Summary of the month
Elul is the last month of the year, its name mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah (6:15), and it is the month of repentance and reckoning before Rosh Hashanah. Forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur are days of favor, according to tradition: the days on which Moses went up the third time to Mount Sinai to receive the second tablets, and obtained forgiveness for the sin of the Golden Calf.
Mitzvot and customs of the month
- Blowing the shofar every morning (except the eve of Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat), to arouse repentance (Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer 46).
- Psalm 27 (“The Lord is my light and my salvation”) daily, from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Hoshana Rabba or Shemini Atzeret (according to custom).
- Selichot: in Sephardic and Eastern communities Selichot are said all month, every morning at dawn. In Ashkenazic communities they begin on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah.
- Checking tefillin and mezuzot, and self-examination.
- Piyyutim and bakashot: in some Moroccan and Syrian communities “bakashot” are sung at night.
- Charity and acts of kindness, and asking forgiveness from people.
- “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li” (Song of Songs 6:3): the acronym of Elul, and the name of the month expresses a relationship of love between God and His people.
Origin in history
Moses first went up to Sinai in Sivan and received the tablets, came down on 17 Tamuz and broke them. He then went up again for 40 days and prayed for the people. And on Rosh Chodesh Elul he went up a third time, for another 40 days, and came down on Yom Kippur with the second tablets and with forgiveness (Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer 46). So Elul is known as the month of mercy, and the “days of mercy and forgiveness” last until Yom Kippur.
The message for today
The Alter Rebbe (Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi) compared Elul to “a king in the field”: during the rest of the year the king is in his palace and hard to reach, but in Elul he goes out into the field, and anyone may meet him, and he receives everyone with a smile. This is an opportunity to examine ourselves without fear, with love and not dread. And the shofar of Elul reminds us: this simple sound can awaken even the hardest heart.