Special Significance (Biblical and by "Minhag," (Jewish Custom) ) of Rosh Chodesh Elul
Biblical
After the Jewish People sinned by creating and worshipping the Golden Calf, and participating in other sinful activities centered around the worship of that idol, Moshe prayed to G-d for forty days and forty nights, beginning on Rosh Chodesh Elul, to spare the Jewish People and to return His full Presence among them. G-d responded favorably to Moshe's prayers by commanding Moshe to create a new set of "Luchot,"
"Tablets upon which
were inscribed the Ten Commandments." He also restored His Presence to
the Jewish People by authorizing the construction of the "Mishkan,"
the Temporary Structure which served as a "Residence," so to speak,
for the Divine Presence, before the building of the First Temple in Jerusalem.
Minhagim (Customs) Related to Rosh Chodesh Elul
The Custom:
Beginning the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, and continuing until-but-not-including Erev Rosh HaShanah (the day preceding Rosh HaShanah), the custom is to blow the Shofar every weekday (excluding Shabbat, but not Sunday), four sounds -
Note: The duration of the "Tekiah" sounds at the beginning and at the end, both during this Elul-introductory period of Shofar-blowing, and on Rosh HaShanah itself, the Day of Sounding the Shofar, must be equal to the duration of the Shevarim-Teruah (or Shevarim alone, or Teruah alone, as we shall see, placed in between them).
The Background:
When Moshe went up the Second Time to receive the "Aseret HaDibrot," the "Ten Commandments," the Jewish People blew the Shofar in the Camp. They did this to impress upon themselves that Moshe had once again gone up the mountain of Sinai, so that they would not again make the tragic mistake in judging the time of Moshe's return, and fall again into Idol Worship.
Therefore, the Jewish People in later generations accepted upon themselves the custom of blowing the Shofar, beginning with Rosh Chodesh Elul to remind themselves that the people of Israel in the desert had sinned with the Egel, had repented, had been forgiven by G-d and restored to their former level of holiness. This would arouse in their hearts and minds the importance and the effectiveness of doing "Teshuvah."
The Custom:
Ashkenazic (Northern, Western and Eastern Europe) have the custom, beginning with the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, of reciting Chapter 27 of Tehilim (Psalms), beginning "By (King) David, 'The L-rd is my Light and my Salvation,' " until and including Hoshannah Rabbah.
The Background:
This custom is based on the Medrash which links the "Light" of David, and the "Light" of all human beings, to Rosh HaShanah, the Day of Judgment, when by the light of the "neshamah," the soul, Hashem searches out the recesses and "hidden" areas of the human being. This idea is in turn based on the verse "The Lamp of Hashem is the human soul, which searches out all the recesses of his being." And the "Salvation" of David and of all human beings is linked to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when Hashem atones for the sins of His creatures.
ELUL: A Time To Reflect
Man with shofar.... remember to hear the shofar everyday!
What is Elul?
"Elul" is the Sixth Month of the year, counting from "Nisan," called in the Chumash, "the first month." Counting from "Tishrei", the month of Rosh HaShanah, "Elul" is the twelfth, and last month in the year. Like the names of the other months of the Hebrew Calendar, "Elul came up", or "returned with," those Jews who returned to Israel from the 70-year Exile in Babylonia. The expression "returned with" is particularly significant in this case in that this is the month of "Return to Hashem," or "Repentance."
Elul is the name of the
month which we are given each year to prepare for the "Days of Awe:"
Although we believe that G-d always watches over the world, and is always waiting
for our "return," we also believe that, in a sense, He is more accessible
during the 40-day period beginning with the start of Elul and culminating in
the first ten days of the Month of Tishrei. Those days, known as the "Ten
Days of Repentance," begin with "Rosh HaShanah," and end with
"Yom Kippur."
Following the principle of
"Seek G-d when He is at hand; Call upon Him when He is near," (Yeshayahu
55:6)
we make special efforts to renew our commitment to Him during this period of the year when He is "closest" to us.
What does the Name "Elul" Mean?
"Elul" has been interpreted as an acronym, with its Hebrew letters "Aleph," "Lamed," "Vav," "Lamed" representing the words "Ani L'Dodi V'Dodi Li" (Song of Songs: 6,3).
