Before coming to Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur we also need to stretch and loosen up to be ready for the prayer and repentance which are required. And for these activities we have the 30 days of the month of Elul in which to prepare ourselves and be ready for the High Holy Days.

Every morning during the month the Shofar is sounded as a call to prayer, a call to repentance, and a call to return to a relationship with God. There is an idea that God is even more accessible during the month of Elul, and so the mystics referred to this period as when “The King is in the field”. 

To guide us through the month of Elul every day we will be posting a new passage here to help us spiritually prepare for the days which lie ahead. To receive these passages directly in your inbox, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it here to subscribe.

• 1st Elul
  There is an idea that Moses went up Mount Sinai for the second time, after the sin of the golden calf, on the 1st of Elul. He returned forty days later, on Yom Kippur, with a new set of the Ten Commandments, a symbol that God had forgiven the people for their sin. The second set of Tablets was written by Moses together with God (unlike the first which were solely the work of God) they were symbolic of a new partnership between God and the people. When we repent for a sin, learning a lesson, something new and stronger can often emerge.  
  
• 2nd Elul
  If one takes the letters of the word Elul (aleph, lamed, vav, lamed) it can be read as an acrostic for the Hebrew ‘Ani Ledodi Vedodi Li’ – ‘I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine’ (Song of Songs 6:3). We are in a loving relationship with God, a relationship which can sometimes be forgotten or neglected. As we come to the month of Elul we have an opportunity to reconnect and renew our love for God.
  
• 3rd Elul 
  The shofar sounded throughout the month of Elul serves as a call to action, a call to repentance. It also serves as a reminder of our ancestor Abraham, and his attempted sacrifice of Isaac. The story illustrates the challenge of balancing a relationship with God alongside a relationship with people. We will pray to God for forgiveness on Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, but we must also talk to the people around us to ask forgiveness from them. Our prayers may be directed to Heaven, but we live in this world.
  
• 4th Elul 
  Many of us have a tendency to blame our failures and shortcomings on the evil machinations of others, those who wish us to fail, who cause us to stumble, and who prevent us from achieving our goals. No doubt this is partially true in that we are all influenced by those who surround us. The world is a competitive place. Too often, however, we rely on convenient and comforting excuses, for example, “He made me say that”; “It’s her fault I haven’t succeeded”; and “they’re to blame for the way I am because they did… or failed to do…” What is more, the corollary to blaming others for our failures and shortcomings is that we focus on trying to change them instead of ourselves. Now that the month of Elul has arrived, it is time to stop blaming others and accept personal responsibility for who we are.
  
• 5th Elul
  “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” - Tuesdays with Morrie (p.43)
  
• 6th Elul
  During the month of Elul, we start to prepare for the High Holyday season by Tefillah, the prayer that is at the heart of the process of examination and self development. The word Tefillah comes from the Hebrew root l’hitpallel, to examine oneself. Jewish prayer is so difficult and so demanding on the individual because it requires searing, honest and painful self examination. It requires us to use this preparatory month to look into our hearts and souls and really see the times when we have failed to live as we hoped to, failed to be compassionate and loving to those around us. When we make a resolution, based on Tefillah, to change our lives for the better, we are really living in harmony with the demands of this special time of the Jewish year.
  
• 7th Elul
  At the high holidays we make 'teshuvah'- to return. Through proper self reflection, and hard work at repairing our relationships, we make this return to God. But there is another return that this hard work rewards us with, a return to our selves, and the best version of ourselves that we can be.
  
• 8th Elul
  Our sages have taught us that prayer requires preparation. We must prepare for t’shuvah (repentance) because it is not something that we can achieve quickly and easily, even if our intention is sincere. Repentance requires a change in attitude, thinking and behaviour. The Rambam (Moses Maimonides, twelfth century) wrote in his Hilchot T’shuvah (“Laws of Repentance”) that t’shuvah is achieved in three steps. The “three Rs” of repentance are
  · Regret
  · Rejection
  · Resolution
  Our tradition sets aside Elul, the entire month prior to Rosh Hashanah, for personal introspection and reflections that guide us in our t’shuvah efforts. The rabbis understood that for t’shuvah to be both sincere and effective, intense preparation is required.
  
• 9th Elul
  “If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless.” - Mahatma Gandhi
  “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
  
• 10th Elul
  Our tradition mandates that we should visit family graves during the month of Elul. Sometimes this is difficult and involves long journeys and careful planning. So why should we do such a thing? It is to remind us of our loved ones, of the hopes and dreams they had for us, and all that we owe to them for our upbringing, our family backgrounds and our roots in the Jewish community. During the month of Elul, if we say Kaddish for our beloved, it roots us in a sense of our own mortality and the necessity to prepare for the Day of Judgement on Rosh Hashanah.
  
