Five Thoughts on Rosh Chodesh Elul
Are you overcome with feelings of hopelessness? Are you beginning to feel that, as a society, we’re “losing it”?
Rosh Chodesh Elul, the beginning of the month of Elul, which falls on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, is a time for renewal and introspection. We’ve never needed it more!
- Elul is a month for making amends, repentance, self-improvement, and new beginnings. Think of it as a gift—an appointed time for self-reflection and for working on positive changes before the start of the new year.
- In Hebrew, the month's name forms an acronym of the verse: “Ani L’dodi V’Dodi Li—I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine.” This is a hint that God is as close to us during Elul as a loved one. Another beautiful expression associated with this month is: “The King is in the field.” It is as if the King of Kings Himself meets His people in the field this month; He is closer, more approachable, and more available.
- On Rosh Chodesh, we add “Ya’ale V’Yavo” to the Amidah prayer and Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals). We also recite Hallel, a compilation of chapters from Psalms which are prayers for success and joy. Looking closely, you will find that almost every verse of Hallel speaks to our current situation.
- Why is Elul considered such a special month? On Rosh Chodesh Elul, Moses ascended Mount Sinai for the second time (after he shattered the first set of Tablets following the sin of the Golden Calf). Forty days later, on Yom Kippur, he descended from the mountain with the second set of Tablets. Since then, these 40 days have been designated as days of closeness to God, forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation, with the inherent message that you can always fix what has been broken.
- As we are now 30 days before Rosh Hashanah, the custom is to greet people with the blessing: “Ktiva V’chatima Tova”—"May you be inscribed and sealed (in the Book of Life) for a good year.”
So, I bless you from the bottom of my heart: Chodesh Tov and Ktiva V’chatima Tova!
Message From a Midwife
Leah Melamed is a midwife at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. I interviewed her in the delivery room at the beginning of the war, ten months ago, and now she has contacted me again with her observations.
“Since the outbreak of the war, being in the delivery room has been an emotionally draining experience. We’ve seen evacuees, women who survived the hell of October 7, as well as women who were grieving the loss of family members. We midwives were overcome by a wave of emotions, both joyful and sad.
“Now, 10 months later, there is a different wave of births. I sense that there is something more in the air. The couples who are arriving decided to bring new life into the world at a time of crisis. This is a choice that, from a certain perspective, lacks all logic. How is it possible to think about bringing new lives into such a world?”
Ten months ago, I asked Leah from where she derives her strength, and she said that she drew inspiration from the Hebrew midwives in Egypt who had “reverence for God” and who saw beyond the brutal decree of Pharaoh to throw all Jewish baby boys into the Nile. The midwives, she said, lived by one truth that exalted the value of life even at the price of endangering their own. They knew then and know today how to see growth from within challenge and crisis — even when others have difficulty believing that such growth will ever come.
“Today I can say that I derive strength from the mothers I witness giving birth, from these women who can see into the future with the same strength displayed by their forbears in ancient Egypt,” Leah wrote. “They remind me of Moses’s mother, Yocheved, challenging Amram, her husband, who refused to bring other children into that world of Egyptian exile after Miriam and Aaron were born. She demanded that he rouse himself with a newfound faith and have another child. The result was the birth of Moses.”
Leah told me about a beautiful couple from Kibbutz, Nir Oz, Nofar, and Amit Gore. Their kibbutz had suffered a brutal fate, with dozens murdered and kidnapped. Leah accompanied them throughout the delivery of their newborn daughter, Eli. Amit is a farmer, and after planting again in the fields of Nir Oz, he left a sack of potatoes that he grew on the kibbutz next to Leah’s front door. “This was an expression of return to life, a first step of hope,” Leah wrote and shared that she broke down crying when she saw this gift.
She also sent a picture of the Gore family. “I look at this photo every day in our hospital’s delivery room. Perhaps it will give strength to others too.”
The Best-Kept Secret
I don’t remember ever receiving so many requests for a text that I quoted. The following piece on prayer, written by film critic Yair Raveh, is especially pertinent to the month of Elul when we draw closer to our Creator.
"For those who discovered the world of faith late in life, there is a secret that they cannot share with anyone - not with atheists nor with those born religious, for the simple reason that neither will believe them. That secret is that prayer works and it can really create miracles and change the order of the world beyond all logic.
“I checked this and found it to be true: anyone who starts to discover faith late in life and begins to pray for the first time - whether from a prayer book written by the Sages or by offering a personal and spontaneous prayer in their own words - discovers that their requests are answered. Explain it however you like, whether as a coincidence, hallucination, or mysticism, but it happens. Maybe it can be explained as a ‘special benefit’ for new members of the ‘prayer club.’ I'm writing this so that you’ll know not to waste these moments on trivial requests but to focus on what really matters to you.
“Atheists don't believe this can happen, and religious people - who have been taught all their lives that this is what prayer is supposed to do but haven’t seen it - go crazy with envy at these heretics who, after suddenly deciding that they believe, started talking casually and informally with God and were immediately answered. Such chutzpah.
“What happened that made us stop believing that prayer works? After all, we are praying creatures by default. When watching a soccer match and seeing a player dash promisingly towards the goal, we raise our hands heavenward and shout, ‘Come on, come on, come on!' hoping he will indeed get the ball past the goalpost. We run for a bus or train and mutter to ourselves, ‘Let me catch it in time.' When waiting for a loved one to call, we look at the phone thinking, 'Please, please make it ring.' All these are words of prayer.
“At birthday parties in kindergarten, we would blow out a candle and make a wish. We were even taught to keep it a secret and not say it aloud because it wouldn't come true. Whom did we think we were addressing? The candle? The cake? When the teacher told us to make a wish, we obeyed, but if today, a religious person with a black hat and suit would ask you to pray, you’d look at him suspiciously and mutter, 'Religious coercion!' Well, here's the second secret that atheists and religious people won't want to hear: God doesn't belong only to religious people. He is available to you right now. His customer service is accessible 24/7, including on Shabbat— especially on Shabbat.
“Do you want to complain about how hard your life is? Or, conversely, to say thank you? Do you wish to plead for help making a living or finding love? Just talk to Him. It's a local call.
Translated by Yehoshua Siskin, Janine Muller Sherr
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