Tammuz (month)

:"For the deity, see Tammuz (deity).

Tammuz (Arabic: "تموز", Assyrian: "ܬܡܘܙ", Hebrew: תמוז, Standard "Tammuz" Tiberian "Unicode|Tammûz") is the Arabic and Assyrian name for the month of July used in the Levant and Turkey, and tenth month of the civil year and the fourth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Assyrian and Hebrew calendar. It is a summer month of 29 days in Hebrew calendar and of 31 days in the Assyrian one.

The name of the month was adopted from the Babylonian/Assyrian calendars, in which the month was named after one of the main Babylonian gods, Tammuz (Sumerian: Dumuzid) and known as Month of Harvesting

Holidays in Tammuz

17 Tammuz - Seventeenth of Tammuz – "(Fast Day)":17 Tammuz is a fast day from 1 hour before sunrise to sundown in remembrance of Jerusalem's walls being breached. 17 Tammuz is the beginning of the Three Weeks, in which Jews follow similar customs as the ones followed during the Omer from the day following Passover until the culmination of the mourning for the death of the students of Rabbi Akiva (Akibah) the thirty-third day of the Omer - such as refraining from marriage, grooming festivals and fairs. The Three Weeks culminate with Tisha Be-Av (9th of Av).

:Differences between Ashkenazic and Sefardic communities make the former overly more strict about the mourning followed during this weeks. For example, Ashkenazic communities refrain from wine and meat since the beginning of the month of Av, while Sefardic communities only do so since the beginning of the week in which the 9th of Av occurs and until the end of such date or in some occasions the end of the 10th of Av, which marks the date in which the Second Temple's destruction was accomplished as well as an important part of the mourning of the Jewish Nation for the destruction of the communities of Gush Katif and North Samaria in Israel.

Chabad-Lubavitch

Among the Chabad-Lubavitch, two major events are celebrated in the first half of the month of Tammuz.

3 Tammuz - Gimmel Tammuz - the yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
12 Tammuz and 13 Tammuz - Festival of Redemption - commemorating the days on which the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn was released from imprisonment in the Soviet Union for teaching Judaism.

Tammuz in Jewish history

3 Tammuz - Joshua stops the sun.
4 Tammuz - (1171) - Death of Rabbeinu Tam
4 Tammuz - (1286) - Maharam imprisoned
5 Tammuz - (429 BCE) - Ezekiel's vision of the "Chariot"

*On the 5th of Tammuz of the Hebrew year 3332 (429 BCE), Ezekiel, the only one of the Prophets to prophesy outside of the Holy Land, had a vision of the Divine "Chariot" representing the spiritual infrastructure of creation. See Ezekiel 1:4-266 Tammuz - (1976) - Entebbe Rescue
9 Tammuz - (586 BCE) - Jerusalem Walls breached

*The Babylonian armies of King Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of Jerusalem on the 9th of Tammuz in the Hebrew year 3338 (586 BCE). King Ziddikiahu (pronounced "Tsidikyahu" - known as Zedekiah in English) of Judah was captured and taken to Babylon. A month later, the capture of Jerusalem was completed with the destruction of the Holy Temple and the exile of all but a small number of Jews to Babylon] ). Tammuz 9 was observed as a fast day until the second breaching of Jerusalem's walls (by the Romans) on the 17th of Tammuz, Hebrew year 3830 (70 CE), at which time the Rabbis moved the fast to that date. This is according to the Talmud, Rosh Hashanah (Rosh Hashanah and Tur Orach Chaim 549] . However, Karaite Jews continue to observe the fast on Tammuz 9.15 Tammuz - (1743) - Death of Rabbi Chayim ben Attar (Ohr HaChayim)
17 Tammuz - (586 BCE) - Temple service disrupted

*The daily sacrificial offerings (Korban Tamid) in the Holy Temple were discontinued, three weeks before the Babylonians' destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE.17 Tammuz - (70 CE) - Jerusalem Walls Breached

*The other three national tragedies mourned on Tammuz 17 are connected with the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and their destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE: Firstly, the walls of the besieged city of Jerusalem were breached. Secondly, the Roman general Apostomus burned the Torah and, third he placed an idol in the Holy Temple. The fighting in Jerusalem continued for three weeks until the 9th of Av, when the Holy Temple was set aflame.21 Tammuz - (1636) - Death of Baal Shem of Worms

*Kabbalist Rabbi Eliyahu ben Moshe Loanz, known as "Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem" of Worms, Germany, died on the 21st of Tammuz of the Hebrew year 5396 (1636 CE). He was a grandson of the shtadlan (Jewish activist) Rabbi Joselman of Rosheim, and the author of Michlal Yofi commentary on Ecclesiastes.22 Tammuz - (1792) - Death of Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin
23 Tammuz - (1570) - Death of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero
28 Tammuz - (1841) - Death of Yismach Moshe
29 Tammuz - (1105) - Death of Rashi

Other uses

* "Temmouz" (Arabic: ﺗﻤﻮﺯ), is also the name for the month of July in the Levant and Turkey.

References In fiction

* In the story of Xenogears, Tammuz is the name of a country, named after the Hebrew month. In the official Japanese version translation, however, it was transliterated Tamuzu. This was later further changed by the translation process to Thames for the English version.

References

* [http://www.chabad.org/calendar/ This Month in Jewish History]