• 11th Elul
  A Chasidic story tells of a king who is normally at home in his castle. There it is difficult to reach him, one has to make an appointment and go through the officers. One month a year the king travels through his land, and meets his subjects during their ordinary lives. So it is for us during the month of Elul, we can meet God during our ordinary day, as we put our lives in order in preparation for the High Holydays. Once the solemn month of Tishri begins, it is as if we need to reach God via the formality of the synagogue services. So, make this Elul a chance to meet God during your ordinary life, study and repent and be ready for the special atmosphere of Tishri
  
• 12th Elul 
  The shofar is a strange, primitive and fierce musical instrument. In ancient times it was sounded to alert the people for battle. It is stark and pure and impressive in the noise that it makes. It is sounded every single morning during Elul, in order to shake us out of our normal complacency and easy everyday lives. It allows you to awake, look at your life anew and determine to put things in order before the penitential season begins.
  
• 13th Elul
  Of all of the figures in the Bible, Esau, Isaac’s eldest son, has always merited the most sympathy from me, and the most admiration. He is also the most misunderstood. Many view him in an aggressive way – as a bully of an older brother who got what he deserved – often due to negative depictions of him in Rabbinic texts. But Esau was in fact a sensitive soul, desperate for his father’s love and affection, doing nothing to deserve his brother’s manipulation save for leaving the womb first; in fact, it seems his biggest mistake lay in his trusting nature, and particularly the trust he put in his family. After his brother’s deception and the apathy and dismissal of his family, Esau could have spent the rest of his life plotting vengeance against his brother, cutting off all communication with his parents, and focused his entire life lamenting the wrongs committed against him and the injustice of it all – many of us have engaged in that grudge-bearing behaviour, and for much lesser injustices. But not Esau. Esau went on with his life. He continued to attempt to do right by his father, and live in a way that would please his parents.
  And years later, when the brothers were re-united, Esau runs to his brother and embraces and kisses him, weeping all the while. There was no grudge, no feelings of ill will – just love, and longing, and lament over years missed. Awe-struck by his brother’s unquestionable forgiveness, Jacob says to his brother: “To see your face is like seeing the face of God.” It is from this statement, that I can finally begin to understand the incomprehensible question: What is God? For me, God is a loving embrace. God is in the tears of reunion – to each other and to ourselves. God is forgiveness.
  
• 14th Elul
  “Rabbi Elazar said: The reward of giving charity depends entirely on the measure of kindness with which it is done” Talmud Sukkah 49b. Teshuvah, (return) Tefillah (prayer) and Tzedakkah (righteous giving) are three key concepts emphasized in the liturgy and rituals of the high holidays. At these difficult economic times giving to others can be a personal challenge. But it is not the amount that is important in the giving; we all have the means to give in some way, whether with our time or our resources, but the spirit of the giving is more important than the substance: Is it truly the most you could be giving? Is it done out of guilt or fear, or out of a sense of kindness and care? Is it done in a way that truly respects the recipient? Is it given grudgingly, out of resentment, or in order to manipulate the recipient? How will you give in the coming year?
  
• 15th Elul
  God knew that the man he purposed to create, with his freedom and his native evil impulse, would sin against the revealed will of God in his law and incur not only its temporal penalties in this life, but the pains of hell. He must therefore have provided beforehand the remedy for sin, repentance. - George Foot Moore
  
• 16th Elul
  The Chasidim tell the story of Rabbi Baruch, whose grandson Yechiel was playing a game of hide-and-seek with a friend. Yechiel concealed himself cleverly and waited for his friend, who never came to find him. Realizing that he had been abandoned, he ran crying to his grandfather and complained about his faithless friend. Rabbi Baruch’s eyes, too, filled with tears, as he told the young boy.”God says the same thing: “I hide, but no one wants to seek Me!”
  
• 17th Elul
  Isaac Bashevis Singer taught: ‘We know what a person thinks, not when they tell us what they think, but by their actions.’ At this time of year we may say that we are sorry, using our words to apologise. But if we repeat the same actions our words appear hollow. The saying of ‘sorry’ is an important step, but the actions which accompany it can often have a much longer lasting effect.
  
• 18th Elul
  Teshuvah is the prime theme of the High Holyday season. Its too often translated as Repentance, when actually it means returning. And that minor difference is extremely important. Because its implication is that we learn from the mistakes that we make. And if we can truly put them right by apologising to those we have wronged, then we have grown as human beings, and moved further along the path of good conduct. That is the implication of returning. The Talmud says ‘it is better to have sinned and repented then never to have sinned at all.’ We aim to be whole, rounded human beings and so we sometimes make mistakes, but teshuvah is always possible
  
• 19th Elul
  Affirm your faith in yourself:
  - I believe that I am very important in God’s eyes.
  - I believe that I can return, no matter how far I’ve strayed.
  - I believe that I have the inner strength to change.
  - I believe that I can become truly devoted and close to God.
  …If you believe that you can damage, then believe that you can fix. If you believe that you can harm, then believe that you can heal.
  - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
  
• 20th Elul
  As Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai lay ill and dying, his disciples visited him and said, “Master gives us your blessing.” He replied, “May you fear God as much as you fear human beings.” They asked, “No more than this?” He answered, “That is more than enough, believe me! Do you not know that when we are about to commit a transgression, we dismiss God from our minds and hope that no human eye will see us!”
  1. How often do you consider the possibility that God is observing your behaviour and judging it?
  2. The etymology of the Yiddish word yarmulke (head covering) is yireh Melech (“fear of the King”). The custom of wearing a yarmulke (kippah in Hebrew) serves as a constant reminder that “there is Someone above us,” heightening our awareness of both our place in the world as secondary to God and the understanding that we were created in God’s image. Hence we must recognize both our limitations and our potential.
  
