Elul (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: , Standard , Tiberian ) is the twelfth

month A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, that is approximately as long as a natural phase cycle of the Moon; the words ''month'' and ''Moon'' are cognates. The traditional concept of months arose with the cycle of Moon phases; such lunar mo ...

of the civil year and the sixth month of the religious year in the

Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as '' yahrze ...

. It is a month of 29 days. Elul usually occurs in August–September on the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

Etymology

The name of the month Elul, like the names of the rest of the Hebrew calendar months, was brought from the

Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred ...

, and originated from the Akkadian word for "harvest". A similar month name was also used in Akkadian, in the form ''Elūlu''. The month is known as ''Araḫ Ulūlu'' "harvest month" in the

Babylonian calendar The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar used in Mesopotamia from around the 2nd millennium BC until the Seleucid Era ( 294 BC), and it was specifically used in Babylon from the Old Babylonian Period ( 1780s BC) until the Seleucid Era. ...

. The only difference is that in the Babylonian calendar, Ulūlu can serve as a leap month, while in the

Jewish calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as ''yahrzeits ...

, only

Adar Adar (Hebrew: , ; from Akkadian ''adaru'') is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. ...

can serve as a leap month. Eylül is also the name for September in Turkish; this is derived from ''ʾAylūl'', used in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

(see Arabic names of Gregorian months), from , also tracing its origin from the Akkadian word ''Elūlu''. In Hebrew, a popular

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

for Elul is from a verse in the

Song of Songs The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a Biblical poetry, biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, i ...

: ''Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li'' (Chapter 6, verse 3A).

Customs

In Jewish tradition, the month of Elul is a time of

repentance Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past or present wrongdoings, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better. In modern times, it is generally seen ...

in preparation for the

High Holy Days In Judaism, the High Holy Days, also known as High Holidays or Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim; , ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm'') consist of: #strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year") and Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"); #by extension, th ...

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...

and

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

. The word "Elul" is similar to the root of the verb "search" in

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

. Jewish sources from the 14th century and on write that the Hebrew word "Elul" can be understood to be an bacronym for the phrase "Ani L'dodi V'dodi Li" – "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine", referring to one's relationship with God. Elul is seen as a time to search one's heart and draw close to God in preparation for the coming Day of Judgement,

, and Day of Atonement,

. Rabbi

Shneur Zalman of Liadi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, (; September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S. / 18 Elul 5505 – 24 Tevet 5573) commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. He ...

compared, by way of analogy, the month of Elul to a king visiting his peasants in the field before returning to his palace. During the month of Elul, there are a number of special rituals leading up to the High Holy Days. It is customary to blow the shofar every morning (except on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

) from Rosh Hodesh Elul (the first day of the month) until the day before Rosh Hashanah. The blasts are meant to awaken one's spirits and inspire believers to begin the soul searching which will prepare them for the High Holy Days. As part of this preparation, Elul is the time to begin the sometimes-difficult process of granting and asking for

forgiveness Forgiveness, in a psychology, psychological sense, is the intentional and voluntary process by which one who may have felt initially wronged, victimized, harmed, or hurt goes through a process of changing feelings and attitude regarding a given ...

. It is also customary to recite a

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

27
every day from Rosh Hodesh Elul through Hoshanah Rabbah on

Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...

(in Tishrei). Aside from the blowing of the shofar, the other significant ritual practice during Elul is to recite selichot (special penitential prayers) either every morning before

sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

beginning on the Sunday immediately before Rosh Hashanah, or, if starting Sunday would not afford four days of selichot, then the Sunday one week prior (

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

tradition) or every morning during the entire month of Elul ( Sephardi tradition). Ashkenazi Jews begin the recitation of selichot with a special service on Saturday night between solar mid-night (not 12:00) and morning light on the first day of Selichot. Many Jews also visit the graves of loved ones throughout the month in order to remember and honor those people in our past who inspire us to live more fully in the future. Another social custom is to begin or end all letters written during the month of Elul with wishes that the recipient have a good year. The standard blessing is "" ("a good writing and sealing f judgement), meaning that the person should be written and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year. Tradition teaches that on Rosh Hashanah, each person is written down for a good or a poor year, based on their actions in the previous one, and their sincere efforts at atoning for mistakes or harm. On Yom Kippur, that fate is "sealed."

