Overview
Sacred Stories
God opens three books on Rosh Hashanah and, after recording our efforts and our deeds in them, closes them just before ascending beyond seven heavens at the end of Yom Kippur. These heavenly tomes include the Book of Life, the Book of Death, and the Book of In-between.ii
Traditionally, our sacred story continues that God writes our names in one of the books after judging our actions during the past year. I like to think that the positive ways in which we have grown during that time are written into the Book of Life, and that the hurtful things we have done and that we have outgrown are written into the Book of Death.
The third book is the Book of In Between. Some of our negative behaviors are driven by unresolved pain and even trauma. We continue to work on them, sometimes for years, in order to change for the better. These behaviors are found in the Book of In-between.
There are forty days between Rosh Chodesh Elul, the New Moon in the Jewish month of Elul, and Yom Kippur. These days echo the forty days starting when Moses ascended the mountain again and received the second set of Tablets. He descended with the second set on day forty, Yom Kippur as a sign of Divine forgiveness for the Jewish people.
First, Moses met with Y H V H for forty days in a cloud on top of Mt. Sinai until coming down with the first set of tablets. But when Moses saw that the people had made a golden calf to worship, Moses smashed the tablets.iii
It was on Rosh Chodesh Elul that Moses ascended the mountain again to entreat God to forgive the Jewish people. Moses was atop Mt. Sinai for another forty days during which he was given the second set of Tablets that he and God wrote together.iv
On Yom Kippur, the fortieth day from Elul, Moses came down the mountain with the second set of Tablets for all the people to see as the sign of forgiveness from God.v
Our Jewish foundation of life, of being, of living, is forever entwined in the Divine/human realm. Elul opens to the world of Divine Grace, the chesed that is proclaimed during the entire month of Elul, the Ten Days of Awe, and especially on Yom Kippur. Each of us has access to this special forty-day period of divine unconditional love, the spiritual atmosphere to do our holy work of Teshuvah.
The work of the forty days: Teshuvah
On Rosh Hashanah, we envision God as a sovereign sitting on a throne and moving between chairs of judgment and compassion. By contrast, in Elul, we envision God sitting in the fields like a best friend who cannot wait to see us.vi
The New Moon in the Jewish month of Elul, begins a forty-day period that we can devote to preparing for the High Holidays by identifying what behaviors need our attention, which negative behaviors we have resolved, and our positive behaviors. This preparation is the internal work of cheshbon hanefesh, moral accounting, and forgiveness, the work of teshuvah. vii
The holy work of teshuvah empowers us to become better people. It also helps us to develop as a stronger vessel to contain Divine blessings that flow into our dimension of being during the High Holiday period.viii This is especially so on Yom Kippur when we are spiritually cleansed with Divine forgiveness.ix Even if we are forgiven, without a vessel to contain spiritual cleansing, we will return to being who we are instead of becoming who we can be. Our vessel simply will not be able to retain the blessing of a cleansed heart and spirit.x
The work of Elul can be challenging because it requires an honest look at who we are, our relationships with others, and how we live our lives. The saving grace in this journey of assessment and change is offered to us in the month of Elul. Rosh Chodesh Elul ushers with its own special energy – divine chesed, divine kindness and unconditional love.
Divine love and mercy permeate the spiritual atmosphere within which we can do our deep and sometimes painful inner work of teshuvah and forgiveness. Pretense is useless, but Divine love is critical.
Elul and being a Lover – A Revelation of 40 Based on Gematriaxi
1:14 “Those who seek out the hidden meanings of the acronyms encoded in Scripture say:
אלו”ל
אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְדוֹדִי לִי
Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li –
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine (Song of Songs 6:3) is the acronym for Elul.
For at this time, the Blessed Name opens the Divine hand to receive us in our turning, even as we yearn for Him, aching, moaning for [our Beloved]”
Where is G!D? SHaM, There! In our longing!
1:15 The final letters of each word: אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְדוֹדִי לִי
are 4 yuds.
