Today, the 17th of Tammuz on the Jewish calendar, marks the anniversary of many terribly events. The first of these came when Moses smashed the first set of tablets he obtained atop Mt. Sinai after he found the Israelites worshiping the Golden Calf. Then, on the same date, the Babylonians entered Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. The daily offerings in the First Temple were suspended during the siege of Jerusalem, because the Kohanim, or priests, could no longer obtain animals. Jerusalem’s walls were breached, prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, on this day in 70 CE. And on this same day, prior to the Great Revolt, the Roman general Apostamos burned a Torah scroll in 50 CE, and an idolatrous image was placed in the Sanctuary of the Holy Temple. More recently, in 1970 on Tammuz 17 the Libyans confiscated Jewish property. (To learn more about the 17th of Tammuz read this story in Tablet Magazine or visit this Chabad page or this Aish HaTorah page.)
As I thought about today’s holiday I began to wonder why these events all fell on the same calendar date. If you believe that our thoughts are creative – an idea that can be traced all the way back to God creating the world by speaking it into existence (“God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Speech consists of spoken thoughts, and thoughts consist of words.) – it seems clear that by focusing our thoughts on this fact, we open ourselves to creating more disasters on the 17th of Tammuz. In other words, by thinking about the bad things that have happened in the past, we perpetuate the possibility of more bad things happening on the same day. The focus of our thoughts and attention manifests more of the same.
We celebrate this holiday with a fast, which marks the beginning of a three-week period of mourning during which Jews are not supposed to participate in celebrations. We focus on the destruction of the Holy Temple and the resultant galut, or physical exile and spiritual displacement, in which we still find ourselves. However, I think that by focusing on these things we open manifest more of the same. We continue our feeling of physical and spiritual disconnection from Source and perpetuate a belief that on this particular day of the year bad things happen to Jews.
I have nothing against remembering what happened in the past. I have nothing against hoping and praying for the rebuilding of the Temple. However, I believe strongly that we can feel remember and honor the past while focusing our attention on a more positive future, thereby creating positive events on a day that has heretofore been one of negative events. I believe we can focus our attention on feeling connected to Source or God physically and spiritually. In this way I believe we can build a mishkan, a sacred space, anywhere we like – in our homes, our communities, our synagogues – and have God dwell among and with us so we have a spiritual home right here and right now even without a physical Temple in Jerusalem. Indeed, I think our bodies are our modern temple and our souls the spark of and the link to God. We can turn inward to find that home and to feel our connection.
We need not feel ourselves in exile or without connection to God. We need not continue to manifest horrible events on a certain day of the year. It’s all about where we focus our attention. Where will you focus yours today?
Tammuz was the son of Semiramis/Ashtaroth. He would be the saviour of mankind, but unfortunately he was eaten by a pig, thus founding mother and child religions such as Isis and Osiris and Catholicism.
This event is probably why Muslims loathe pigs and pork, as they were not governed, obviously by The Commandments given to the Israelites.
The Israelite women weeping for Tammuz were worshipping Ashtaroth and incurred God’s anger on that day. It may be that because of that, when God sends punishments He selects that day.