Tammuz (Hebrew month)

Tammuz (Hebrew: תַּמּוּז, Tammūz), or Tamuz, is the tenth month of the civil year and the fourth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar, and the modern Assyrian calendar. It is a month of 29 days, which occurs on the Gregorian calendar around June–July.

The name of the month was adopted from the Assyrian and Babylonian month Araḫ Dumuzu, named in honour of the Mesopotamian deity Dumuzid.

Holidays

3 Tammuz – Gimmel Tammuz – is a Chabad holiday that marks the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty.

17 Tammuz – Seventeenth of 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 (the 33rd day of the Omer – such as refraining from marriage and haircuts.) The Three Weeks culminate with Tisha B'Av (9th of Av).

Ashkenazi communities refrain from wine and meat from the beginning of the month of Av, while Sefardi communities only do so from the second day of the month. The mourning continues until noon on the 10th of Av, the date on which the Second Temple's destruction was complete.

In Jewish history

3 Tammuz (c. 1272 BCE) – Joshua stops the sun (Book of Joshua, 10:1–15)

3 Tammuz (1994) The passing of the 7th Rebbe of Chabad, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

3 Tammuz (1982) – Death of Rabbi Shneur Kotler, Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, New Jersey.