This year, the 17th of Tammuz will be observed on Sunday, July 17. According to the tradition, this is the day that the walls of Jerusalem were breached, ushering in the Three Weeks of Affliction and leading up to Tisha B’Av. In preparation for this time, this week’s Kavanot are reflections on hope, anxiety, and the challenges and opportunities of these summer days.
With an 8-year-old book lover in the family, whose taste (unlike mine!) veers to fantasy, there is a fair amount of discussion about demons in our house. Lucky for me (or for him), there is also a lot of discussion about demons in the Talmud, so I can hold my own.
Take, for example, this teaching from Tractate Pesachim, which should ostensibly be about Passover:
From the first of Tammuz to the sixteenth of that month, these demons are certainly found. From here onward it is uncertain whether they are found or whether they are not found.
(FYI, today is the 14th of Tammuz, so we’re not out of the woods)
Now, while the Talmud itself goes into a long discussion about how one might attract or avoid evil spirits, and exactly what those evil spirits might do, the Shulchan Aruch (the 16th-century code of Jewish Law), is very clear about when and how to avoid one particular demon:
One must take care from the 17th of Tammuz until the 9th of Av not to go out between the fourth and the ninth hours [of the day] (because at those [hours] the ketev meriri rules).
While demonology in the Talmud is fascinating and often funny, I think the attempt to connect these demons to this particular time in the calendar speaks to something deeper—it speaks to fear and anxiety, and our desire to control them. If we know when and where the demons will appear, the Shulchan Aruch suggests, we can avoid them altogether. But, of course, we know that in life, we cannot avoid them forever. Obstacles and challenges (or maybe demons?) can appear outside of their appointed times, they can appear when we least expect them, and they do not always follow directions. And so, perhaps the lesson of Tammuz is that we might get through unscathed, but we should be prepared to battle the demons we need to battle.
—Rabbi Sari Laufer