Rosh Chodesh Mazal - 007 Tamuz | The Crab

The Mazal of Tamuz - The Sartan/Crab

The mazal of the month of Tamuz is called “sartan”, “crab” [cancer]. What is the meaning behind the mazal of the sartan/crab, and what is the personal avodah in our soul that it implies?

The Words of Raavad and Rav Saadya Gaon About The Crab’s Nature

Rabbi Avraham ben David (Raavad) writes that “the nature of the sartan (crab) is that it lives within the water and also above the water.”

He continues, “There are waters which cause joy to our eyes, which are tears of joy, and there are waters which hurt our eyes, tears of sadness.” (When a person cries tears out of joy, it is beneficial for his eyes. When a person cries tears in anguish, it is damaging to the eyes.)

The Raavad concludes, “This is the secret of the matter that “Women weep in the month of Tamuz.”[1]

The destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, which took place in the month of Av, begins in the month of Tamuz, where our weeping over the destruction begins [with the fast on the 17^th of Tamuz].

Rav Saadya Gaon explains that the sartan/crab is “a creature that grows in water, which gives healing to the eyes, and it is an ornament placed on the garments of kings, and it can bring things into the water, which we do not find with any other creature.”[2]

In these cryptic words of Rav Saadya Gaon, we learn that the crab’s special ability is that it can bring things into the water, transporting it from the land into the water.

That is the underlying concept behind the crab, which is the mazal of the month of Tamuz. Now let us try to understand more about this.

The Concept of Dry Land Within Water

Each of the 12 months of the year is parallel to 12 nations of the world, and the month of Tamuz corresponds to the nation that is called “Armania”. The Torah says that the Ark of Noach came to rest on the mount of “Ararat”, and Targum Yehonasan ben Uziel says that the mountains of “Ararat” is the place where the nation of “Armania” dwells.[3]

[Later, the connection between the month of Tamuz, the ark of Noach, the mountains of Ararat, and Armania will be explained].

Let us now explain this in clearer terms.

Chazal state that “Hashem first created several worlds and destroyed them”[4], until He created our current world. At the beginning of Creation, water filled the entire world, and then Hashem split the waters to allow for the land to exist. Hashem split the waters on the second day, and gathered the waters on the third day, to form dry land (yabashah). When Hashem brought the Flood upon the world, it resembled a situation of the world returning to nothingness, for it was a form of destruction to the world.

After the waters of the Flood cleared and subsided, the Ark was able to come to rest on dry land, which the Torah calls “yabashah”. This resembled the third day of Creation, when the waters were first gathered to form dry land. The Torah first mentions the term “yabashah” (dry land) on the third day of Creation, when Hashem told the waters to gather together and form the yabashah, the dry land.[5]

The original “yabashah” was the perfected yabashah of Creation, which was not preceded by any curse, whereas the “yabashah” formed after the Flood came about through a curse of destruction upon the world, hence, it was a cursed form of “yabashah”. A hint to this is that the dry land which the Ark came to rest on was the mount of “Ararat”, from the word “arur”, “cursed”.

The Sages also find a parallel between the 12 months of the year and 12 of the prophets. The month of Tamuz corresponds to the prophet Yonah, who was swallowed by a big fish. When Yonah lived inside the fish, it was like being on dry land within the water. Yonah was in the water, in the belly of the fish, but he was dry. It was like a situation of dry land within water.

The dove, which informed Noach that there was dry land, is called a “yonah”. The connection between the yonah/dove, and the prophet Yonah - who corresponds to the month of Tamuz – is that there can be a revelation of a new yabashah, dry land within the water.

This is the idea behind the sartan, the crab. It is a creature that reveals “dry land” within water. Hence, the deeper meaning behind the mazal sartan in the month of Tamuz is that it is a mazal which reveals “dry land, within water”. Based upon this, we can now understand the depth of the words of Rav Saadya Gaon about the crab, that the crab is a creature which grows in the water and which transports food from the land to the water. By moving food from the land to the water, the sartan/crab reveals how there can be a concept of “dry land”, the yabashah, even within the water.

Thus, the crab, which lives from the water and brings food from the land into the water, represents the point where dry land meets water. The mazal sartan, represented by the crab, reveals how there can be dry land within water. The root of this began on the third day of Creation, when Hashem first formed the dry land from the water.

The Roots of the Destruction of the Beis HaMikdash

Let us delve more into the understanding of the words of Rav Saadya Gaon, as follows.

There are two kinds of “water”, in the form of tears, which are either damaging or healing to the eyes. When a person cries tears of joy, these tears give the eyes a shine and they are healing to the eyes. When a person cries tears of sadness or mourning, these tears are blinding and harmful to the eyes. This is “The secret of the matter that women weep in the month of Tamuz” which the Raavad writes about.