In Jewish history

* 1 Elul (1313 BCE) –

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

ascends

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the Mount Sinai (Bible), biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the thre ...

for 3rd set of 40 days * 1 Elul (520 BCE) – The Prophet Haggai commands that the rebuilding of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

continue * 2 Elul (1555) –

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in ...

published * 3 Elul (1935) – Death of

Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbina ...

* 5 Elul –

Ezekiel Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (; ; ), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him. The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied ...

the prophet has a prophecy of the destruction of

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (), was a biblical Temple in Jerusalem believed to have existed between the 10th and 6th centuries Common Era, BCE. Its description is largely based on narratives in the Hebrew Bible, in which it ...

* 10 Elul (2105 BCE) –

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

dispatches raven * 12 Elul (1294) – Birth of

Nachmanides Moses ben Nachman ( ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ramban (; ) and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta (; l ...

* 12 Elul (1945) – Rabbi Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft publicly performs the first shechitah on German soil since it was outlawed by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1933.Hapardes Rabbinical Monthly Journal Volume 19 Issue 7 October 1945 Page 7
(retrieved July 19, 2020) * 13 Elul (1909) – Death of

Yosef Hayyim Yosef Hayim (1 September 1835 – 30 August 1909) ( Iraqi Hebrew: Yoseph Ḥayyim; ; or Yosef Chaim) was a leading Baghdadi ''hakham'' ( Sephardi rabbi), authority on ''halakha'' (Jewish law), and Master Kabbalist. He is best known as author of ...

* 14 Elul (1983) – Birth of Shlomo Rafuel Ben Moshe Dovid * 15 Elul (1964) – birth of Watson de Emmanuel, OBE * 17 Elul (2105 BCE) –

dispatches dove * 18 Elul (1609) – Death of

Judah Loew ben Bezalel Judah Loew ben Bezalel (; 1512 – 17 September 1609), also known as Rabbi Loew ( Löw, Loewe, Löwe or Levai), the Maharal of Prague (), or simply the Maharal (the Hebrew language, Hebrew Hebrew abbreviations, acronym of "''Moreinu ha-Rav Loew'' ...

* 18 Elul (1698) – Birth of

Baal Shem Tov Israel ben Eliezer (According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Chabad, he was born in October 1698. Some Hasidic traditions place his birth as early as 1690, while Simon Dubnow and other modern scholars argue f ...

* 18 Elul (1745) – Birth of rabbi

* 23 Elul (2105 BCE) – Dove brings olive Leaf to

* 23 Elul (1942) – Death of the Grand Rabbi of Aleksander, Yitzchak Menachem Danziger, in

Treblinka Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the Treblinka, ...

* 23 Elul (1978) –

Vladimir Horowitz Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz (November 5, 1989) was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing. Life ...

Golden Jubilee Concert was broadcast live by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

from

Avery Fisher Hall David Geffen Hall is a concert hall at Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic. The facility, designed by Max Abramovitz, was o ...

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

conducted by

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father ...

* 23 Elul (2001) –

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

* 24 Elul (1933) – Death of Israel Meir Kagan * 25 Elul (3761 BCE) – The 1st day of the world according to the

Genesis creation narrative The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity, told in the book of Genesis chapters 1 and 2. While the Jewish and Christian tradition is that the account is one comprehensive story, modern scholars of ...

* 25 Elul (335 BCE) –

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Walls Rebuilt * 25 Elul (2nd century CE) – Death of Eleazar ben Simeon, son of

Simeon bar Yochai Shimon bar Yochai (Zohar#Language, Zoharic Aramaic: , ''Šimʿon bar Yoḥay'') or Shimon ben Yochai (Mishnaic Hebrew: ), also known by the acronym Rashbi, was a 2nd-century tannaim, tanna or sage of the period of Judaea (Roman province), Roman ...

* 25 Elul (2016) - Death of

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

* 27 Elul (1855 CE) – Death of Sholom Rokeach * 28 Elul (1983 CE) – Death of Rabbi Yoel Halpern * 29 Elul (1789 CE) – Birth of Menachem Mendel Schneersohn

References

External links

Dates of Elul

Resources on the Month of Elul

* An in-depth discussion of the tradition of hearing shofar on Elul, plus meditations on the sound of shofar for each day of the month, can be found a

Jewels of Elul
A reading for each day of Elul from a diverse background of Jewish sources. {{Jewish and Israeli holidays Months of the Hebrew calendar

Etymology

Customs

In Jewish history

See also

References

External links