• The month of Elul is, in my opinion, a month-long holiday 
• Yeah yeah yeah, I’m hearing your protestations: Tishrei is the month-long holiday, there are no holidays in Elul, it’s more of a month-long panic attack, etc. 
• Hold your horses 
• Tishrei has plenty of pauses in the holidays - the gap between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, and then from Simchat Torah until the end of the month. The entirety of Elul is one big Thing 
• First of all, there’s Rosh Chodesh Elul and all the Shabbatot in Elul; second of all, have yoU HEARD OF ROSH HASHANAH LABEHEMA 
• Just because something is a month long panic attack doesn’t mean it’s not also a month long celebration 
• Does every day have something you’re supposed to do on it besides the ordinary? Yes? Then every day is a holy day in Elul 
• This was my brief rant 
• I’m very annoyed that My Jewish Learning keeps calling Tu b’Av the last holiday of the Jewish year when Rosh Hashanah LaBehema is RIGHT THERE 
• Moving on
• Elul is the month right before the High Holy Day season. It comes after we’ve successfully transitioned out of Tisha b’Av through the lovely holiday of Tu b’Av, and as we begin to wind down and notice the change in the atmosphere 
• The summer is getting less hot 
• The nights are lengthening
• You can SMELL autumn approaching!!! 
• In the Northern Hemisphere anyway (sorry most of my posts are very northern hemisphere focused… it’s a downside of the Jewish homeland and the place where I live both being in the northern hemisphere…) 
• I dunno about you guys but for me the time right before the start of autumn is one of anticipation. I fucking hate summer. It’s hot, it’s humid, it’s uncomfortable, going outside is like dying 
• The Jewish Tradition agrees: it made the last month of summer a month of Excited Anticipation! 
• Whether or not you like summer ending, this is a month of looking ahead to the next month on the calendar, and preparing 
• The High Holy Days are all about Teshuvah, or repentance - recognizing that over the past year you haven’t been the best person you could have been, and apologizing to those who you can apologize to, and correcting your behavior as best you can 
• It is much better to start the process of teshuvah BEFORE THE HIGH HOLY DAYS 
• Obviously tradition says you should be doing teshuvah year round
• But come the start of the month of Elul, it’s like “oH FUCK THEY’RE COMING EVERYONE PREPARE” 
• Elul has no real associated observances in the Tanach - the New Year For Animals is a Talmudic invention - however, as rabbinic Judaism evolved in the early part of the common era, it transformed into a month of preparation for the most important time of the year, the High Holy Days 
• Every day is supposed to be a day of introspection, preparation, and returning (teshuvah) 
• Eventually even the name Elul became an acronym: א ל ו ל, or 
• א - אני (I am) 
• ל - לדודי (my beloved’s) 
• ו - ודודי (and my beloved) 
• ל - לי (is mine) 
• This phrase is from the Song of Songs, which is often described as love poetry between G?d and the Jewish people - so, in this month when we rekindle and reexamine ourselves and our relationship with G?d, this phrase describes what we aspire to in that relationship 
• We approach the time of the High Holidays not out of fear, but out of love! 
• So the activities of Elul surround repentance, returning, preparation, and joy 
• We start the month celebrating our relationship with other animals, appreciating the animals in our lives (especially domesticated and tamed ones), and paying homage to the clade of metazoa and its role in nature and the environment 
• Every day of the month, it is customary to sound the shofar, in order to announce the coming of the High Holy Season, awaken the spirit, and inspire the soul into introspection and self-searching 
• The shofar is not sounded in traditional Jewish communities on Shabbat, as it is seen as an act of work 
• It is also not sounded on Erev Rosh Hashanah - the day before Rosh Hashanah - so that the sounds on Rosh Hashanah are more distinctive 
• Psalm 27 is recited each day, starting in Elul through Hoshanah Rabah on Sukkot (see my Sukkot post for more about that) 
• People go to each other asking for forgiveness and acknowledging how they’ve wronged one another (teshuvah)
• They give money to those who need it, performing acts of justice (tzedakah) 
• And they pray. A lot (t'filah) 
• In Sephardic tradition, penitential prayers - Selichot - are said every day (this is also the tradition of Mizrachim). In Ashkenazic tradition, these prayers are said in a special service the night after Shabbat - so after the Havdalah ceremony - the Yom Rishon (saturday night/Sunday) before Rosh Hashanah; and then continue to recite them through the High Holiday Season 
• (This is pushed back when Rosh Hashanah is on Monday or Tuesday, and starts the week before then) 
• (this is to make sure there are at least three days of Selichot prayers prior to Rosh Hashanah) 
• People begin wishing others to have a good new year - either Shanah Tovah (good year) or G’mar Chatimah Tovah (may you be sealed in the book of life) 
• Graves of loved ones are visited, in order to honor those in our past 
• In short, this is a huge, full month of preparation and excitement - it’s kind of like the anticipatory season before Xmas, but you know, Jewish and much more dire in a mythological sense (see the high holy day posts) and better because it’s… you know… Jewish. And less consumerist. And more about being a better person than anything else. 
• Plums and Pears are typical foods for this time of year, especially in Europe, when they’d ripen; grapes are also still a good time since it’s still the grape harvest; and on the 25th of Elul (supposedly the day the Universe was Created, according to legend), small festive meals are often prepared 
• So: Greet people like you do during the High Holy Days proper, Prepare your soul for that time of year, and celebrate animals! Sounds like a perfect month to me 