In gematria, the 4 yuds equal 40 (י = 10; 10 x 4=40). Like the story of Moses, the gematria offers another allusion to the 40 days between Rosh Chodesh Elul and Yom Kippur. These are the days of willingness, days of reconciliation, forgiveness, realignment, and love. What better atmosphere to do the deep work of teshuvah, return to our essential self, to Gid and to forgiveness? xii
God is the Ritual Bath of Israel (40 seah for a kosher mikveh)
In Mishna 8:9, Rabbi Akiva said: “How happy/fortunate are you, O Israel, for before whom are you purified? It is your Father in Heaven who purifies you, as it says, ‘I will sprinkle you with purifying waters and you will become clean’ (Ezek. 36:25) and it says: “’the ritual bath of Israel is G!D’ (Jer. 17: 13) Just as a mikveh purifies those who are impure, so the Holy One purifies Israel.”
מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל יְיָ, מַה מִּקְוֶה מְטַהֵר אֶת הַטְּמֵאִים, אַף הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מְטַהֵר אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל
A mikveh must have a minimum of 40 seah of natural water. God is the mikveh in time for Israel during the 40 days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to the end of the Yom Kippur.
Summary
We are, each of us, the beloved of God, Who manifests as a purifying mikveh in time to cleanse us of our psycho-spiritual shmutz – our mistakes, missing the mark, our errors that we have not yet corrected and grown through. On Yom Kippur, the Torah promises a complete cleansing. The Jewish calendar graciously gives us forty days, a mikveh in time, from New Moon Elul through Yom Kippur, to prepare ourselves by taking stock and changing what we can. Through our preparation, we develop as a vessel able to contain the cleansing and blessings of the New Year.
II. Suggestions for How to Prepare for Yom Kippur Within a Mikvah in Time
Below are some questions that may help you with your internal work. Though I find many ways in which I need to improve, I find that choosing one or two ways in which I need to improve is enough. Some issues take years, not weeks or months. I also encourage you to notice the ways in which you have already improved during the past year.
As my rebbe used to tell me, “Do what you can – everything you do is good.”
- Remember to the best of your ability who you are.
“When one forgets the essence of one’s soul; when one distracts his mind from seeing the true nature of his own inner life, everything becomes doubtful and confused. The principal t’shuvah, which immediately lights up the darkness, is for a person to return to himself, to the root of his soul. Then he will immediately return to God, to the Soul of all souls. And he will continue to stride higher and higher in holiness and purity. This is true for an individual, a nation, for all of mankind, and for the perfection of all existence….” xiii
- Hear the Shofar every day; Allow the Shofar to help you “wake up” to yourself. If you do not have a shofar, look on the internet for a site for daily shofar blowing.The sound of the shofar on Rosh Chodesh Elul announces that the Gates of Compassion are Opening.
- Generously give Tzedakah. Tzedakah generally is understood as charity. It also means righteous action. Whether you give of your money or of yourself (time and energy toward helping others), do so with awareness. It is a mitzvah, a word derived from tzav, which some say implies connection, connection to heaven in this case.
- Turn Inward, Tune In, and Journal:
- How am I living my life?
- Am I living my life in tune with what I understand to be my purpose or a major purpose of my life?
- What is truly important to me and am I honoring whatever that might be with how I live life?
- How have I changed for the better during the past year?
- What did I do in my relationships that is truly positive?
- What did I manage to let go of during the past year thereby empowering myself to be freer?
- Whom do I need to forgive and whom do I need to forgive me?
- How am I stuck? Why am I stuck? How does being stuck affect my life? How can I get unstuck?
- Do I need to ask forgiveness from God? Do I need to forgive God? What can I do to make my relationship with God better?
- What are one or two things to which I can commit to change about myself and my life? Acknowledge if it will take beyond Yom Kippur to complete the inner change of your teshuvah. If so, stick with it. It is all for the good.
- Do I need a professional such as a counselor to help me change?
- What is my plan of action?
- Make two lists for reading on Yom Kippur:
List 1: Make a list of your errors and highlight the ones that you can commit to correcting. I call this the Al Chet list.
At the top of the page, you can write: For the sins that I have sinned before you, I ask forgiveness for: Follow with your list.
