The Month Tammuz

(Assyro-Babylonian, Duzu) (29 Days)

June/July (Harvesting, first grapes).

4^th month of the religious calendar.

10^th month of the civil calendar.

Tammuz 1 � New Moon

During June the land for the most part becomes barren and parched, and harvesting continues in the highlands.

Traditional Remembrances:

Tammuz 14 - Commemorates a time during the Second temple period when the Pharisees gained victory over the Sadducees in a dispute over the interpretation of the Law. This day became a fast day.

Tammuz 17 -This is a public fast day in Judaism called "Shib�ah Asar be-Tammuz," which commemorates the breaking down of the walls of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar. It is interesting that this event actually happened on the ninth day of the month of Tammuz, but the 17th was chosen as a day of remembrances because, in 70 AD, when Titus besieged Jerusalem, the same catastrophe had occurred on that day.

According to the Megillat Ta�anit four other calamities had occurred on the 17th:

�      Moses broke the two tables of the Law.

�      The perpetual burnt offering had ceased burning.

�      The burning of the Torah and the erection of an idle in the Temple by Apostomus.

�      The discontinuance of the sacrifices.

On the 17th of Tammuz the three weeks of mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem begins, which ends on the 9th of Av. During this three-week period certain things are not allowed: the celebration of marriage, cutting the hair, bathing, and the pious fast every day during these three weeks.

Tammuz 27 - Commemorates the burning of the tanna Hanina ben Teradion which occurred during the persecutions of the emperor Hadrian.