During the week of Tishah B'Av, it is forbidden to cut hair or launder [clothes]. However, on Thursday it is permitted, because of the honor due the Sabbath. On the afternoon before Tishah B'Av, a person may not eat two cooked foods, nor may one eat meat or drink wine. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: He need [merely] make some variance. R' Yehudah requires overturning the beds, but the Sages did not agree with him.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: Israel had no days as festive as the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, for on those days the maidens of Jerusalem would go out [dressed] in white, borrowed garments —- in order not to embarrass one who had none. All the garments [worn on these occasions] required immersion.  The maidens of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards. And what would they say? Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself. Do not consider beauty; consider family. Grace is false and beauty is vain; a woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised. And it is stated: Give her but the fruits of her own hands, and let her be praised in the gates by her very own deeds. Similarly, it says: Go forth and gaze, O daughters of Zion, upon King Shlomo, adorned with the crown His nation made Him on the day of His wedding and on the day of His heart's gladness. On the day of His wedding —- this is the giving of the Torah; and on the day of His heart's gladness —- this is the building of the Holy Temple. May it be rebuilt speedily in our days! Amen.