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Rosh Chodesh Tammuz: The New Moon That Opens the Summer

Netivyah International

Crescent new moon over dry summer hills near Jerusalem with a candle on a table

Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is the beginning of Tammuz, the fourth month of the biblical calendar. It is always kept for two days: the 30th of Sivan and the 1st of Tammuz. It begins at sundown and usually lands in June or early July. It is a minor festival, marked with extra prayers and a note of joy, and it opens a month that carries some of the heaviest memories in Jewish history.

You might see it spelled Rosh Chodesh Tamuz or Rosh Hodesh Tammuz. The spellings differ because they are transliterated from Hebrew. Rosh means "head." Chodesh means "month," and it shares a root with chadash, "new." So the name means "the head of the month," the day the month is made new.

Why it lasts two days

Hebrew months follow the moon, and a lunar cycle runs about 29 and a half days. Months therefore alternate between 29 and 30 days. When the month before has 30 days, the 30th day counts as the first day of Rosh Chodesh, and the 1st of the new month counts as the second.

In the fixed Hebrew calendar, Sivan always has 30 days. That is why Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is always a two-day observance. For the exact Gregorian dates in a given year, check a current Hebrew calendar. For how the biblical year is built, see God’s Biblical Calendar.

What Scripture says about the new moon

The new moon is not a later rabbinic invention. It runs all through the Tanakh.

Exodus 12:2. Before Israel leaves Egypt, God says, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months." From the start, the people of God kept time by months that He named.
Numbers 10:10. On the beginnings of months the priests were to blow silver trumpets over the offerings "for a memorial before your God."
Numbers 28:11-15. The specific new moon offerings are listed. This passage is still read from the Torah in synagogues on Rosh Chodesh.
Psalm 81:3. "Blow up the trumpet in the new moon."
1 Samuel 20:5, 18. David's absence from Saul's table at the new moon feast is noticed. It was a family meal people expected you to attend.
2 Kings 4:23. The Shunammite woman's husband asks why she would visit the prophet when it is "neither new moon, nor sabbath." New moons were ordinary times for seeking a man of God.
Ezekiel 46:1. In Ezekiel's vision of the Temple, the inner east gate is shut on working days but opened on the Sabbath and the new moon.
Isaiah 66:23. "From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me."

That last verse looks forward, not back. The prophets saw the new moon as part of the worship of the world to come.

The name Tammuz and the "fourth month"

The Bible usually calls this month simply "the fourth month." The name Tammuz came home with the exiles from Babylon, along with Nisan, Sivan, Elul and the others. In Babylon, Tammuz was the name of a pagan god, and Ezekiel 8:14 describes women at the Temple gate "weeping for Tammuz." Jewish tradition kept the month name but emptied it of its old meaning. The God of Israel rules every month, whatever Babylon once called it.

The fourth month carries real sorrow. Jeremiah 39:2 records that on the ninth day of the fourth month, Nebuchadnezzar's army broke through the walls of Jerusalem. Zechariah 8:19 mentions "the fast of the fourth month" and promises that one day it will become "joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts."

The Mishnah (Taanit 4:6) lists five calamities tied to the 17th of Tammuz. Moses broke the tablets. The daily offering ceased. The city wall was breached. Apostomus burned a Torah scroll. And an idol was set up in the Temple. The fast of the 17th of Tammuz opens the Three Weeks of mourning that end on the 9th of Av. You can read more in Tisha B’Av: Everything You Need to Know About the Jewish Day of Mourning.

So Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is a day of joy that stands at the door of a hard season. It is worth holding both together.

How Rosh Chodesh is kept in Jewish practice

Rosh Chodesh is not a day of rest like Shabbat, and most people go to work. But the synagogue prayers change in several ways.

Announcing the month. On the Shabbat before, the coming month is announced in a special prayer. That Shabbat is called Shabbat Mevarchim, "the Sabbath of blessing."
Ya'aleh v'Yavo. This paragraph, "may it rise and come" before God, is added to the Amida: The Standing Prayer and to Grace After Meals. It asks God to remember His people on this day.
Hallel. Psalms 113 to 118 are sung, with some passages left out. This shortened form is often called "half Hallel."
Torah reading. Numbers 28 is read, including the new moon offerings.
Musaf. An additional service recalls the offerings that were once brought in the Temple.

Fasting and public mourning are set aside on Rosh Chodesh. There is also an old custom that women refrain from some kinds of work on this day. Tradition ties it to the women of Israel, who refused to give their jewelry for the golden calf.

What the new month means for followers of Yeshua

Paul writes in Colossians 2:16-17 that new moons and Sabbaths are "a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." A shadow is not nothing. It has the shape of something real. The new moon is a picture, every month, of a God who renews what has grown dim. "His compassions fail not. They are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23).

