On the new moon of Tamuz Rabbi Jill Hammer writes:
The first of Tammuz is a day of exile, reminding us that from this point forward the sun will begin to creep from the sky, leaving the world in ever-greater darkness. Just as the first of Tevet (new moon after the winter solstice) is the beginning of the journey toward light, the first of Tammuz is the beginning of the journey into the dark.
In Jewish tradition, the summer solstice carries with it themes of closure (the mouth of the deep, the garden of Eden), exile (Adam and Eve, Moses), and loss (the animals' loss of speech), yet also the benevolence of nature and the Divine (the appearance of the water from the rock, the saving of the small animals, and the standing still of the sun). We meditate on grief, yet also on the world's abundance. Summer solstice is a day of paradox: maximum light, yet also a turn toward darkness.
(ב) וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃ (ג) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃ (ד) וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃
(2) the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water— (3) God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. (4) God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
Jueli Garfinkle teaches that :
"The area of deep healing for Tammuz is inner seeing. Habitually, we focus our attention outward and see through a lens tinted by our life experiences. Without annual adjustment, our vision begins to warp into projections that see only what we most want to feel or avoid...It is the gift of Tammuz to wipe the shmutz from my glasses and to see clearly what is before me. To make the time and refresh my vision."
המליך אות ח' וקשר לו כתר וצר בו סרטן בעולם ותמוז בשנה ורגל שמאל בנפש.
He produced ח [Chet], predominant in Sight, crowned, combined, and formed Cancer in the world, Tammuz in the year, and the left foot of the human.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh teaches:
According to the Sefer Yetzirah (one of the oldest extant works of Jewish mysticism, authorship unknown), each month of the Jewish calendar corresponds with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a zodiac sign, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, a sense, and a controlling limb of the body. The letter associated with Tammuz is chet (ח .(The form of the letter chet is composed of the two previous letters of the Hebrew alef-beit, the vav ו and the zayin ז) corresponding to the two previous months of Iyar and Sivan) connected from above by a thin "bridge." In relation to the sense of sight, the form of the chet represents the dynamic of spiritual light emitted from the eyes (the vav) and physical light returning from the object observed, back to the eyes (the zayin). The star sign of this month is Cancer. The sense associated with Tamuz is sight, specifically the ability to "see through" physical reality to behold its Divine source. The tribe associated with this month is Reuben; the name of this tribe comes from the root meaning "to see." The summer (the period of Tamuz) is the time when one must guard one's eyes to see only that which is good (in the world in general and in our fellow human beings in particular). This is how we heal or "rectify" our sense of sight. The limb of the body associated with this month is the right hand