Elul
Encyclopedia : E : EL : ELU : Elul
Elul (אֱלוּל, Standard Hebrew Elul, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔlûl: from Akkadian elūlu) is the twelfth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year and the sixth month of the civil year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a summer month of 29 days.
The month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
In Aramaic (the language spoken by Jews living at the time that the months were given names), the word “Elul” means “search.” Elul is a time to search our hearts.
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) from Rosh Hodesh Elul (the first day of the month) until the day before Rosh HaShanah. The blasts are meant to awaken our spirits and inspire us to begin the soul searching which prepares us 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. It is also customary to recite Psalm 27 every day from Rosh Hodesh Elul through the middle of Sukkot (in Tishrei).
Aside from the blowing of the shofar, the other major ritual practice during Elul is to recite selichot (special penitential prayers) either every morning before sunrise during the week before the last Wednesday before Rosh HaShanah (Ashkenazi tradition) or every morning during the entire month of Elul (Sephardi tradition). Ashkenazi Jews begin the recitation of selichot with a special service between mid-night (not 12:00) and morning light on the first day.
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 K’tiva V’Chatima Tova (a good writing and sealing), 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."
Eylül is also the name for September in Turkish.
| Months of the Hebrew Calendar | |||||||||||
| Tishrei | Cheshvan | Kislev | Tevet | Shevat | Adar | Nisan | Iyar | Sivan | Tammuz | Av | Elul | |||||||||||
In the story of Xenogears, Elul is the name of a country, named after the Hebrew month. In the official English language translation, however, it was transliterated Elru.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.