What was the root of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash? It was rooted in the very fact that “Hashem builds worlds and destroys them.” The Beis HaMikdash was designed by Betzalel, who “knew the secret of combining the heavens with the earth”.[6] Betzalel knew how to create an edifice on this earth that resembled Heaven, which this world is modeled after. Therefore, when the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, it was really a destruction upon the entire design of Creation, for the Beis HaMikdash represented the ideal design of the entire Creation. The destruction of the Beis HaMikdash was therefore a destruction to the pnimiyus (inner dimension) of all of Creation.

Destruction was built into the very design of Creation, for “He builds worlds and destroys them”, and this was the very root of all destructions to come after that. The Flood was the first time in history where this concept of destruction actually took place. The waters of the Flood destroyed the world. Later, destruction took place once again when the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, which was as if the world had been destroyed, because the Beis HaMikdash was a microcosm of the entire universe in one edifice. Its destruction therefore represented the destruction of Creation. Building the Beis HaMikdash was the building of the world, and the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash was the destruction of the world.

The Hebrew for “destruction”, charuv, can also mean “desolate land”, as in the term charavah, when water dries up and there is parched, dry, and desolate land. The Beis HaMikdash was built on a place of charavah, on desolate land. The Sages teach that Dovid HaMelech was digging at the future site of the Beis HaMikdash, in order to lay its foundation, and the waters of the tehom (the depths)where the Even HaShesiyah was placed, threatened to rise up and flood the world.[7]

The inner meaning behind this is that the Beis HaMikdash is built in the place precisely atop the place where the tehom wants to flood the world. Just as the Flood destroyed the world, so did the tehom wish to destroy the world again, when Dovid was laying the foundation for the Beis HaMikdash. That is the place upon where the Beis HaMikdah was built – it was built on such a place where destruction almost came to the world.

The Gemara says that the world will be for 6,000 years, and then it will become charuv, desolate.[8] On a deeper level, this means that the first 6,000 years of the world correspond to the period when the Beis HaMikdash was built, because the Beis HaMikdash was built atop the Even HaShesiyah, the stone which blocks the waters of the tehom from flooding the world, and the word Shesiyah is from the word shishi, “six”, corresponding to the 6,000 years of the world. The time period when the world becomes desolate (charuv), on a more inner level, is a hint to the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, when the world became “desolate” and destroyed.

The Beis HaMikdash was built on a place of charavah/desolation, because the waters of the tehom underneath the ground of the Beis HaMikdash almost rose up to destroy the world. This was a hint that the Beis HaMikdash would eventually be destroyed, it would become charuv, desolate.

Mourning The Beis HaMikdash – Returning To The Point Where No Destruction Is Possible

Now that the Beis HaMikdash has been destroyed, it is as if the entire world has become destroyed. What do we do, now that this has happened? We lament it loss, as in the verse, “My eyes, my eyes, they flow with tears.” [9]

However, there is a rule that “From the wound itself comes the recovery”. The Gemara says that “Whoever mourns Yerushalayim, will merit to see it in its consolation.”[10] The depth of this matter is because when one cries over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, he is essentially revealing the point before the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, when the charavah (desolate land)was called yabashah (dry land). When the Beis HaMikdash is destroyed and I want to repair its destruction, I need to return it to the way it was before it was destroyed, when there was no charavah in the world yet.

That is the secret behind crying over the loss of the Beis HaMikdash. Through crying over the Beis HaMikdash, our eyes are becoming “filled with water”, and this returns us to the state when the world was filled with water, before the six days of Creation. On a deep level, the time period when the world becomes charuv (desolate) corresponds to the original state of the world, when the world was filled with water, before the six days of Creation, the point which preceded all destruction, and the point in time where there is no concept of destruction. At that point, there was only water, and no land yet.

This means that there is a very deep point where the world is filled with the world. When water first filled the world, this was a repaired world, where there was no destruction yet. Of course, from our current perspective, if the world would return to being filled with water, it would be destruction to the world. But at the root, this is actually a repaired state of the world. In fact, it is only when water disappears from the world that there is destruction. When water dries up, the world becomes charavah, desolate land.

The third Beis HaMikdash, which will descend from Heaven, will come down in the form of a fire.[11] The third Beis HaMikdash will come from Heaven, where water and fire are combined (as a hint, shomayim/heaven comes from the words aish/fire and mayim/water). This will be a revelation of “dry land” within the water. The splitting of the sea was also a point where the dry land met the water.

