THE MONTH OF ELUL

בס "ד

Elul: The Month of Preparation — And Why It Matters for Non-Jews Too

This is a summary of a class about the Jewish month of Elul. The full class contains far more nuance, sources, and explanation than fits below — watching or listening to the complete class is highly recommended.

The Jewish Calendar in Brief

The class opens with a quick explanation of the Jewish calendar, needed to understand the name “Elul.” The Torah instructs that months be counted by the cycle of the moon, while the seasons (and therefore the placement of holidays like Pesach in spring) follow the cycle of the sun. Since a lunar cycle and a solar year don’t line up perfectly, an extra leap month is added periodically to keep the two in sync.

Originally, the months were referred to by number rather than name. Only after the Babylonian exile did the Jewish people bring back the month names still used today — names that originally came from Persia. Interestingly, one of those names, Tammuz, was originally tied to an idolatrous practice. According to the class, this actually illustrates a core idea: a person’s task is to take something ordinary — even something negative — and elevate it into holiness. That’s exactly what happened with these month names.

Elul: The Sixth Month, Preparing for the Seventh

Elul is the sixth month of the year and precedes Tishrei, the seventh month, packed with major holidays (including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot). The idea: something truly significant can only be experienced fully once you’ve prepared for it. Elul is that preparation period.

Why This Matters for Non-Jews

A central point of the class: the judgment associated with Rosh Hashanah is not for Jews alone. According to the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah cited in the class, “the world” — meaning all of humanity — is judged at four points in the year: on Pesach regarding grain, on Shavuot regarding fruit, on Rosh Hashanah every individual is judged personally, and on Sukkot regarding water. Since rain and harvest affect everyone, not only the Jewish people, the preparation for that judgment — the month of Elul — is, in principle, relevant to everyone.

Practices of the Month of Elul

The class describes several common Elul customs:

• The shofar is blown every day (except on Shabbat and on the last day of Elul), to awaken the heart and stir a sense of awe toward God.
• Psalm 27 is recited twice daily, since tradition holds that this psalm alludes to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
• Three additional psalms are added each day, so that the entire Book of Psalms (Tehillim) is completed over the course of the month.

The Parable of “The King in the Field”

A central image from the class, from the founder of the Chabad movement: throughout the year, the King (G-d) resides in his palace, inaccessible to most. But just before he enters his city, he passes through the field first — and there, everyone can meet him, speak with him, and receive a smile.

This image represents three “places” a person can occupy: the palace (a direct, powerful experience of G-d), the field (a more accessible, if less intense, connection), and the desert (where no one is present — that is, no awareness of G-d at all). The same three stages apply in time: Rosh Hashanah/Tishrei is the palace, Elul is the field, and the rest of the year is the desert. Elul is therefore precisely the moment when everyone — regardless of where they normally “stand” — gets the chance to draw closer to G-d.

Where Do You Stand? The Yearly “Accounting”

The class compares the self-examination of Elul to a merchant taking stock: just as you review what you bought and sold, in Elul you review what you thought, said, and did over the past year — and draw lessons from it for the year ahead.

The Name “Elul” as an Acrostic

According to Kabbalistic tradition (attributed to the Arizal, the 16th-century Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria), the name Elul (four Hebrew letters: Aleph-Lamed-Vav-Lamed) is said to form the initials of five biblical verses, each pointing to a different area of focus for the month:

1. Devotion to Torah study — the Cities of Refuge
Exodus 21:13 describes the cities of refuge, where someone who caused an accidental death could seek protection from revenge. The verse’s opening Hebrew letters are read as spelling Elul. Just as the cities of refuge sheltered a person from an avenger, the month of Elul is understood as a “refuge in time” — Torah study being considered a refuge from the evil inclination.

2. Prayer — “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine”
Song of Songs 6:3 — whose initials are likewise read as spelling Elul — is traditionally understood as an allegory for the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people (or, per this class, between G-d and every person). Elul is the season to actively work on that relationship through prayer.

3. Acts of kindness and charity (tzedakah) — gifts to the poor
Esther 9:22, which describes giving gifts to friends and to the poor at Purim, is likewise read as an acrostic for Elul. This verse is taken as a call, during Elul, to increase acts of charity — showing compassion to others in the hope of receiving compassion in the coming judgment.

4. Repentance (teshuvah) — circumcision of the heart
Deuteronomy 30:6 speaks of G-d “circumcising” the heart of the people and their descendants so that they may love G-d fully. Its opening letters are likewise read as forming the word Elul, symbolizing the inner work of removing the emotional “callus” that builds up over a year of routine and reconnecting with sincerity and sensitivity.

5. Anticipation of Mashiach — the Song of the Sea
Exodus 15:1, the opening of the song the Israelites sang after crossing the Sea of Reeds (“Az Yashir Moshe…”), is read — with its letters taken in reverse order — as another allusion to Elul. According to tradition, the future tense of “I will sing” alludes to the resurrection of the dead, tying this verse to the anticipation of the messianic era.

Summing Up

Elul is not presented as an end in itself, but as a tool: a month in which every person — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — is invited to take stock of the past year and prepare for the judgment and renewal that arrive with Rosh Hashanah and Tishrei. This happens through Torah study, prayer, charity, repentance, and anticipation of a better future.

Once more: this is a condensed summary. For the full explanation, sources, and examples — including the shofar demonstration at the end of the class — it’s well worth watching the complete class yourself.

Shiur of Rabbi Tuvia Serber

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