By GEORGE GAZAREK
Christians observe a season of Lent leading up to their holiday of Easter. Lent is a period of thirty-eight to forty-six days which includes fasting and reflection. Muslims observe a season of Ramadan leading up to their holiday of Eid al Fitr. Ramadan is a period of 30 days which includes fasting and reflection. Jews observe a season of Elul, which last 29 days, leading up to our holiday of Rosh Hashanah. This is our last service before Elul begins on the evening of August 6th so let’s take a look at some of the traditions of Elul.
The name of the month, like the names of the rest of the Hebrew calendar months, was brought from the Babylonian Exile, and has originated from the Acadian word for “Harvest”. A similar month name was also used in Acadian, in the form Aylul as the name for September in the Arabic calendar, reflecting the common ancestry of the Hebrew and Arabic languages.
In the Jewish tradition, the month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Talmud writes that the Hebrew word “Elul” can be expanded as an acronym for “Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li” – “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song of Solomon 6:3). The word “Elul” is similar to the root of the verb “search” in Aramaic. Elul is seen as a time to search one’s heart and draw close to God in preparation for the coming Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah, and Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
During the month of Elul, there are a number of special rituals leading up to the High Holy Days. It is customary to blow the shofar every morning (except on Shabbat) from Rosh Chodesh Elul (the first day of the month) until the day before Rosh Hashanah. The blasts are meant to awaken one’s spirits and inspire one to begin the soul searching which will prepare for the High Holy Days. As part of this preparation, Elul is the time to begin the sometimes-difficult process of granting and asking for forgiveness. It is also customary to recite Psalm 27 every day of Elul.
Aside from the blowing of the shofar, the other major ritual practice during Elul is to recite selichot (special penitential prayers) every morning during the entire month of Elul. Many Jews also visit the graves of loved ones throughout the month in order to remember and honor those people in our past who inspire us to live more fully in the future. Jews take collective responsibility for the moral targets that get missed in life. When we read the selichot during Elul and at the high holidays, we read them together as a congregation. Some ask why we have to recite wrongdoings that don’t apply to us. The answer, in the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, is that “In a democratic society, not all are guilty, but indeed all are responsible.”
Another social custom is to begin or end all letters written during the month of Elul with wishes that the recipient have a good year. The standard blessing is “K’tiva VaHatima Tova” (“a good writing and sealing [of judgment]”), meaning that the person should be written and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year. Tradition teaches that on Rosh Hashanah, each person is written down for a good or a poor year, based on their actions in the previous one, and their sincere efforts at atoning for mistakes or harm. On Yom Kippur, that fate is “sealed.”
Teshuvah (Return, or Repentance) is a generous gift from G-d, which allows us to erase our improper actions through a four-step process. The Torah tells us that no matter how far we stray or how many times we sin, G-d will wait for us to return to him through Teshuvah. There are four basic parts to Teshuvah:
1. Leaving the sin consists of stopping the commission of the sinful act. One cannot do Teshuvah if one continues to do the sin, even if he or she were to perform the next three steps perfectly.
2. Regret consists in sincerely regretting one’s wrong action. One must be genuinely ashamed and embarrassed over one’s sins.
3. Confession before G-d consists of an oral confession spoken out loud, in which one formulates in words the commitments and attitudes one has reached in his or her heart. One should say, “I have sinned, I have done such and such; I deeply regret my actions, and I declare before G-d, Who knows my innermost thoughts, that I will never do this sin again.”
4. Acceptance for the future consists of resolving in one’s heart never to commit the sin ever again. But… The above steps only work for sins committed against G-d; for sins committed against other people, one must first ask forgiveness from that person before G-d will accept the Teshuvah.
Teshuvah is an ongoing process that cannot be accomplished overnight. No matter how many times a person may stumble in the Teshuvah process, that person has to simply pick him or herself up and keep trying to stay on the right path. What G-d is really looking for is the sincerity of the effort that a person puts into their Teshuvah!
I’d like to close with words taken from Psalm 27
“One thing I ask of the Lord,
only that do I seek:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord,
to frequent His temple.”
Shabbat Shalom.