Openness, Connection, and Renewal (ELUL 5784: Week 1)

I am my beloved’sAnd my beloved is mine;He browses among the lilies.

"I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine" forms the acronym Elul.

In Elul, the process of "arousal from below" begins.

It is a time when the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are revealed.

This is likened to a king who meets his people in the field before arriving in the city, where anyone who wishes can greet him, and he receives them with kindness and a smiling face.

(12) Come, my beloved,Let us go into the open;Let us lodge among the henna shrubs.^-e

It is taught in Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer, that on Rosh Hodesh Elul, the Blessed Holy One said to Moses, "Go up the mountain to me" and that is when he went to get the final tablets. And they blew a shofar in the camp, announcing that Moses was ascending so they wouldn't wander after idols. And God ascended with that shofar, as it says "the Lord rises with the blast." And therefore the Sages decreed that the shofar should be sounded all month every year...

But the word is very near to thee,in thy mouth, and in thy heart,that thou mayst do it. See,I have set before thee this day life and good...

And the Lord thy God will circumcise

thy heart, and the heart of thy seed,

to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,

and with all thy soul, that thou mayst live.