Days of Conciliation

The month of Elul is the last of the months in the general Jewish calendar year. It precedes the Days of Awe, commencing with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. Thus the month is characterized by a somber mood reflecting what the rabbis have called the Days of Reconciliation.

During the month of Elul, it is customary to make a special effort to improve relationships with one's friends and acquaintances as a token of unbounded love, symbolized in the Hebrew acronym of the first letters of the word ELUL. These letters spell out the Hebrew verse from the Song of Songs (6:3): "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."

Days of Forgiveness

According to tradition, Rosh Chodesh Elul marks the day when Moses ascended the mountain with the new Tablets of stone, having first pleaded for the grave sin of the Israelites who had worshipped a golden calf in the desert. Divine mercy is offered, and forty days later Moses descends the mount with the Second Tablets as a mark of renewed Divine favor.

These 40 days, from Rosh Chodesh Elul until the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, have thus been fixed for generations as days of repentance and forgiveness.

Prayers and Supplications.

The Shofar is Sounded

Like a warning bell, from the second day of the month, the shofar (usually a ram's horn) is customarily sounded after the morning prayers. This recalls the blasts blown when Moses ascended the mountain for the second time: it was a reminder to Jews not to fall into temptation again. As it is written: "Shall a shofar blow in the city and the people not tremble?" (Amos 3).

Click here to hear the Shofar being blown!

A Special Psalm

Also, from the 2nd Elul, Psalm 27 is recited after prayers in the synagogue. The author acclaims: "A psalm of David - the Lord is my light and my salvation... for he will hide me in his tent."