Parashat Ki Tetze (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19)

Reflections on the Jewish Calendar - Rabbi Andy Vogel

As of this week, we are in the month of Elul, the somber but joyful 30-day month of reflection and meditation that precedes Rosh Hashanah and the Ten Days of Awe. It is a time of soul-searching, cataloging our strengths and weaknesses as well as our misdeeds during the previous year, and re-orienting ourselves toward the way of life we want to live. Traditionally, to set the tone for the High Holy Days, the shofar is blown every morning in the month of Elul.

In an ancient midrash, Rabbi Joshua ben Korcha taught that it was this 40 day period (30 days of Elul, plus 10 days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur) that Moses ascended to the heavens a second time to get the second set of tablets, after the Jewish people had abandoned God for the Golden Calf (see Midrash Pirke D'Rabbi Eliezer #46). On the first day of the month of Elul, God said to Moses: "Now, come up to Me on the mountain," and the shofar was blown. The implications are beautiful for us today living in our own month of Elul: God welcomes us back, even after the mistakes we have made, and, as the shofar is blown, we have renewed access to God's gifts of love to us (symbolized by the Torah). If we engage in teshuvah, repentance, God envelops us in love and forgiveness, as if we were ascending a mountain to be close to God.

- Rabbi Andy Vogel