GIF by chickenhugs

• Much like how we celebrate plants and our connection to the food we eat and nature around us on Tu B’Shevat, Rosh Hashanah LaBehema - aka Rosh Chodesh Elul, aka the New Year For Animals - is evolving in the modern day as the animal equivalent of that expression 
• There aren’t a lot of formal customs around this day, apart from those associated with Rosh Chodesh in general (see that post for those, again, linked above); in ancient times, this was a tithing holiday, much like Tu B’Shevat - it’s just the day on which animals were counted as a year older, since it was hard to keep track of birthdays, for taxing purposes 
• But, the beauty of Rosh Hashanah LaBehema getting a modern revival means you can partake in the formation of new rituals! 
• Informal celebrations have included: 
• Blessings of assembled farm and pet animals 
• Meditations on passages of the Tanach that discuss animals, including this portion of Job (which we just read for Tisha B’Av!): “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; The birds of the sky, they will tell you, Or speak to the earth, it will teach you; The fish of the sea, they will inform you.” (12: 7-8) 
• Discussions on the animals we rely on for food, companionship, and labor and how we treat them as the beginning of our personal introspection for the month 
• Ritual meals - including some incipient seders, modeled after the Tu B’Shevat Seder - which discuss animals and their contributions to our lives 
• Other suggestions include: 
• Visits to aquariums and zoos 
• Trips to farms and animal shelters 
• Walks and hikes through natural parks and other places with noticeable wildlife 
• Watching movies and documentaries about animals (there are so many on netflix now, trust me) 
• You can find more information on the Open Siddur website: https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Kavvanah-and-Shofar-Blowing-for-Rosh-Hodesh-Elul-and-Rosh-Hashanah-LaBehemot.pdf, as well as Hazon, a Jewish Sustainability Organization: https://hazon.org/spotlight-siach-partnership-rosh-hashanah-labehema/ 
• If nothing else, make sure to appreciate the pets in your life, and give them extra treats! Though honestly, I love Rosh Hashanah LaBehema, I love animals, and I think this is a wonderful holiday that we should continue to elevate until it reaches the same status as Tu B’Shevat 
• One day I’m going to write a Rosh Hashanah LaBehema Haggadah
• I just keep putting it off
• It’s going to be so nerdy you guys
• I’m sorry I’m a paleobiologist with a focus on tetrapods except I’m not 
• you’re welcome in advance :D 

