The sages say that Tamuz (or Tammuz) is the month associated with the attribute of sight. Tamuz is also the month associated with the tribe of Reuben.
The fundamental understanding of how the months of the Hebrew calendar are associated with a specific tribe is based on how the tribes were arrayed in marshal order whenever they camped or travelled with the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (Numbers chapter 2; Numbers chapter 10). Each tribe is associated with a month from the festival Hebrew calendar that begins with Nisan in the spring. Since Israel left Egypt in the spring, this becomes a clearly understood reason for the correlation. Judah is the first tribe and thus associated with the month that is Nisan. Issachar is next and associated with the second month which is Iyar. And Zebulun being the third tribe is associated with the third month, which is Sivan.
Tamuz is the fourth month of the festival Hebrew calendar. This is the month we are now within. Which tribe marshaled out after Zebulun and after the Ark of the Covenant? That would be Reuben.
So, we now understand the correlation of Reuben to the month of Tamuz, but how does sight identify as the attribute of this month?
It goes back to the birth of Reuben. Reuben’s mother was Leah. As we know, Leah was initially in a loveless marriage to Jacob, but she was the first to bear a child for him. The attribute of sight is discovered in the reason she named her first son Reuben. Genesis 29:32; “Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the LORD has SEEN my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” (emphasis mine) Here is the connection of Reuben (and Tamuz) to the attribute of sight.
So, how does that help us understand this month? Well, we do this through other accounts in the Torah which are associated with incidents that involve “sight”. A good example is about the ten spies going into The Land to survey and report back to Moses and the people. What happened? Their report was based on what they SAW (sight) and this is clearly stated in Numbers 13:33, “There also we SAW the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim): and we became like grasshoppers in our own SIGHT, and so we were in their SIGHT.” (emphasis mine). The bad report came about by what ten of the twelve men saw through their negative perceptions.
Yet, two other men took the same spy mission at the same time and their report was quite different. It’s interesting to note that their perspective of what they SAW was filled with positive and good news of what was in The Land.
A recent sage by the name of Steipler Gaon zt”l gave a good description of what happens when two people see the same thing but give different accounts, just like the spies did. He said, “An object or occurrence is seen the same way by everyone, but how it is understood varies widely from person to person; some may interpret it one way, while others will interpret it another way.” Basically, the physical eye sees the same sight and sends that information to the brain for processing. It is at this point that the sight can become changed through interpretation.
The month of Tamuz is associated with sight and is the month we can use to take the time to learn which form of sight we presently view life and which form of sight we want to view life. Are we like the ten spies who saw themselves as grasshoppers? Or are we like the other two men whose perspective in what they saw was the richness of the land that ‘flowed with milk and honey’. It can also be the month for us to learn how our Elohim in heaven sees us (just as He did with Leah).
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