How to try and feel Chodesh Elul
Bringing Chodesh Elul Alive – hopes to bring practical advice how to feel it nowadays. We have heard how the previous generations trembled when hearing the announcement of Elul. Yet, (I am talking here loudly to myself), we do not naturally feel any different during the month of Elul than the rest of the year. What is the problem? What am we missing? Why do we not feel it? What is there to do about it? I will try here to bring some practical advice.
The problem:
Before coming up with a solution we must first work out the cause of the problem. Before doing that we must explain what we are aiming for. Feeling the fear of Elul. This is not a physical feeling but is a spiritual feeling – a frame of mind. There are two reasons for not feeling it. Firstly, since it is a spiritual feeling it is not find naturally by us and requires working on to get to it. Secondly, since we are all guilty of sinning this has a negative impact on us. It takes us away and distances us from spirituality. This means that there are at least two causes: it is not found by us naturally and our sins take us in the opposite direction creating a fence separating us from spirituality.
A possible solution:
Now that we have identified the cause of the problem, we need to get to a solution. There are many ways and people work differently. No one glove fits everyone’s hand. However, we can suggest things that help some people. …