The High Holidays

The verse “One thing I asked of God” represents the essence of our spiritual task in the month of Elul. “That I dwell in the House of God all the days of my life” - just this. No confusion. When this is the case, Divine assistance is granted.

We find that in his short prayer on Yom Kippur, the High Priest did not mention at all the spiritual needs of Israel, like Torah study or fear of Heaven. All that he says during his few moments inside the Holy Sanctuary is a short prayer for rain.

The holiday approached and Rosh Hashanah arrived. Rabbi Amnon of Mainz asked his relatives to bring him to the synagogue with all of his dismembered organs and to place him by the prayer leader. We can well image the atmosphere in the synagogue.

The essence of Rosh Hashanah is to pronounce God king over us and over all of creation. Therefore, Rosh Hashanah aims at rectifying the Sin of the Golden Calf, for this particular sin constituted an attempt to throw off the yoke of God's kingship.

Our holy books note an allusion to the month of Elul in the Hebrew acronym of the verse “I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine” (Song of Songs 6:3). From here we can learn a number of ideas regarding the nature of Elul's unique divine worship.