Opening the Gates

Today we welcome in the Hebrew month of Elul. 

We are now one month away from Rosh Hashanah. 

One month away from repentance and return. 

One month away from renewal and awakening. 

But it all starts now. 

Many people come to shul specifically on Rosh Hashanah to hear the shofar. And yes, hearing it is a very important mitzvah. But traditionally, we begin to blow the shofar during Elul every weekday morning after services. We hear the call to change and grow. Bit by bit, like flowers pushing up through snow, our souls respond to the primal sounds of ram’s horn. Day by day, we begin to look inward. 

The shofar is so much more than a sound. It is a spiritual call. Maimonides teaches us that the shofar shouts, “Wake you sleepers from your sleep and you slumberers from your slumber. Search your deeds and return in penitence.” In other words, time to wake up. There is no snooze button for this wake-up call.

During Elul, the Gates on High are open. So often isolated in His palace, now the King is in the field with us. The teshuvah, the return, of Elul is not the teshuvah for our sins — that is for the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

The teshuvah for Elul is for all the gates that were open to us that we didn’t enter. The chances we could or should have taken. The opportunities we slept on.

So this week, as the month of Elul begins, let’s start by forgiving ourselves for all the gates we didn’t enter. This week, as they open once again, let us consider them anew and recognize the chances they bring. Gates of Love. Gates of Abundance. Gates of Memory. Gates of Good Deeds. Your gate is different from mine is different from the next person, but let’s consider where they lead and walk through them.

K’tiva v‘chatimah tovah.

May you be written and sealed for a good year.