Tamuz radiates the nature of the stars of Cancer (Sartan). The Crab is the water sign of summer thus combining Cancer's water with Tamuz/July's heat. July is hot and humid, so too is Cancer. These attribute are not just about the weather, they are also about psychology and about history.

Heat represents the attribute of severity and judgment. Water represents the attribute of mercy. Thus combined Tamuz is a time of severity that is tempered by mercy. The terrible events that scar the Sartan month certainly manifest this peculiar combination.

The Fast of the Seventeenth of Tamuz commemorates five general things, the first of these being the day that Moshe descended from Mt. Sinai, saw the Golden Calf and broke the original Tablet, loosing forever (really until Mashiah comes) their original intent and meaning.

Other terrible events of similar magnitude occurred equally on this day. Prior to the destruction of the First Temple, the walls of Jerusalem were initially breached. The destruction of the city soon followed.

Time after time national tragedies strike the Jewish people and almost as if by design, they all manage to happen at the exact same times every year. This is completely unnatural. Political and social events have a life of their own. As much as these matters are subject to human influence, there is so much more about them that are not. How then do five major calamities all separated by centuries all manage to occur on the same day of the year or during a similar period of time in the year. This is the power of Mazal, the influences ordained by G-d to rule over the affairs of man. Only a fool denies what is so clearly evident before his/her own face.

Fire burns and water cools. Severity destroys and mercy tempers. Tamuz is a time of harsh decrees; a time when things could be worse. Water tempers fire; mercy tempers severity. As bad as were the things that happened in Tamuz, they could have been worse. Water tempers fire and therefore there is mercy, even in the severity of judgment. Only when fire meets fire is mercy vanquished and the people left to meet their fate. This however does not come until the next month.

One learns from Sartan to cool the severe fires with soothing waters before they can burn out of control. A fast day not only commemorates the past, it serves as a warning for the future. Either we learn the lessons of the past and make strenuous efforts not to repeat past mistakes, or we will be destined to relive them over and over again until we do learn. Future tragedies are avoided today by us not walking down a path that has no return and no other destination other than disaster.

As Sartan heats up, we need to cool ourselves down. A change on our part is due, indeed, it is overdue. If we do not stop the fire, then it will in the end devour us alongside everything that we love. After all, the nature of fire is to burn and destroy and the nature of water is to cool down the flames and put out the fire.

The Sartan Crab immerses itself in the waters of purification; but this can only occur once one has been purified. To be purified requires of one two things; changes in behavior and changes in attitude. Without both, the cooling waters cannot flow and the raging fires will continue to burn.

Tamuz is not the time for confrontation and battle. Rather, it is the time for taking a step back to reflect and be retrospect. Let the present time pass with patience. Let the fires burn until they are out. Wait for the time of purity. Only the Virgin shall pass through the scales unscathed. Rise out of the waters, avoid the fire and touch the sky.