Tammuz (Hebrew: תמוז, Standard Tammuz Tiberian Tammûz) is the tenth month of the civil year and the fourth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a summer month of 29 days, which occurs on the Gregorian calendar around June-July.
The name of the month was adopted from the Assyrian-Babylonian calendar, in which the month was named after one of the main Mesopotamian gods, Tammuz. This is referred to in Ezekiel 8:14. Tammuz is also a month in the modern Assyrian calendar of the ethnic Assyrian Christians.
17 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 (Akibah) the thirty-third day of the Omer - such as refraining from marriage and haircuts. The Three Weeks culminate with Tisha Be-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 beginning of the week in which the 9th of Av occurs. The mourning continues until noon on the 10th of Av, the date on which the Second Temple's destruction was complete.
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