Rosh Chodesh - Elul

The New Moon of the sixth month, otherwise known as Elul was sighted on September 1st 2008. Let us begin to prepare ourselves for the upcoming feast days by careful examination of our lives; making teshuva (repentance) in those areas in which we find ourselves lacking or in need.

Special Significance (Biblical and by "Minhag," (Jewish Custom) ) of Rosh Chodesh Elul

Biblical:

Moshe had gone up in the Month of Sivan, and returned after forty days and forty nights, on the 17th of Tammuz with the First Luchos (tablets of torah). When Moshe observed the Jewish People sinning by creating and worshipping the Golden Calf, and participating in other sinful activities centered around the worship of that idol, he broke that first set of Luchos. He ascended Mount Sinai a second time, on the eighteenth day of Tammuz, the day after the great sin, and remained there for another forty days and forty nights, praying to Yahweh to spare the Jewish People and to return His full Presence among them.

At the conclusion of the second forty day and forty night period (that is, on the 29th of Av, Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul), Yahweh forgave the Jewish People and instructed Moshe to ascend Har Sinai yet again the next day, to receive the Second Luchos (tables of torah), on which would be inscribed for the second time the Ten Commandments. Moshe's ascension to Har Sinai for the third time (which also took forty days and forty nights, ending on Yom Kippur) occurred on Rosh Chodesh Elul.

Yahweh 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 -
1. Tekiah - a flat straight sound, "Tuuuu"
2.- 3. Combination of Shevarim - three broken sounds, resembling sighing, "U-Tu, U-Tu, U-Tu," and Teruah - nine rapid sounds resembling wailing, "Tu, Tu, Tu, Tu, Tu, Tu, Tu, Tu, Tu"
4. And a final Tekiah


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 Yahweh 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, Yahweh searches out the recesses and "hidden" areas of the human being. This idea is in turn based on the verse "The Lamp of Yahweh 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 Yahweh atones for the sins of His creatures.

Elul and Rosh Chodesh Elul - In Relation to Other Months of the Year:

1 Nisan
2 Iyar
3 Sivan
4 Tammuz
5 Av - 30 days
6 Elul - 29 days; Rosh Chodesh is 2 days
7 Tishrei - 30 days
8 Cheshvan
9 Kislev
10 Tevet
11 Shevat
12 Adar

Note - (Much of the following material regarding Rosh Chodesh Elul is abstracted from Mesorah Publications Stone Edition of the Chumash and from Rabbi Eliyahu KiTov's Sefer HaTodaah)