gold.(Here's how poet Alice Ostriker described In the Fever of Love:
"For Shefa Gold, the Song of Songs is--as Rabbi Akiba said--a Holy of Holies. It is at once God's word to us, ours to God, and the loving words of human lovers to each other. Readers of In the Fever of Love will be inspired and led deeper into their own souls by her shimmering interpretations.")
The judges
Matthue Roth wrote the novel Losers and the memoir Yom Kippur a Go-Go. He's a slam poet, an Internet filmmaker, and the associate editor of MyJewishLearning.com. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, who doesn't have Twitter, so he's disqualified from entering.
Sharon Rosenzweig and Aaron Freeman are authors of How To Say I Love You in Thirty Languages and creators of The Comic Torah.
Another judge is yet to be named. Stay tuned.
The fine print.
Prizes will be awarded to U.S. addresses only. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Decision of the judges is final. Void where prohibited by law.
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