Posted on August 20, 2025 by Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
Dear Temple Beth-El,
Believe it or not, Summer is winding down and Elul is almost upon us. Next Monday is Rosh Chodesh Elul, and with the start of the month of Elul come our various modes and methods of preparing for the High Holy Days.
Elul is a month of introspection and self-evaluation, or, as we term it in our tradition, cheshbon hanefesh, an accounting of our souls. We approach those in our lives whom we have wronged and apologize, even doing so up to three times if that’s what it takes. We prepare our homes for the holidays, perhaps baking round challot with raisins or other sweet flavors for a sweet new year, or making plans for a big Rosh Hashanah dinner. We hear the sound of the shofar for the first time since last year, allowing its piercing tone to awaken our slumbering souls to the urgency of the moment. Our tradition also invites us to offer Psalm 27, our accompanying Psalm for the month of Elul, daily as we yearn for closeness to the Eternal and to feel God’s love in this transitional moment.
Elul in Hebrew is spelled Aleph, Lamed, Vav, Lamed, and has been understood by our tradition as an acronym for “Ani l’dodi, v’dodi li,” that famous line from Song of Songs: “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” As we enter Elul this year and engage in this process of self-evaluation, I would encourage you to think of yourself as your own beloved. Let this month for you be a time of self-love. Love does not only mean kindness of course–we can give ourselves tough love as we think about the ways we must be better–but we must not allow our tough-self-love to spiral into emotional self-harm. We can correct, even as we give ourselves compassion and understanding in our human-ness. We can look within, not only for those attributes of ourselves we wish we could change but also for those attributes that we love and that make us who we are.
As we pursue the healing Elul can provide us, I want to lift up that this Yom Kippur we will be highlighting our Healing Service. If this is a service you have not attended in the past, I hope you will consider attending this year. You need not be suffering from some diagnosed ailment to get a lot out of this experience. The world is a heavy place right now, and we could all use the “medicine” of communal song and prayer to help us carry all the burdens, big and small, that we are carrying. Throughout the coming year, on the months that have a fifth Friday night, we will be offering continuing opportunities for our community to gather and to heal on Shabbat. We want Temple Beth-El to be a source of spiritual strength for those among us who are struggling, not just on the High Holy Days but all year long.
This is a time for renewal, and in pursuing that renewal, a few key pieces of information feel pertinent:
I am looking forward to beginning my first full Jewish calendar year with you all very soon, and to the meaning we will together make during the month of Elul.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
