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The Month of Tammuz
If there is one food in which the Epicurean takes delight above all others, it is the crab. The sign of the Crab (Sartan/Cancer) denotes a time of the year when the most extreme aspects of the physical world are most attractive. The crab symbolizes being given over to the pleasures of the flesh. The crab is most at home in water. And water flows as it desires. The heavenly body that rules Cancer is the moon, and the moon's pull on the earth greatly influences the earth's largest body of water - the sea - the native home of the crab.
The Aramaic translation of Tammuz is 'heating,' which suggests the heat of desire. However, this same heat can be used to fire the spiritual side of a person and bring him to return to God. Heat can be turned into light. This month's sign corresponds to the tribe of Reuven, and it was Reuven who was the first person to return to God purely out of love, turning the 'heat' of his personality into light. More articles available at Ohr Somayach's website. |