The name of the first month of summer in the Hebrew calendar honors the Mesopotamian deity Dumuzid, the god of shepherds and agriculture. Tammuz is the month during which the Israelites, when wandering in the desert after their exodus from Egypt, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai, worshipped the golden calf. Tammuz corresponds in Jewish astrology to סרטן (sarṭan, meaning “cancer”) and to Cancer, whose nature is water. In 2026, 16 June is 1 Tammuz 5786.
Book of Months