At the end of your list, you can write: For all these sins forgiving God, forgive us, pardon us, and grant us atonement. Each one of these misdeeds we here this day release. Forgiving and forgetting, coming back to our core. V’al kulam Elohai S’lichot. S’lach lanu, m’kol lanu, kaper lanu.
List 2: Make a list of the positive things that you did during the past year, the ways that you have grown and how you have helped others. I call this the Al Mitzvot list.
At the beginning of your list, you can write: I want to reflect on the ways that I have improved my character this year by: Following with your list.
At the end of your list, you can write: For all of these righteous deeds, God of righteousness, let us be counted among the righteous; let these deeds be written into the Book of Life.
6. During the40 days, pray at a traditional service or have your own conversation with G!D. As I heard from my rebbe, Rabbi Brod, z”l, “you don’t even need words; God knows what is in your heart.”
7. Say a Bedtime Prayer of Forgiveness nightly. I have included the prayer written by Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, z”l, 17th century, Sfat, and rendered from the Hebrew by Rabbi Zalman Schechter-Shalomi, z”l, if you would like to use it. Reb Zalman taught that the anger we hang on to connects us negatively to its focus.
8. Read and study Psalm 27 daily
Let Go and Have Faith in the Process!
NOTES
- Mikveh is a ritual bath that must be connected to a source of naturally occurring water such
as rainwater. The minimum necessary volume is 40 seah (estimated at 150 gallons.)
2. See B. Rosh Hashanah 16b and Tanya, Part I, Beinoni means intermediate, a person who
is neither wicked or righteous.
2. Ex. 32:19
3. Ex. 34:1; See Commentary on Ex. 34:1 by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on the two types
of Divine-human encounter.
4. “On 7 Sivan, Moses went up onto the mountain . . . On 17 Tamuz the tablets were broken. On the 18th he burned the [Golden] Calf and judged the transgressors. On the 19th, he went up for forty days and pleaded for mercy. On 1 Elul, he went up to receive the second tablets, and was there for forty days. On 10 Tishrei, G‑d restored His goodwill with the Jewish people gladly and wholeheartedly, saying to Moses, “I have forgiven, as you ask,” and gave him the Second Tablets. See Rashi Ex.32:1 and 33:11
5. See Likkutei Torah, Parshat Re’eh, Rabbi Shneur Zalman
6. Teshuvah often has been defined as repentance. For our purposes, teshuvah is defined as the sages and the prophets understand it: ““Great is teshuvah, in that deliberate transgressions are transformed into virtues” (B. Yoma 86b). “Return O Israel, to YHVH your Gd” (Hosea 14:2). Teshuvah is a personal engagement in a process with a view to becoming a better person and coming closer to Gd. Teshuvah is built from the root for shuv, to turn – turn to God; turn to your most authentic self.
7. See Introduction and Chapter on Elul in Kabbalah Month by Month by Riner, Mindy
8. Leviticus 16:30
9. A person’s vessel is her/his character
10. Gematria is a system by which each Hebrew letter has a numerical value. For example, Aleph =1, Bet =2, Gimmel = 3, Dalet = 4 and so on. Gematria is used in Biblical and Talmudic interpretation, and in Jewish mysticism to uncover hidden layers of meaning.
11. From unpublished notes taken from writings from B’nei Yissaskhar by Zvi Elimelekh of Dinover, 19th century Chassidic master, Translated and written by Rabbi and Prof. Elliot Ginsburg
12. See Lights of Penitence 15:10 by Rav Kook
Works Cited
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2508/jewish/The-120-Day-Version
Translation and Commentary by Kantrowitz, David, Judaic Classics, The Soncino Talmud, Vol. 34,
Davka Corporation, 1990, New York
Translation and Commentary by Sacks, Jonathan, The Koren Shalem Humash, Magerman Edition, First
Hebrew-English Edition, Koren Publishers, 2024, Israel
Ribner, Mindy, Kabbalah Month by Month, First Edition, Josey-Bass Publisher, 2022
Kook, Abraham Isaac, The Lights of Penitence, the Moral principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letter and
Poems, Abraham, Translated by Ben Zion Bokser, Paulist Press, 1978
