What's Ellul all about?

Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the month of Ellul.

Moshe has just witnessed how the Jewish People are serving the golden calf. In his anger, he breaks the two tablets containing the 10 commandments. Moshe ascends Mount Sinai a second time, and spends 40 days there doing Teshuva for the Jewish People and asking Hashem to forgive them.

40 days later, through successful completion of the Teshuva process, Moshe descends the mountain and leads the People through the desert (albeit for another 38 years) to the Land of Israel. In the same way as Moshe's Teshuva convinced Hashem to give us another go at being a nation, we hope that Hashem will forgive us too, like He forgave us after the sin of the golden calf.


The 40 days

1st Ellul	1	Rosh Chodesh	Sin of Golden Calf: Moshe ascends mountain
	2
	3
	4
(30 days)	…
	27
	28
	29
1st Tishrei	30	Rosh Hashana
	31
	32
	33
	34
(10 days)	35
	36
	37
	38
	39
10th Tishrei	40	Yom Kippur	Teshuva process complete! Moshe descends mountain

Ani Le Dodi, Ve Dodi Li

אני לדודי ודודי לי
I am to my Beloved (Hashem), and my Beloved is to me [1] ... that is Ellul (אלול).

What does Ellul, the abbreviation of this verse mean? Why is an entire month, the month of Teshuva, named after this verse?

The idea is that through our repentance we come closer to Hashem.

אני לדודי (Ani Le Dodi)
We take a big leap, make an effort, repent, go through personal spiritual development and growth, reach out for Hashem

ודודי לי (Ve Dodi Li)
By making an effort on our part, Hashem will listen to our prayers, our asking for forgiveness, and as a result will come closer to us.

For any relationship you need at least two sides that interact with each other. We are one side, and give from ourselves, and as a result the other side, Hashem, will turn to us, support us, and provide us with what we need for our personal development.


Notes

[1] Song of Songs 6:3