[Just as there is a concept of “dry land within water” in the side of holiness, so is there a concept of “dry land within water” on the side of ruination.] Chazal state that on the day Shlomo married the daughter of Pharoah, which was also the day the first Beis HaMikdash was built, the angel Gavriel laid the foundation in the sea for the land of Greece.[12] Unlike the redemption from Egypt, where the people went from the sea to dry land (at the splitting of the sea), where there was a holy revelation of “dry land” within water, the day of when the first Beis HaMikdash was built, when the land of Greece was formed from the water, there was a chilling revelation of “dry land” within water, on the side of ruination.

When there is dry land without water, there is desolation and destruction. The mazal sartan in the month of Tamuz – the crab – represents the concept of revealing “dry land within water”. When the Ark of Noach settled on the peak of the mountain Ararat, it was dry land within water. At that time, the entire world was filled with water from the Flood, but the Ark was amidst dry land, on Ararat. Even when there is water everywhere, which destroys the world, there can be a point of “dry land” within the waters of destruction.

Summary

Thus, the idea is that there is either (1) Dry land without water, which brings destruction, (2) Water flooding the world, which is also destruction, (3) Water filling the entire world at the beginning of Creation, which was a repaired state for the world, and (4) “Dry land within water”, a state of repair.

Crying In Tamuz: Revealing Tears of Joy In The Tears of Sadness

By the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, the world became desolate again. It was like having land (the world) without water (our spiritual energy, our sustenance). It totally dried us out. What happens when there is total dryness? A person dries up, becomes thirsty, and longs for water.

Hagar cried in the desert because she had no water. Hagar was also the daughter of Pharoah (king of Egypt). [This is a hint to Shlomo’s marriage to the daughter of Pharoah on the day when the Beis HaMikdash was built, which paved the way towards destruction.] Rav Saadya Gaon also says that the month of Tamuz also corresponds to the exile in Egypt. Hence, the crying and mourning which we express in Tamuz, over the destruction of the Beis HaMikash, is a crying that comes from thirst, from having no water.

The Raavad furthermore states that the root of crying is in the month of Tamuz, because the mazal of Tamuz is the crab, which lives in the water [tears are a form of water]. Thus, our crying in the month of Tamuz corresponds to the crab.

But there are two kinds of crying. There is crying out of sadness, and there is crying out of joy. When a person cries, a person has some revelation of “water” coming forth from him, because tears are a form of water. This is somewhat comforting to a person, because he is not totally dried up. If he is able to cry, he has some “water” in his soul, and he is not totally dry. This is a comfort, on some level. When one cries, one is returning to a state of “water”, through the tears.

Tears are salty, and when a person cries out of sadness, he has “salty” water, so the crying does not completely calm him, just as salty water does not quench a thirsty person. This World is compared to “salty water”, because at first it seems to a person that worldly pleasures are satisfying, but soon a person realizes that he is not satisfied by the pleasures of This World, like salty water, which temporarily quenches a person’s thirst, but which doesn’t truly quench the thirst.

The crying which we express in the month of Tamuz, which is when we cry out of sadness over the Beis HaMikdash, is a crying that leaves us saddened and thirsty for something. Although crying is somewhat comforting, it does not completely calm a person, if the person is crying tears out of sadness.

Our crying in the month of Tamuz resembles the state of the lower waters in Creation, which cry and yearn to return to above.[13] This is a kind of crying which, although it is coming from a good source, it doesn’t have the power to bring a person yet to completion. It only makes a person thirstier for more, and it leaves a person feeling unsatisfied and unquenched.

When a person drinks salty water, he is not imagining the water. There is definitely water here, and it is not being imagined. But it only quenches his thirst partially, and soon after the person is thirsty again. Crying out of sadness, which is like salty water, can only comfort a person partially, it is some kind of “water” which quenches a person’s longing, but it does not completely comfort the person.

When a person cries tears of joy, the Raavad says that this can heal the eyes. An example of crying “tears of joy” would be the crying expressed at finding one’s spouse. The Sages state “Finding a mate is as difficult as the splitting the sea.” By the splitting of the sea, there was dry land within water.  When there is a revelation of “dry land within water”, there can be tears of joy, which are coming because of the “water” that is here. But when there is only dry land and there is no water, there can only be tears of sadness.

When a person cries, he is connecting himself to the state of “water”, to his tears, and that is how he can cry. But when a person has “dry land within water”, he is able to cry tears of joy, from finding water within dry land. He is not crying for water - for he has water, he has water within the dry land.

Revealing Joy Within The Sadness of Mourning The Beis HaMikdash

Now that the outline was described, let us bring this down to the realm of our emotions.

Crying out of sadness takes place whenever something meaningful has become removed from a person’s life. In contrast, crying tears of joy is when a person gains something, from a feeling of fulfillment, from the emotion of acquiring and reaching something.

All crying, even crying tears of sadness, really needs to be mixed with joy and sadness.

