A crab is the Zodiac sign for the Jewish month of Tammuz, during which a fast falls on the 17th day. Though the crab is weak, its pinch is excruciatingly painful.
The crab’s pinch characterizes the pain the Jewish people endured in Tammuz, a month with no festivals yet a fast day.
Legend says that the first of Tammuz was the day that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden.
A Midrash adds that the first of Tammuz was the day that Moses—whom God instructed to speak to a rock in order for it to yield water to quench the thirst of the Israelites—sinned by striking the stone instead.
As a punishment for not speaking to the rock, God forbade Moses from entering the Promised Land.
Among the five tragic events that tradition holds took place on the 17th of Tammuz was the shattering of the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
To memorialize these events, the 17th of Tammuz is observed as a minor fast day and marks the beginning of a three-week period of mourning that lasts until Tisha B’Av, the fast day that commemorates the destruction of both Jewish Temples.
This image of a crab holding the shattered Ten Commandments is from a mosaic I designed for the Museum at Eldridge Street, which is housed in the Eldridge Street Synagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.