Rosh Chodesh ELUL
The announcement of the new month of Elul should nudge us all in recognition that in 30 days, Rosh Hashanah will begin. An intensive month of “repentance” “Teshuvah” and self-introspection begins. Rabbeinu Yonah teaches us that the transgression of NOT doing Teshuvah is worse than the actual transgressions themselves. Therefore, we should use the month of Elul as a return to our true selves and to God. These are Yamei Ratzon, days of Divine grace and favor, times when God forgave Israel after the Golden Calf episode. We take time during Elul to reform and reshape our souls, fashioning ourselves into new beings. Thus, Elul calls us to inspect the very recesses of our hearts, to find and to eradicate wrong doings and to ensure that we replace them with good deeds of Torah, Mitzvot and gemmilut chasadim, acts of kindness. In this way, we rededicate ourselves to the highest values of our tradition.
