ELUL
| Sign: | Betula - Virgo |
| Planet: | Mercury |
| Element: | Earth |
| Gender: | Female |
| Human Atribute: | Action |
| Tribe: | Gad |
| Movement: | Change |
| Fore Father: | Jacob |
| Hebrew Letter: | Yud |
Mystical
Thoughts On The Hebrew Month Of Elul
A month of Self-perfection
(August 20 – September
17, 2001)
Mankind hangs on the edge
of a precipice of despair. The one thing holding us back from falling off
is the ability to repair the damage we do to our souls.
This ability is a gift from the Almighty that He didn’t have to give.
Strict justice demands a punishment for a crime, that fits the crime, at the
time of the crime. As I overheard a woman saying to her friend in a hotel
lobby in the Catskills, “When I was younger and I broke Shabbos for the
first time, I thought a lightening bolt would come out of the sky and kill
me.” Anyone with the audacity to violate the rules of their infinite
Creator deserves immediate judgment. Our world might possibly have looked
like this had God created the universe only manifesting the attribute of Justice.
However, Kabbalah tells us that God also manifests His will through the attribute
of Love. Justice is mitigated, softened, and transformed into Mercy. The world
we live in is not merely a place of rules. The principles taught by God are
for our benefit. If God had desired robots to do good deeds all day long He
wouldn’t have given us free will. Our freedom allows for mistakes. He
knows we’re fallible. He knows we will have ups and downs. That’s
the way He made us.
Therefore, He created a process of “teshuva,” which means “return.”
It is more commonly translated as “repentance,” but that word has
inaccurate connotations. Teshuva is the recognition of what is the correct
path, where you’re at, and how to get back. If you know you’ve lied
this past year, for instance, and want to stop, you have to know why you lied.
If you don’t, you’ll end up lying again, and then the teshuva is
wasted. The Torah has advice on every area of transgression how to “return”
to the principles and the values of holiness. Because the soul is connected
to its source, it can never get so far away that it can’t find its way
back.
God gives us time to realize our mistakes, signs pointing to what the mistakes
are, and the process of correcting those mistakes. All of this comes out of
His mercy. Not only that, but there are moments of time called “days
of desire” when teshuva is in the air, or it’s an auspicious period
for it. The entire month of Elul is one of those periods. One of the indications
of Elul’s healing power of teshuva is the event of Moses going up the
mountain for the second set of tablets. (See Exodus Chapter 34) This happened
in Elul. God forgave the Jews for the sin of the Golden Calf and sent Moses
back down with the second stone tablets. What looks to us like an unforgivable
sin, God forgives. How could anyone bow down to an idol after experiencing
God’s oneness the way they did? The message of this incident is lost
on most readers of the Torah. The point is not that some of the Jews at that
time sinned so terribly. The point is the depth of God’s mercy that He
forgave them.
Because Elul is ripe for teshuva, you are able to see more clearly what areas
of your life need work. You have added insight into what is right and what
is wrong. Make a list of what you ‘re doing well, and what you’d
like to change. And don’t forget, the rules of the Torah are a means
to an end. The end is to become one with God. That’s the path to be on.
The judgment is not so much on how many rules you’re following, as it
is on what path you are on. Get back on the path.
The Hebrew calendar is looked at as cycle of spiritual influences. That yearly cycle starts with Tishrei and ends with Elul. Because it starts again next month, Elul has a message, and a focus both in how to end something, and also how to prepare to begin something. It signifies completion and perfection, but in a way that relates to that which is to come. For example, the month, historically, is used as a time of reflection and self-examination on the previous year’s activities. We look over the past year as an act of completion and say, “Okay, how did I do? Did I accomplish what you wanted? Did I improve your character? Did I gain more wisdom?” This is also a preparation for the upcoming “Day of Judgment” (Rosh HaShannah). Its prudent to use the time period before the Holy Court convenes to assess one’s life, see what needs to be corrected, and make some positive changes or commitments. Elul is ripe for perfecting our character precisely because it leads us up to Rosh HaShannah.
"Okay, how did I do? Did I accomplish what you wanted? Did I improve your character? Did I gain more wisdom?"
The astrological sign of the Virgin, which is assigned to this month, symbolizes this idea perfectly. Virginity is a quality of perfection and being unblemished. Its value, however, is mainly in light of the future commitment to a relationship. We are attempting, figuratively, during this time to mold ourselves into a state of “virginity” in order to enter a relationship with G-d that is pure and holy.
Its important to keep in mind the following. Theoretically, someone could review their year, come up with all the wrong conclusions, and start the next year even worse off. Therefore, the accounting that’s done at this time has to be done with wisdom. The letter kabbalistically associated with Elul is “yud”, the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is the first letter of G-d’s four-letter name, which symbolizes the Ten Emanations.[1] The first of the Ten Emanations is called “wisdom”, which is embodied in the “yud”. These ten emanations represent the totality of existence. Since the letter “yud”’ has a numerical value of ten, it also represents all ten emanations, which echoes the month’s aspect of completeness as it ends the yearly cycle.
"The letter kabbalistically associated with Elul is "yud", the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is the first letter of G-d's four-letter name, which symbolizes the Ten Emanations."
The Talmud relates that the Jews will be redeemed and brought back to their former glory, some year, in the month of Tishrei. It’s clear that a month of introspection and correcting our mistakes is the appropriate precursor to this event. This is designed into the calendar. There is a custom to blow the Shofar every morning in Elul to remind people of the importance of “waking up”, and focusing on self-perfection now. The intensity of so many people coming back to a stronger bond with G-d creates a powerful impression on the spiritual realm. It’s possible that not only do we do this process in Elul because we hope to be redeemed in Tishrei, but the redemption itself may be the result of our coming back.
This is the power of the
month. It’s not just practical to introspect and self-correct in Elul.
It’s not merely a custom of the time. The spiritual nature of the month
enhances and magnifies the effect of any effort you make to come closer to
G-d and spirituality.
Kabbalistically speaking,
Rabbi Max Weiman