Elul: The Time for Closeness

by Rebbetzin Tzipporah Heller
With only 30 days left before the Big Day — which in this case is Rosh Hashana, Elul is a time of love, yearning, reconciliation, forgiveness, and return.
“Remember! Only 30 more shopping days left!”
The last week of November was magical days back in the “Old Country.” I never endangered my life shopping at Filenes which, in those far off times, was only in Boston. Macy's was still the site of many near-death experiences for those of us who like the adrenalin rush of hunting for bargains. The nonstop hype was delivered breathlessly and repetitively. “Just today, ladies and gentleman. Yes! Just today!” was a typical opening for a 10% reduction on socks. It all ended with New Years, leaving precious little behind in its wake, other than the disheartening return to facing the juggernaut of routine soul-numbing life as usual.
Everything is different when the Jewish month of Elul arrives. It, too, is 30 days before the Big Day, which in this case is Rosh Hashana. It is not a time in which we strive to find some sort of balance between shopping and dropping. It is a time of love, yearning, reconciliation, forgiveness, and return.
What does “return” really mean? What are we trying to get back to? Jeremiah proclaimed, “Return, virgin of Israel, return to these, your cities” (Jeremiah 31:20). We are compared to a virgin, who can at last return to her betrothed groom, and to an exile who is able to return to the land now rebuilt, that was last seen empty and desolate.
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