GATEWAYS TO TORAT HAYIM

 
CONNECTING TO JEWISH LIVING WISDOM RESOURCES

 

The Spiritual Energy of the Month of Elul

by Jacobson, Rabbi Simon

“The Hebrew calendar…is a spiral staircase that winds around, cycling the events of history, drawing their energy ever upwards.

 

As we travel through each year, we revisit the energy of ancient days-energy of time and beyond time-energy of freedom, of mourning, of forgiveness, of empowerment, of joy. We use that energy to uplift events from our lives that inevitably parallel the lives of those that came before us.

 

Elul….embod[ies] the energy or renewal after destruction.

 

In Elul (the world in Aramaic means ‘searching’) we examine the mistakes of the past year in order not to repeat them… this means taking an honest look at what is trapping us and preventing us from truly moving forward.”