GIF by birdhism

• Selichot are special penitential prayers - communal prayers for divine forgiveness, that are also stated on fast days in addition to the High Holy Day season 
• It is hard to find copies of the selichot prayers - they can vary from day to day, and aren’t in regular Siddurim (prayerbooks) and thus require some searching to find 
• It is especially hard to find them transliterated, or just… in English 
• Hebrew copies are available but that is often not useful for my audience :| 
• There are some English PDFs of the prayers online, but many of these are made by Messianics so be careful - you might just have to go through your particular synagogue and see what they use, and attend their selichot service(s) 
• I did find one by the Renewal movement though, b’’h (thank g?d) 
• These prayers are generally said at the end of the night, just before the morning - when, according to Jewish Mysticism, G?d is especially close 
• If you wish to follow Sephardic tradition, you say them every single day in Elul. If you follow Ashkenazic tradition, you start based on the date of Rosh Hashanah 
• If Rosh Hashanah is on any day but Monday or Tuesday, you start the Saturday/Sunday before it 
• If Rosh Hashanah is on a Monday or a Tuesday, you start that time period two weeks before it, so you pray the Selichot prayers at least three times before Rosh Hashanah 
• These prayers feature a lot of key things: 
• The Thirteen Attributes of G?d, aka merciful attributes of G?d as revealed on Mt. Sinai 
• This is the Core of the Service
• Since this prayer is considered communal, traditionally one is not to pray it alone (though if you follow a more informed-choice model of Judaism, you can of course decide to pray this on your own) 
• There are also responsorial hymns called pizmonim 
• Verses begging for G?d to hear our prayers are said before an open arc 
• The Ashamnu confession known from the High Holy Days services is stated, in which a litany of sins committed by the whole community are stated 
• Some also recite the Sh’ma, the Jewish declaration of Faith 
• There are also statements of assuring that comfort and contentment through G?d will come 
• And so on 
• As stated above, it is considered better to pray this service with a group - honestly, the same can be said of all Jewish prayer, but especially this 
• The first night of selichot is especially important 
• It is done before going to sleep (after the Havdalah ceremony, in Ashkenazic tradition; and late in the evening on Rosh Chodesh Elul, in Sephardic tradition) 
• They are not said until after midnight, after the time of judgement in the night according to tradition 
• If you only do one night of Selichot… the first night is the one to pick 
• Though you should try to do at least three 
• These prayers are a long-standing, important part of the process of returning to G?d - teshuvah - for the high holy days. The prayers allow for an examination of the deeds of the past year, seeking for forgiveness from G?d, and promises to improve behavior. It is one of the biggest Elul observances, and a beautiful one at that 

GIF by whatstheweather

• Psalm 27 goes as follows (taken from Sefaria): 
• Of David. The LORD is my light and my help; whom should I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life, whom should I dread? 
• When evil men assail me to devour my flesh— it is they, my foes and my enemies, who stumble and fall. 
• Should an army besiege me, my heart would have no fear; should war beset me, still would I be confident. 
• One thing I ask of the LORD, only that do I seek: to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD, to frequent His temple. 
• He will shelter me in His pavilion on an evil day, grant me the protection of His tent, raise me high upon a rock. 
• Now is my head high over my enemies roundabout; I sacrifice in His tent with shouts of joy, singing and chanting a hymn to the LORD. 
• Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; have mercy on me, answer me. 
• In Your behalf my heart says: “Seek My face!” O LORD, I seek Your face. 
• Do not hide Your face from me; do not thrust aside Your servant in anger; You have ever been my help. Do not forsake me, do not abandon me, O God, my deliverer. 
• Though my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will take me in. 
• Show me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my watchful foes. 
• Do not subject me to the will of my foes, for false witnesses and unjust accusers have appeared against me. 
• Had I not the assurance that I would enjoy the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living… 
• Look to the LORD; be strong and of good courage! O look to the LORD! 
• I feel as if the reason this short psalm is recited is fairly self-evident 
• As you can see above: this prayer is emphasizing how, having G?d on their side, they are protected and kept safe
• They beg G?d to continue to protect them 
• And then reaffirm that G?d will do so 
• These are the things we look for from G?d during the high holy days, on which our fates for the year are said to be made 
• So. Psalm 27. The High Holy Days Psalm 
• It is typically recited once a day in the month of Elul 
• It is sometimes recited with the selichot prayers, sometimes not (especially when you only start at the end of the month) 
• It is continued to be recited until Hoshanah Rabbah, when the High Holy Days time ends (see Sukkot post above) 
• If you want a shorter, but still meaningful, reflection each day for the preparatory time of Elul - Psalm 27 is probably your best bet! 
• If you want to sing it, there are some melodies made by Jewish sources for this psalm - including the group Nava Tehila 

