Tu B'Av (1): Before All Relationships

Tu B'Av is traditionally asociated with the Simcha of Shiduchim and Zivug.

R' Naftoli M'Rupshitz zy"a brings out a fascinating point:
While it is true that we celebrate Rosh HaShanah on the first day of Tishrei, that is only because Adam HaRishon was created on that day. The true beginning of the creation process was on the twenty-fifth of Elul. Not only that, but the Gemara debates if the world was created on the first of Tishrei or the first of Nisan. The conclusion of that discussion is that the potential was conceived in Tishrei and only came into reality on the first of Nisan.

So really the beginning of the beginning, the start of the potential was on the twenty-fifth of Elul.

Chazal teach us that a person's Zivug is determined forty days before the creation of the fetus. A Bas Kol emanates from the heavens and declares: "Bas Ploni L'Ploni" - She is destined for him. Now we know that the apex of all relationships is that of  Hashem and the Jewish people. It is the Nimshal to all of the Meshalim. After all, the whole world was created to be a stage for the actualization of that union.

The world as it is born in potential is likened to the fetus. A person in the making. This process of the fetus of the world began on the twenty-fifth of Elul. This is when the world-as-a-fetus was "conceived". It logically follows that the "Zivug" of the world was announced forty days previous.

Forty days prior to the twenty fifth of Elul is Tu B'Av.

The reason that Tu B'av runs the motif of Shidduchim is because the ultimate Shidduch was formulated on that day.

And the rest is history...

Practical thought: Hashem is not just a Deity, I am in a relationship with Him. All of my other relationships are details in the larger picture of my relationship to him.

(A nice addition: At a wedding, before the Badekin and Chupah, the parents involved sign the Tna'aim. The Tna'aim always begin with the following term: המגיד מראשית אחרית - He Who pre-determines destiny. This is a reference to the fact that the wedding is the culmination of that original Bas Kol from before the birth of the bride and groom.)