Rabbi's Blog

The Story of Tammuz

This week we began the Jewish month of Tammuz, named after the Babylonian god of agriculture and harvest. After the summer solstice, people in the ancient Near East would mourn the death of the god Tammuz as they saw the land drying up and plants dying in the hot, rainless summer months. It was told that the goddess Ishtar journeyed to the underworld to rescue her consort, Tammuz, but she was only able to work out a deal: Tammuz would live six months of the year in the world of men and then would die and spend six months in the underworld before returning to life again. So Tammuz’s death as the summer began was a time of mourning, but it was also a time of looking forward to redemption to come. This ancient story gives us the context for the Jewish calendar, which is also full of mourning in the summer months - mourning for the destruction of the Temples and for all of the other losses of the Jewish people over the ages. And like in ancient times, in the summer we also look forward to the redemptive power of the High Holidays that come at summer’s end. So as we now switch to our summer activities and schedules, may we keep in mind both the losses that we remember at this time of year and the potential for redemption that loss contains. As we say in the evening prayer, “God rolls back light in the face of darkness and darkness in the face of light.”

Last Edited by projects@germantownjewishcentre.org at 6/24/2012 8:37 AM Comments (0)

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Rabbi's Blog

The Story of Tammuz

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