The Jewish penitential poems and prayers known as Selichot are said every day in the period leading up to the High Holidays, with the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy as a central theme throughout each ...

Very often, Rosh Hashana comes along and I find myself thinking: How did the month of Elul come and go so quickly – I feel that I did not utilize my time adequately to prepare myself to stand before ...

This week, Shabbat and Sunday marked Rosh Chodesh Elul, the start of the last month of the Jewish year – the countdown to the ever impending Rosh Hashanah begins now. For some, this simply invokes a ...

This is the second of six weekly columns by Rabbi Zimmerman leading up to Yom Kippur. Last week, we talked about how essential it is for each of us to do our own soulwork during the month of Elul, ...

Sefardi communities have begun the Selichot prayers which parallel the forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur which Moshe Rabbeinu spent on Mount Sinai. It is written in the Responsa of the ...

Elul: It’s the month that quietly ushers in one of the most spiritually significant seasons on the Jewish calendar, even though many Jews might not be familiar with it. It is the final month on the ...

The thread that weaves the various mitzvot in Parashat Re’eh is helping Torah-observant people to recognize their control over the cultural and social norms of their environment, and their own ...

This week we usher in the month of Elul, the 12 th and final month in the Jewish calendar (or the sixth month, counting from Nisan). It is a month that connects the past year with the coming year – a ...

Over the last few years two feelings have dominated my experience of Elul: hope and regret. The Selichot prayers inspire me to abandon various unhealthy habits; the shofar sounds motivate me to wake ...