ELUL
(EL-uhl)
A
month of the Jewish calendar Common
clues:
Hebrew month; Month after Av; Month before Tishri; Twelfth
Jewish month; Part of the Jewish calendar Crossword
puzzle frequency:
once a year Video: Shofar
blowing at YCT during Elul 5766
Elul
is the twelfth month of the Jewish civil year and the sixth month
of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a summer
month of 29 days. Elul usually occurs in August–September
on the Gregorian calendar.
Blowing
the shofar is a ritual practice during Elul
The
month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High
Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In Aramaic (the
language spoken by Jews living at the time that the months were
given names), the word “Elul” means “search.”
In Hebrew, Elul is an acronym that stands for "Ani L'dodi
V'dodi Li". Elul is seen as a time to search one's heart in
preparation for the coming Day of Judgement, Rosh Hashanah, and
Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
During
the month of Elul, there are a number of special rituals leading
up to the High Holy Days. It is customary to blow the shofar
every morning (except on Shabbat) from Rosh Hodesh Elul (the
first day of the month) until the day before Rosh Hashanah. The
blasts are meant to awaken one's spirits and inspire him to begin
the soul searching which will prepare him for the High Holy Days.
As part of this preparation, Elul is the time to begin the
sometimes-difficult process of granting and asking for
forgiveness. It is also customary to recite Psalm 27 every day
from Rosh Hodesh Elul through Hoshanah Rabbah on Sukkot (in
Tishrei).
Aside
from the blowing of the shofar, the other major ritual practice
during Elul is to recite selichot (special penitential prayers)
either every morning before sunrise during the week before the
last Wednesday before Rosh Hashanah (Ashkenazi tradition) or
every morning during the entire month of Elul (Sephardi
tradition). Ashkenazi Jews begin the recitation of selichot with
a special service between solar mid-night (not 12:00) and morning
light on the first day of Selichot.
Many
Jews also visit the graves of loved ones throughout the month in
order to remember and honor those people in our past who inspire
us to live more fully in the future.
Another
social custom is to begin or end all letters written during the
month of Elul with wishes that the recipient have a good year.
The standard blessing is "K'tiva V'Hatima Tova" ("a
good writing and sealing [of judgement]"), meaning that the
person should be written and sealed in the Book of Life for a
good year. Tradition teaches that on Rosh Hashanah, each person
is written down for a good or a poor year, based on their actions
in the previous one, and their sincere efforts at atoning for
mistakes or harm. On Yom Kippur, that fate is "sealed."
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Elul".
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