As summer’s final chapters unfold and we’re desperate to squeeze every drop from these golden days, something else starts stirring at the edges of awareness.
We know that the High Holy Days are approaching. And in this incredibly challenging year for Jews all over the world, we need community and reflection more than ever.
Right in the middle of harvesting our last tomatoes, or plotting that final mountain getaway, it hits us – we need to start preparing our souls. We begin the subtle turn toward home.
Year after year, the High Holy Days show up exactly on schedule, carrying a profound message: no matter how chaotic the world feels, finding our way back “home” remains within reach.
Ready or not: the Hebrew month of Elul begins. The shofar is calling us to reflect, to return to our core values, and our best selves.
Our sages understood something profound: the entire month before Rosh Hashanah should be devoted to preparing our souls and taking an honest spiritual inventory. These 30 days of Elul create sacred space for examining where we stand, who we’ve become, and who we’re called to be.
Elul centers on restoration: mending our connections with the people we love, with our authentic selves, with the Divine, and with our communities. This season guides us from fragmentation toward wholeness. The journey actually started back on Tisha B’Av when everything seemed to crumble, and now we spend Elul rebuilding and reconnecting in our current reality.
Sure, Rosh Hashanah doesn’t arrive until September 22, but we Jews have this thing about preparation – we like our spiritual warm-ups so we can show up fully present when the new year actually begins.
This year, Elul begins August 25.
Starting that first day, the shofar sounds daily throughout the month. Maimonides teaches that this ancient horn calls us from spiritual slumber. In his Mishnah Torah, he writes: “Search your ways and return in teshuvah…examine your souls…” (Repentance 3:4)
On Elul’s first day, Moses climbed Mt. Sinai following the Golden Calf disaster that nearly shattered our covenant with the Eternal. For 40 days, he interceded for the people. Come Yom Kippur, God presented Moses with the second set of Tablets – a sign of reconciliation. This narrative becomes our template: we evaluate our lives, reconnect with our deepest values, and recommit to becoming our best selves.
Rabbi Laura Geller, my teacher, puts it perfectly: the High Holy Days only “work” when you do the “work.” Too often we arrive expecting something external to create meaning for us. We sit through services, then debate over coffee whether the rabbi’s message inspired us or the music stirred our hearts.
Here’s what I guarantee: this year’s High Holy Days will be meaningful to you in direct proportion to the personal time you invest in reflection and honest self-examination.
Let’s dive in.
Join our 3-session course: Soul Preparation for the High Holy Days.
Download our Elul workbook for personal journaling throughout the month. Download it here.
- Choose a special notebook to serve as your Elul Journal.
- Pull out your calendar and list this year’s significant moments. What insights emerged? What held deep meaning?
- The tradition calls for daily recitation of Psalm 27 this month – perfect for journaling or discussing with someone close. Verse 4 reads: “One thing have I asked of YHVH/Adonai, that will I seek after: That I may dwell in the house of YHVH/Adonai all the days of my life.” Consider this: What does “home” mean to you? When have you felt most connected to something greater? How might it feel to imagine God as a place of rest and refuge?
- REGISTER to join our soul-renewing High Holy Day Gatherings – not your traditional services – Find out more here.
