The love of a Bas Mitzva in Elul

We begin to 163 blow ת"תשר every day at the conclusion of the morning service through the day before Erev Rosh HaShanah. (The essential purpose of Shofar Blowing is to arouse and even startle people into a heightened awareness of the need to repent. It is the nature of a horn's blast to produce a level of concern, as the Prophet Amos stated (Amos 3:6): "Shall a Shofar be blown in a city and the people not tremble?" Therefore, it is imperative that a person begin to prepare himself with genuine repentance, prayer, and Tzedakah at least thirty days before the Day of Judgement, Rosh HaShanah. "And our Sages, of blessed memory, provide us with the following insight: The first letters of each of the following words – לי ודודי לדודי אני – I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine (Song of Songs: 6:3), spell out the word אלול .Therefore, in the month of Elul one must intensify one’s efforts at repentance, prayer, and charitable acts. Our Sages, of blessed memory, provided us with an additional insight: The first letters of each word – איש לרעהו ומתנות לאביונים phrase the of “...each man to his friend (shall send portions) as well as gifts to the needy (Esther: 9:22)," again spell out אלול .This serves as an allusion to the fact that in the month of Elul we must increase our gifts to the poor...

(2) I was asleep, But my heart was wakeful. Hark, my beloved knocks! “Let me in, my sister, My darling, my faultless dove....

(6) We come from dust, and return to dust. We labour by our lives for bread, we are like broken shards, like dry grass, and like a withered flower; like a passing shadow and a vanishing cloud, like a breeze that passes, like dust that scatters, like a fleeting dream. But You are the king who lives eternal.

(3) my soul thirsts for G-d, the living G-d; O when will I come to appear before G-d!

(6) How great are Your works, O L-RD, how very subtle Your designs!