A Sacred Time – Tammuz #1
Rebbe Nachman reveals that the word Tammuz, when written without the vowel vav, is an acronym for zichru Torat Moshe, “Remember the Torah of Moshe.”
Reb Nosson explains that the Torah in its essence is so sublime, so remote from this world, that it is really beyond our grasp completely. But due to G-d’s love for the Jewish people, He contracted it and brought it down so that human beings could take hold of it.
The original tablets were broken on the seventeenth of Tammuz. When they shattered, the letters “flew away”–they retreated back to their source on high, so far beyond us. Ever since then, it is very difficult to bind ourselves to the Torah, since we don’t perceive its light. We perpetually forget and lose sight of the illumination that it confers on our souls. We learn Torah but fail to grasp its G-dly source. Its true nature should fill us with joy; learning or fulfilling Torah should uplift us and vitalize us. If we don’t feel this way when studying Torah or fulfilling its mitzvot, it’s because the letters have flown away for us.
How can we restore the letters to their proper place and “remember the Torah of Moshe?”
Through song. Singing to G-d fixes the broken tablets. The book of Psalms was actually King David’s transcriptions of his Torah-healing songs. Each of the five books of Psalms corresponds to one of the five books of Moshe.
When we sing with our heart–through personal prayers, Psalms or from the daily prayer book–we are fixing the world by revealing the light of life that is imbued in the Torah.
Dear G-d, please inspire me to sing to You!