On one hand, there is so much to cry for. The spiritual level of the generations becomes worse as time continues, for the Sages state that “There is no day that is not more cursed than the day before it.”[14] There was destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, the place where the glory of Hashem was revealed on this world. Nothing could be sadder. But at the same time, we always have to remember these words: “There is no place that is empty from Him.”[15] Even in the absolutely worst times of destruction, Hashem is present!

On one hand, we are missing the Shechinah, Hashem’s presence on this world, and the glory of the Jewish people has disappeared with this as well, ever since the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed. Our souls are in pain over this, and over the absence of the Shechinah in the world. But at the same time, we can still apply the verse, “In any place where I My Name, I will bless you.”[16] Even as we mourn and cry tears of sadness over our destroyed world, we can also cry tears of joy, because “There is no place empty from Him.”

We are able to leave behind the current state of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, and enter into the dimension of “There is no place empty from Him.” If we can only cry over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and we are only saddened, with no source of joy in our lives, then we truly remain with nothing except destruction and sadness. But if we can recognize that even in the lowest and darkest point that we can still find Hashem, it is like finding dry land within water.

There are, essentially, two totally different ways in which Hashem’s Presence is revealed to us. One way is when it is obvious, such as by the splitting of the sea. This was “water” within dry land, because we walked on dry land where there should have been water. Another way in which Hashem is revealed to us is when there is “dry land” within water: through the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, we can also reveal Hashem, when we find the “dry land within water” – when we manage to find Hashem’s presence amidst all of the destruction around us.

Revealing Joy On Our Inside Amidst Sadness On Our Outside

Now let’s describe this all in simpler terms which we can apply to our own lives.

All of us, each on his own level, has times of failure, of being pained from our personal past, as well as from the generation level of this generation. Every person is bothered by his own personal shortcomings and failures from his past, and if a person is on a higher level than this, he is pained also from the low spiritual level of today’s generation. We can all clearly recognize that we currently live in hester panim, where Hashem’s radiance is concealed from us, and we feel like we are living in the dark. But even within all of the darkness, can still find Hashem hidden there. He is found there, and we can all find Him, to the extent long as we recognize this truth.

The prophet Yirmiyahu wrote the book of Eichah, which laments the loss of the Beis HaMikdash. There is a rule that in order for a prophet to compose any of the books of the Prophets, he had to be in a state of prophecy, of Hashem’s Presence resting upon him, which required him to be in a state of joy. The question is, how could Yirmiyahu write Eichah when he was clearly in distress from mourning the Beis HaMikdash? The deep answer to this is because even as one is mourning and saddened on the outside, on the inside, he can still find Hashem, in any situation, even as destruction is raging around him.

Tears of sadness are about destruction, whereas tears of joy are about finding “dry land within water”, a place of respite amidst all of the destruction. When we are pained in our souls about our losses, both our personal losses and our collective losses, all of this pain can be experienced on the “outside” of the soul, but on the “inside” of our soul, we can find joy! How? When we realize how Hashem is always there with us!

The Gemara says that “On the outer chambers, Hashem weeps, but on the inner chambers, Hashem is joyous.”[17] This also applies to us on a personal level, on the level of our own souls. On the “outer chambers” of our soul, we mourn the Beis HaMikdash, and we can be profoundly saddened at all that we have lost. But even amidst all of this mourning and sadness, we also need to access the “inner chambers” of our soul, where we can find joy, where we discover Hashem’s eternal presence.

In the month of Tamuz, we begin to mourn. The mazal of Tamuz, the sartan/crab, reveals the dry land within water. The crab is a creature that is used for healing, as the Raavad says. Its hide is used to beautify royal garments. The deeper meaning of this is that even within the crying of sadness, we can find the constant presence of Hashem, the ever-present reality of Hashem, and that is the “dry land within the water” that we can always find. When one is connected to that, he is only saddened on his outside, but on his inside, he has joy.

If a person can only cry tears of sadness, he lives only on the “outer chambers” of the soul, and he will remain only with the “salty water” that comes from such crying, which only makes him become thirstier. One also needs to cry tears of joy, by finding Hashem’s presence, even amidst the worst times of darkness and destruction.

Of course, we do not mean that a person should not cry over the loss of the Beis HaMikdash and that he should only be joyous, chas v’shalom. Rather, what we mean is that along with our mourning over the Beis HaMikdash, we also need to become connected to our inner dimension, of feeling Hashem’s Presence in all times, where we can always find joy.

Such a person will gain the true “nechamah (consolation) of Yerushalayim”, because he will reach the place of “There is no place empty from Him” – in the present, revealed in his soul.  

In Conclusion

May we merit the time when the fasts of Tamuz and Av will become turned from pain into joy, when even the outer chambers of the soul will become filled with the revelation of “There is no place empty from Him.”