The Elevated Status of the Month of Elul

Rabbi Benayahu Yissachar Shmueli, Shilt"a

·         On Rosh Hashanah, the Holy One, blessed be He, judges all creatures of the world.

·         Jews, non-Jews, everyone, everyone in the world, all creatures.

·         The Holy One, blessed be He, judges them — countries, everything, the Holy One, blessed be He, judges everyone.

·         But He did not give the month of Elul to everyone.

·         To us, He gave the month of Elul. He says: "Listen, I love you."

·         What is Elul?

·         "V'ye'alelun yat ar'a" — regarding the spies, it is written: "and they shall spy out the land", and Targum translates it as: "v'ye'alelun yat ar'a". [Rabbi Shmueli, Shlit"a believes there is a linguistic relationship between v'ye'alelun and Elul.]

·         So, the meaning of the month of Elul is to search, to investigate/search through.

·         A person should examine his actions, search within his deeds.

·         And why now? These are days of mercy, the gates of heaven open up.