The Month of Tammuz — Spiritual Optometry

Tammuz is the fourth month of the Jewish calendar and the beginning of the summer season — a challenging season for the Jewish people. The name of G-d that governs the month of Tammuz is arranged in the opposite order of the way it is usually written, which, according to Kabbalah, alludes to Middat Hadin — the attribute of judgment. The three months of summer — Tammuz, Av and Elul — begin with the challenge of severity and judgment, but end with the gift of Teshuvah (repentance) and Rachamim (mercy).

The letter crowned in the month of Tammuz is the letter Chet, which means sin in Hebrew. Tammuz is the month of the sin of the golden calf, which resulted in Moses breaking the Tablets that held the Ten Commandments. The day of the breaking of the Tablets — the 17th of Tammuz — begins the three-week period (Bein Hameitzarim) that commemorates the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, culminating on the ninth of Av. This is also the month in which the spies traveled through the land of Israel and came back with a discouraging report, causing the whole generation to lose the merit to enter the Holy Land.

According to the book of Yetzirah, the month of Tammuz is connected with the sense of Sight. This sense was blemished by the spies, who failed to see the good of the land and the opportunity the Jewish people had. The ultimate rectification of the power of sight will come with the coming of Moshiach, when we shall see the wonders of G-d. Tammuz is therefore the right time to train one's eyes to see only the inner, positive dimension of reality and not to focus on its outer, negative "shell" — especially to focus on the good of our fellow and to see the G-dly in him, and to guard one's eyes from unworthy sights.

The tribe of the month of Tammuz is Reuven, from the root "to see" (reu). Leah, Reuven's mother, said at his birth, "G-d saw my pain." According to the Arizal, the months of Tammuz and Av are associated with the right and left eyes. We are encouraged to use this month to refine our power of sight and to beautify our eyes so we become a befitting "bride" for G-d. The 17th of Tammuz is a day of fasting that commemorates the tragedies that befell the Jewish people; yet the number 17 is the numerical value of the word Tov — good — in Hebrew, giving us the power to discover the good hidden in any challenge and to bring about the true and complete redemption.