"Be Ours" this Tu B'Av

Oy Vey holds Jewish events and learning opportunities in Amsterdam, The Hague, and beyond… Celebrate  love with Oy Vey on Saturday August 9 as we mark the end of the Shabbat and the holiday Tu b’Av in Amsterdam/Amstelveen. 

Saturday 9 August

As Shabbat and Tu B’av end, we will make Havdalah and celebrate love. Traditionally an agricultural holiday, Tu b’Av has been turned into a sort of Jewish Valentine’s Day, celebrating romantic love. But our queer community and our traditions teach us that love comes in many forms, all different and equally worthy! We invite in rituals of our past to invite more love into our lives: the love of chosen family, romantic love, sexual love, love of the earth, love of the Divine, and more.

We also mark the start of the High Holy Day period. This is a period of reflection and introspection for many of us. As we begin what can be a hard period of time for many, we especially invite in self-love, to find spaciousness and care as we look deep inside our hearts and souls.

We will start by sharing food, a potluck meal that all are invited to bring a dish for. Then we will turn to ritual: We will make herbal sachets to invite the types of love we desire; we will weave flower crowns to celebrate our interconnectedness with the earth; and we will braid Havdalah candles to represent our intertwining with our community. We will celebrate Havdalah together before traipsing off into the forest to revel in music, dance, and community.

• 17:00: Workshops – Spice packet making, havdalah candle making, flower crown making
• 18:30: Potluck dinner
• 20:00: Music, dancing, revelry
• 21:30: Closing circle and Havdallah
• 22:00: End