What our fathers gave us

One of our teachers at Netivyah, Gary Webster, often connects the start of Tammuz to the theme of fatherhood. Teaching from Jerusalem, he once shared what his own father gave him. There was a steady work ethic, a love of reading, a meekness that did not strike back, and a quiet trust that God would provide.

Then he asked a harder question. What kind of father did you have? The father we knew shapes the picture we carry of our Father in heaven. A child who was abandoned may struggle to believe "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).

Scripture gives real hope here. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17). God promises in Ezekiel 36:26-27 to take out the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. In Luke 15:11-32, Yeshua shows us a father who runs to meet a son still "a great way off." Henri Nouwen saw three paths to that kind of fatherhood in this parable: grief, forgiveness and generosity. For fathers who have failed, the new month is a fitting time to apologize, ask to be let back in, and begin making better memories.

Notice the fit with the 17th of Tammuz. Tradition remembers it as the day the tablets were broken, when Israel had wandered from the Father within weeks of Sinai. And still He did not give them up.

Finishing the race

This season also reminds us of endurance. Gary points to Hebrews 12:1-2: "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." He named three things a runner needs to finish well.

Travel light. Lay aside the weights of anger, grudges and bitterness, and the sins that trip us up.
Pace yourself. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You can stumble in a marathon and still finish.
Keep your eyes forward. Runners who glance sideways lose their stride. We keep our eyes on Yeshua.

He told the story of Derek Redmond, the British sprinter who tore his hamstring in the 400-meter semifinal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. His father came down from the stands, put an arm around him, and the two of them crossed the finish line together. That is a fair picture of how the Father carries His children through the hot, heavy months of the year.

Marking Rosh Chodesh Tammuz at home

You do not need a synagogue to notice the new month. Here is a simple way for a family to mark it on the evening it begins.

Set the table a little nicer. Use a clean cloth, a candle and a favorite dish. Remember that in David's day the new moon was a family meal.
Step outside. If the sky is clear in the next evening or two, look for the thin crescent with your children. Read Psalm 104:19: "He appointed the moon for seasons."
Read the new moon verses. Read Numbers 10:10 and Isaiah 66:23 aloud, then talk about what the worship "from one new moon to another" might look like.
Name one thing to lay aside. Following Hebrews 12:1, let each person name a "weight" they want to leave behind in this new month.
Bless your children. Fathers, this is a fine month to start, or restart, speaking a blessing over your children. You can use The Jewish Blessing for Children.
Close with "Rosh Chodesh Sameach." It means "a happy new month."

As the month moves toward the 17th of Tammuz, you might pray Zechariah 8:19 together, asking that the fasts of mourning be turned into feasts of joy. Here is a question to sit with this month: what picture of the Father do I carry, and does it look like the one who ran down the road in Luke 15?

Questions people ask

When is Rosh Chodesh Tammuz?

Rosh Chodesh Tammuz falls on the 30th of Sivan and the 1st of Tammuz, beginning at sundown the evening before. Because the Hebrew calendar follows the moon, its Gregorian date shifts each year, usually landing in June or early July. You can learn more about how this works in our guide to [God’s Biblical Calendar](/feasts/gods-biblical-calendar).

When is Rosh Chodesh Tammuz in 2025 and 2026?

In both years it is observed for two days, the 30th of Sivan and the 1st of Tammuz, starting the evening before. The Gregorian dates move from year to year, so confirm them on a current Hebrew calendar. In most years it falls in June or early July.

Why is Rosh Chodesh Tammuz two days?

When the previous month has 30 days, its 30th day becomes the first day of Rosh Chodesh. In the fixed Hebrew calendar, Sivan always has 30 days, so Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is always kept for two days.

Is it spelled Tammuz or Tamuz, Rosh Chodesh or Rosh Hodesh?

All of these are correct transliterations of the same Hebrew words. Rosh Chodesh means head of the month, and Tammuz is the name of the fourth month. Different spellings simply reflect different ways of writing Hebrew sounds in English letters.

What happens during the month of Tammuz?

Tammuz opens with Rosh Chodesh, a day of joy and added prayers. On the 17th of Tammuz there is a fast remembering the breach of Jerusalem's walls, among other calamities listed in the Mishnah. That fast begins the Three Weeks of mourning leading to [Tisha B’Av: Everything You Need to Know About the Jewish Day of Mourning](/feasts/all-about-tisha-bav). During this month, synagogues typically read Torah portions from the Book of Numbers, such as [Parashat Chukat-Balak: Various Teachings From Netivyah Staff](/torah-portions/chukat-balak).