• 21st Elul
  The evocative music, rituals, tastes and sounds of the high holidays are very powerful, and often serve to remind us of those we have shared these days with in years gone by. Elul is traditionally a time to visit cemeteries and to take care of the memorials we have created for our beloved departed. In the shtetls of Europe women would take wick that had been measured out around the graves of the community and make them into ‘soul candles’, with prayers for the living and the dead muttered into them and tears wrapped up in their wax. What will you do this Elul to honour those who came before you and have made you who you are?
  
• 22nd Elul
  “Yom Kippur makes atonement for transgressions between a person and God. Yom Kippur does not make atonement for transgressions between one person and another until pardon has been procured” Mishnah Yoma 8:9 Sometimes sorry really seems to be the hardest word. Especially when we have to apologise to people who don't love us despite our inevitable imperfections. Perhaps the difficulty of the apologies, a necessary part of making teshuvah (return) at the high holidays, is a reminder in and of itself of the need to change and do better in the year to come.
  
• 23rd Elul
  If I cannot forgive myself
  For all the blunders
  That I have made
  Over the years,
  Then how can I proceed?
  How can I ever
  Dream perfection-dreams?
  Move, I must, forward. Fly,
  I must, upward. Dive,
  I must, inward,
  To be once more
  What I truly am
  And shall forever remain.
  - Sri Chinmoy
  
• 24th Elul
  Part of the preparation for the High Holyday season is to think about the Tzedakah projects we might support during this coming year. Our liturgy says that ‘Prayer and Repentance and Tzedakah avert the evil decree’ The mysterious process that underlines is the sense of self development that can come during this most profoundly Jewish time of the year. We are obligated to give charity, that is a mitzvah for us as Jews, but the very word Tzedakah tells us that it is not out of kindness, but because it is an obligation for us as righteous human beings The High Holyday season tells us that righteousness requires giving charity.
  
• 25th Elul
  “Do not hide Your face from me.
  Do not push aside Your servant in anger.
  You have always been my help.
  Do not forsake me, do not abandon me,
  O Lord, my deliverer.” (Psalm 27)
  “Abandonment” is a word that evokes a powerful emotional reaction. The Psalmist does not speak of a wilful rejection of children by their parents but of the natural cycle of life and death. Parents usually die before their children do, leaving their offspring feeling bereaved and abandoned. Even when parents die and leave behind full-grown children, these offspring often feel an intense loss that is tantamount to abandonment. This powerful and universal experience is cited by the Psalmist to contrast with our relationship with God, who never leaves us or turns away from us.
  
• 26th Elul
  Beruriah, who lived in the second century, taught her husband, Rabbi Meir, an invaluable lesson about sin and repentance. It seems that their neighbourhood was beset with hoodlums who caused trouble for Rabbi Meir. One day he prayed that these sinners would die. “Do not pray for the death of the sinners,” Beruriah said, “but rather for the death of sin. Then, if there were no more sin, there would be no more sinners”. And so, the Talmud tells us, Rabbi Meir prayed on behalf of the sinners.
  
• 27th Elul
  We often associate the high holidays with confessing our sins, or looking back at what we got wrong so that we might do better. They are of course an opportunity to do this, but we are also given the chance to reflect on what we got RIGHT and how we might do more of the same. Getting the balance right between both what we got wrong and what we got right, might make us better able to really make a change for the good.
  
• 28th Elul
  Hillel used to say: ‘If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?’ (Pirkei Avot 1:14). This phrase from Rabbi Hillel offers us important lessons for the month of Elul. As we approach the High Holy Days, we must take responsibility for our actions, repenting to God for our own sins. But we are also part of a community, and so we must apologise to friends and family we have wronged over this past year. And this important work should not be put off, waiting for Rosh Hashannah, we should start now.
  
• 29th Elul
  As we approach the period of Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur we may feel a sense of dread and fear. We have the ten days in which to pray, give charity and repent, so that we might be inscribed in the Book of Life. It can be a daunting prospect. But from the other side we can view this as a time of opportunity. God offers us an opening to return. God never breaks away from us completely, and instead calls us to come back, to re-enter into a relationship. We may be required to take the first steps home, but God is waiting to run out and embrace us.