The words mean "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine," where my "Beloved" is G-d, and "I" am the Jewish People.
Zodiac Sign of the Month
The Zodiac Sign of the Month is the "Maiden," because of the verse, (Yirmiyahu 31:20), "…Return, O Maiden of Israel, return to these cities of yours!" Because this month is set aside for return to G-d and Repentance.
Historical Background of "Elul"
1. According to Jewish tradition, the World was created by G-d on the twenty-fifth of Elul, according to the opinion in the Talmud of Rabbi Eliezer, whose opinion is followed generally in connection with questions of astronomical and cosmological (having to do with the "cosmos," or the entire universe) matters. And according to the Biblical narrative in the beginning of the Bible (Bereshit 1:1-31), Original Man and Original Woman were created six Days after the Creation of the Universe. The "Day of Creation" of the first human beings is called "Rosh HaShanah." Hence, it follows that the "Day of Creation" of the Universe was the twenty-fifth of Elul.
2. According to Jewish tradition,
it was on the 17th of Elul, that the spies who gave the tragic and catastrophic
report about Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel), died, as the Bible says in
BaMidbar (14:37), "The Men who gave a bad report concerning "The Land"
died in a plague before G-d."
Rabbi Elazar son of Parta said, "Come and see how great is the negative
power of evil speech and consequently the greatness of the punishment that it
brings! We learn this lesson from the spies. For they slandered only trees and
stones (the Land of Israel) - how much worse is the punishment if someone slanders
a human being!"
3. In the Book of Nechemiah (6:15), we find, "And the wall was finished on the 25th of Elul, after fifty two days." When Nechemiah came up from the Diaspora of Babylon to Yerushalayim, and saw the city in its ruined state, its walls filled with gaps and its gates burnt with fire, he urged the Jewish People to rebuild the walls, in order that they no longer be a shame among the nations.
The enemies of the Jewish
People, Sanbalat the Choronite, Toviah the Amonite and Geshem the Arab attempted
to forge a conspiracy to prevent the rebuilding of the walls. When they tried
to disrupt the work by physical force, they were repelled by the workers who
worked with their tools in one hand and their weapons in the other as the verses
there attest, "Those who built the walls and those who lifted and carried
the burdens would do their work with one hand, while one hand held a weapon."
(Nechemiah 4:11)
And the following additional dramatic descriptions of the situation, which bring
to mind the battles of the early Kibbutz-niks against the Arabs at the birth
of the modern State of Israel, when tremendous levels of bravery and self-sacrifice
were exhibited by the Israeli worker-fighters. "So we did the work, with
half of them grasping the spears, from the rising of the dawn until the emergence
of the stars. Also, at that time I said to the People, 'Let each man and his
attendant spend the night in Jerusalem. Thus, the night was a watch for us and
the day was for work. Thus neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the
men of the watch who were under me, none of us removed our garments; no one
disrobed even to wash their clothes." (Nechemiah 4:15-17)
When the enemies realized that their military attacks were to no avail, they attempted to trap Nechemiah by encouraging him to meet with them, where they would do away with him, he saw through their attempts, as it says, "Then Sanballat sent me the same message with his servant, with an open letter in his hand. In it were written these words: 'It has been heard among the nations, and Geshem confirms it, that you and the Jews plan to rebel, and that is why you are building the wall; and that you are becoming their king, and similar things; and that you have also set up prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, 'There is a king in Judah!' Now these things will be heard by the king! So now, let us come and take counsel together!" (Nechemiah 6:5-7)
But Nechemiah responded, "I sent word to him, saying, 'These things that you say have never happened; you have fabricated them from your heart! For you all try to frighten us, saying, 'Let the resolve of their hands for doing the work be weakened, so that it will not be done.' But now you strengthen my hand!" (Nechemiah 6:8-9)
When the wall was successfully
rebuilt, a great "Kiddush Hashem" "Sanctification of G-d's Name"
occurred. As we read, "The wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul,
after fifty-two days. It happened that when all our enemies heard this, and
all the nations around us saw, they fell greatly in their own eyes, for they
realized that this work was accomplished by our G-d." (Nechemiah 6:15-16)