Questions on the month of Elul to think about and discuss:

1. What does the name “Elul” mean?
2. Why is the whole focus of the month of Elul on teshuva?
3. Why do we blow the shofar throughout the month after davening (besides for Erev Rosh Hashana and Shabbos)?
4. What are some allusions in the name of “Elul”?
5. Why do we find so many allusions in the Roshei Teivois, letters, of the month of Elul, more than any other Jewish month?
6. What is the significance it the month of Elul being the sixth Jewish month?
7. Why do we say Lidovid Hashem Oiri, Tehilim Chapter 27, throughout the month of Elul?
8. What is the mazal for the month of Elul and how is this significant?
9. The parsha that almost always appears at the beginning of the month of Elul is Parshas Shoftim. The Shlah (Parshas Vayishlach) says that the parsha of the week is also connected to the time of the year. How then is Parshas Shoftim connected to the month of Elul?
10. What is the significance of the month of Elul being the last month in the year?
11. Why is the month of Elul associated with Teshuva when there are other days in the month of Tishrei associated with teshuva – like the Aseres Yimei Teshuva?
12. The month of Elul is the last of the six summer months while the month of Adar is the last of the six winter months. Are these months in any way connected?
13. Moshe went up to the mountain for forty days three times. The first days he went up to receive the first Luchos should be a time of even greater ימי רצון than the last forty days not being preceded by the sin of the egel. Why then do we go after the last forty days and not the first forty days?
14. The twelve months of the year parallel the twelve tribes. Which tribe parallels the month of Elul and how is this significant?

Ideas for answers on the month of Elul:

1. The month of Elul is seen as a month of preparation where the whole focus is on teshuva. This is seen in the name of the month of Elul. “Elul” in Aramaic means “to search” that can be understand as self-introspection – the word ויתורו, meaning to spy, the targum translates as (ויאללון (אלול (P’ Shelach-Licha, 13:2).
2. The month of Elul is the month just before Rosh Hashana, the day of judgement. In order to be judged favourably before the judgement the previous weeks are spent in teshuva. This month is the thirty day time period of preparation that we find elsewhere of שלשים יום קודם החג, preparing before the festivals. There the preparation is learning the halochos of the upcoming festival while here the preparation is teshuva before the days of judgement. Perhaps another aspect is the fact that Tishrei starts the new year meaning that the month of Elul is the last month of the year. Like Vidui is said before the end of a person’s life so too the end of the year is a time to focus on repentance. Another aspect is that it is not just because it is the end of the year we do teshuva, but it is also because these days are ימי רצון, being the beginning of the forty days when Moshe went up to receive the second Luchos. This is a time when the gates of repentance are open and special requests are granted. Yet another aspect to the nature of the monthof Elul as a time for teshuva is seen in the Zohar. It says that the twelve months of the year where split by Yitzchok to Yakov and Esav, each one was to get three summer and three winter months. Esav got the summer months of Tammuz, Av, Elul and the winter months of Teves, Shevat, Adar. However, the last of these three months were SWITCHED and won back to Yakov – that of ELUL and Adar. The six months of Nissan to Tishrei are months of action while the six from Tishrei to Adar are months of thought (see Rabbeinu Tam, Tosfas RH 27a). Thus, in the months of ACTION, ELUL was won over where evil was switched to good. Similarly, our evil actions must now be won over to the good as seen through this new nature of the month of teshuva.
3. Moshe went up to the mountain for the third time for forty days. He went up on Rosh Chodesh Elul and this was accompanied with the blowing of the shofar. This was to remind the people not to go after worshipping other idols. …
4. The most famous is אלול ר”ת אני לדודי ודודי לי. This possuk comes from Shir Hashirim and expresses the great connection between Hashem and the Jewish People. Some others: 1) Shemos (21:13) – ואשר לא צדה והאלקים אנה לידו ושמתי לך וכו’. This represents to the sins a person transgressed unwittingly throughout the year, Hashem has set aside a certain time when this can be repented for. 2) Devorim (30:6) – ומל ה’ אלקיך את לבבך ואת לבב זרעך. This alludes to teshuva, by turning over a new leaf. 3) Shir Hashirim (6:3) – אני לדודי ודודי לי, which alludes to tefilla which a time of closeness to Hashem demonstrating that we are dependent on Him. 4) Ester (9:22) – איש לרעהו ומתנות לאביונים, that alludes to tzeddoka. It is these last three pesukim that together carry out the dictum that ותשובה ותפלה וצדקה מעבירין את רועה הגזירה. It is the month of Elul where all this transpires. Another allusion in the possuk to the name of the month אלול is found in Bamidbar (30:3) – לא יחל דברו ככל וכו’. What is the connection between this month and Nedorim? It is at the end of Elul, Erev Rosh Hashana, that we do התרת נדרים. Another one: The Avudraham gives an allusion to the month of Elul, in the words ובא לציון גואל ולשבי וכו’.
5. Perhaps this shows us that the nature of this month is to think deeply into things. This is seen in where we take each letter and “open” in it up to reveal other hidden things. Perhaps this also expresses the need for teshuva and introspection where we open up our and reveal our hidden secrets of sinning and rectify them.
6. We find the the sixth always comes as a preparation for the seventh. The sixth day of the week is Erev Shabbos and it is when we prepare for the seventh day of Shabbos. The sixth year of Erev Shemitta is when there is extra produce to also provide for the seventh shemitta year. So too in the months of the year. The month of Elul is the sixth month that comes to prepare for the seventh month of Tishrei, the days of the Yomim Noiroim, Days of Awe. This is also seen in the number six as seen in the letter ו”ו. It has the gematria of six and when spelt out fully spells the word that means a hook. This expresses how the month of Elul links to the next month of Tishrei.
7. There are several allusions to the month of Elul in this kapital of Tehillim. There is the word לולא that is the reverse of the word אלול that has dots on it…
8. The Mazal for the month of Elul is בתולה, maiden. This symbolises the need for newness and freshness. This can only be achieved by teshuva, where the bad deeds are uprooted and the new leaf is turned.
9. The month of Elul is when people start preparing for their Din on Rosh Hashana, which is seen as the function of the שופטים – the judges! Thus it is a reminder and introduction of what is coming and is the focus of the month of Elul.
10. Elul is the אחרית השנה and chazal say that הכל הולך אחר החיתום. See Rashi Ekev (8:1) that it is how you end off that is what gets you the credit. We find that the Gemora Avoda Zora talks about יש קונה עולמו בשעה אחת that as long as they ended off their life on the right footing they merited Olam Habo! All this comes about through the ability of doing teshuva. This is the secret behind Chodesh Elul – it is the month at the end of the year where all the past can be changed!
11. The Kadmonim give a sign of the four time periods to put emphasis on teshuva. The sign is from the possuk אריה שאג מי לא יירא (ישעי’ מ’) where it is the initials for אלול ראש השנה יום כפור הושענה רבה! This means that although teshuva is throughout the year, nevertheless, the month of Elul is the start and first special time for doing teshuva which is more likely and easier to be accepted.
12. Both the month of Elul and Adar share a common nature of switching from bad to good. In the month of Elul this takes the form of teshuva while in Adar it was reversing the decree of death to avenging the enemy.
13. Perhaps we can first say that the special time of these days went away after the sin of the egel. Additionally, the special time of the last forty days that we keep from the month of Elul is specially after the sin. They show that even after a person sins there is a chance of repentance to the extent of getting again Luchos!
14. There is an argument whether the parallel between the twelve months and twelve tribes goes according to the order of their births (with the sons of Leah first and sons of Rochel last and the others in between) or according to the Degolim, the four camps that surrounded the Mishkon in the desert. …

Chakiras:

1. Are the thirty days of the month of Elul days of preparation for Rosh Hashana or are they a special time to themselves that happen to be positioned before Rosh Hashana?
2. Is the month of Elul preparation for the next month of Tishrei or is it a month to deal with the past previous months? Is the emphasis of the month of Elul being the start for the future or the finish and rectifying the past?
3. What do the ימי רצון do – do they bring a person higher and closer to Hashem; or do they bring Hashem closer down to man; or do they remove the barriers that are usually blocking contact between us and Hashem?