Elul and The Call to Teshuvah
Growing Closer to Adonai Through Daily Practice
Elul, Selichos, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
Elul is the Twelfth month of the Jewish calendar and the sixth month counting from the month of Nisan. It has a element of Yessod, and is the sixth Sefira that delivers the light to the world, Malchus which is the lowest safira on the Sefiros.
What is the Importance of Keeping Shabbos?
When we enter Shabbos, we recite Kabbalos Shabbos and kiddush on Friday night as well as following with daytime kiddush the next day. We ask HaShem to "Grant us Your holy Shabbos" even though we already received Shabbos on Friday.
Shared Heritage
Yom HaShoah, we remember — not to understand and not even to memorialise the victims, but what we do about it. Through pain and despair, we raised a new generation committed to and proud of their heritage.
Simcha, Light, Unity, Lashon Tov and the Coming of the Moshiach
Judaism does not believe in freedom of speech; there are certain ways of saying something. When we speak about other people, Kabbalah teaches us that speech itself has an effect beyond the way in which we say something to one another.
Gratitude
Serving HaShem is placing our trust in Him for all our matters, and among them is peace of mind in trusting HaShem. When we choose not to trust HaShem and place our trust in something other than Him, HaShem will remove His providence from us and leave it in the hands of the one we trust instead.
What is Chassidim?
Chassidim is one of the great success stories in world history of religious movements. When the Baal Shem Tov died in 1760, there were no more than twenty to thirty followers linked to and who could claim his legacy. All of his followers were within the far south-eastern corner of Poland, near the borders of Russia. There is little knowledge of any influence of the Baal Shem Tov beyond his followers and his hometown, Miedzybozh. Half a century later, larger parts of Eastern European Jews considered themselves followers of the Baal Shem Tov — the Chassidic movement.