Elul: Is There a “Season” for Teshuvah?

The Shabbos of Parshas Shoftim inaugurates the month of Elul. From the beginning Elul, there is a notion of “preparing for Rosh Hashanah.” This idea can often seem a little vague and undefined. What is the nature of this preparation? Presumably, it means that we should do teshuvah. Yet that is something we can and should be doing throughout the year whenever necessary! What is the special nature of these days?

In order to get a sense of what this month is about, we need to go back to our first ever Elul as a nation.

The forty days beginning with Rosh Chodesh Elul and culminating with Yom Kippur were the days that Moshe was on Mount Sinai to receive the second set of luchos (the first set having been broken after the making of the Golden Calf). This imbued these days with an intrinsic quality of appeasement, making them a propitious time for the Jewish People every year since.

What happened during those forty days? We might be inclined to say that since this was when the Jews were forgiven, these days thereby attained a quality of forgiveness.

However, surprisingly, if we look at Rashi, we will see that this is not the case, for we had already been forgiven before Rosh Chodesh Elul!

Let us explain.

Three Sets of Forty Days

Moshe went up Mount Sinai three times:

• The first time was straight after Shavuos to receive the first set of luchos, which were broken on the seventeenth of Tamuz due to the sin of the Golden Calf.

• The second time Moshe went up was the next day, the eighteenth of Tamuz, in order to pray for forgiveness. Moshe stayed there for forty days, which culminated on the twenty-ninth of Av.

Regarding that day, Rashi comments:

On that day the Holy One, Blessed is He, was reconciled with Israel and told Moshe, “Carve out for yourself two tablets.”

It turns out that the Jewish People had already been forgiven after the second set of forty days. What happened next?

• Moshe then went up a third time, beginning on the first of Elul, and stayed there until the tenth of Tishrei (Yom Kippur).

Regarding that day, Rashi writes:

On that day, the Holy One, Blessed is He, was reconciled

with Israel with joy, and said to Moshe “I have forgiven in

accordance with your words.” This is why Yom Kippur was fixed

for forgiveness and pardon.

We see from these words that the forty days beginning with Rosh Chodesh Elul do not coincide with the days that Hashem was “reconciled” with us, i.e., that He forgave us, but the days that He was “reconciled with us with joy.” This represents something beyond basic forgiveness.

What happened during those final forty days, and how did that shape the nature of the month of Elul?

Two Types of Teshuvah

It is quite possible for a person to repent his sins, to the point that Hashem will not punish him, and yet still not reach a stage where he has reestablished any meaningful relationship with Him.

This corresponds to the middle set of forty days, where Hashem was reconciled toward Israel, but not yet truly happy with them. The focus of this type of teshuvah is more on “getting out of trouble” than it is on repairing one’s connection with the Divine. This is a reasonable depiction of a typical act of teshuvah done during the year.

The period beginning with Elul represents aiming toward something higher. It corresponds to the final set of days on Mount Sinai, which culminated in Hashem being “reconciled with us with joy,” and ready to resume His loving relationship with His people. Indeed, it was only after Yom Kippur that we were told to build the Mishkan, which is a demonstration of Hashem’s love through His Divine presence dwelling among us.

In this respect, we may say that teshuvah during the year may focus primarily on the “y-axis” of spirituality, raising oneself up from a spiritually low state to a high one. Elul comes to lay equal emphasis on the “x-axis,” which defines teshuvah as coming from being distant from Hashem to being close to Him.

Ani leDodi veDodi Li

The early commentators note that the word אלול contains an acronym for the words אני לדודי ודודי לי — I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me. This is a very nice phrase, but what does it have to do with Elul?

Based on our discussion so far, we understand that this verse actually defines the teshuvah atmosphere of Elul. It is looking toward doing teshuvah not only with the goal of escaping punishment, but also of reconnecting with our Beloved.

Where Does LeDavid Hashem Ori Talk about Teshuvah?

Beginning on the first day of Elul, at the end of our prayers, we say Tehillim Chapter 27, LeDavid Hashem Ori. What does this chapter have to do with Elul? While it is true that there are references in the opening verse to the days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the rest of the chapter isn’t really about themes of repentance or forgiveness. Rather, it discusses our reliance on Hashem’s protection in all situations. How does this help us get ready for Rosh Hashanah?

With our new understanding of the theme of Elul (being our relationship

with Hashem rather than simply repenting our sins), we can now understand that this is exactly the atmosphere that we are looking to introduce during these days — one of God-awareness. A very easy and effective way to do this is to focus on His ongoing help and protection, which is stated unconditionally and hence very easy to embrace and accept. This is the first step in preparing ourselves to do teshuvah. We recite this chapter twice every day, reminding ourselves that Hashem is “there for us” constantly, and that the time has come to come back to Him.

Thus, like the original Elul, this month is a time to prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by creating the climate for a teshuvah that will reunite us with Hashem with joy! That is what defines this “season” of the year.