• As stated previously, it is considered traditional to blow the shofar each morning of Elul, except for the day before Rosh Hashanah, and Shabbat (for those who follow traditional definitions of work) 
• The blast of the Shofar serves to awaken our spirits, inspire our soul-searching, and essentially it’s just a very loud alarm clock
• Certain shuls - especially many orthodox synagogues - will have shofar blowing during the morning service for you to hear 
• If you want, though, feel free to blow the shofar yourself - especially if you have a shofar! 
• Blowing the shofar is an especially beautiful thing to do, and it is considered to be a great mitzvah (Jewish Deed/Commandment) 
• It’s quite hard to blow the Shofar. Here are my tips: 
• Pull back your lips (honestly, I make a duck face) 
• Press the shofar gently to the lips
• Blow only a LITTLE BIT of air 
• Vibrate your lips as much as you can (hence the duck lips) 
• Let the sound flow through via the vibrations more than your own breath 
• I go more over the different blows of the shofar in my Rosh hashanah post, but try to do at least one long blast 
• This is an alarm clock. It is loud, it is eerie, and it is inspiring. Blow and listen to it accordingly. 

• If you have lost someone - especially in the past year - and you can, you should visit the graves of those you’ve lost 
• This allows you to keep the person in your thought, and prompts us to think about our own deaths 
• Even if we are sealed in the book of life, Jewish tradition does say that during the High Holy Days, we are close to death - close to G?d, close to eternity, and thus close to death. We face our own mortality, our own legacy. This continues through Sukkot, the holiday of transience 
• Visiting the graves of loved ones allows for one to think about the legacy they will leave behind - and their own life in general 
• If you engage in this, it may inspire you to be kinder, more comforting, more loving, more just - and, thus, it will inspire your own teshuvah during this season 
• In addition, it’s just… respectful. The new year is beginning, and your beloved one is gone. Best to keep them in your thoughts 
• Remember - if you visit the grave, place stones on the grave rather than flowers. Stones are more permanent than flowers, and thus a more respectful grave tribute in Jewish tradition 

GIF by horrorandhalloween

• Many people will blog, journal, photograph, and just engage in daily discussions about their lives and their progress as a person throughout the month of Elul as a way of preparing for the High Holy Days 
• There are many journal prompt list - even on Tumblr! Just go searching around for different ways to engage in introspection
• There are also Elul Instagram movements for similar purposes - I kid you not - if Instagram is something you’re into 
• There are also Elul workbooks - such as 60 Days - that can help you to think about each day of Elul and the approaching High Holy Days 
• Many Jewish movements and groups will send daily emails in Elul with thought questions and ways to think about the month and the preparations for the High Holy Days 
• There are essays, podcasts, and a variety of different materials to study and think about, each day, in preparation for the holiest time of year 
• There are also Elul poetry books, books about Elul and Tishrei in general, and many other ways to engage in thoughtful, daily introspection
• Get creative about it! Draw a picture each day, or make a video about your own progress, write poetry of your own, whatever you want - engage with Elul, use prompt lists how you want, and try to help instigate your own personal growth as we approach Rosh Hashanah 
• This is Real, and you are Completely Unprepared 
• There is no way to be over-prepared for the High Holy Days
• Spend these thirty days really, really, REALLY thinking about who you are, who you want to be, how you’ve let yourself and others down, how you’d like to be better - and if you can do that creatively, it is more likely to stick! 

GIF by cozy-aesthetics

• In addition to THINKING about how you can be better, you should try to BE better, as the High Holy Days loom over our heads! 
• Biggest Thing to Do: APOLOGIZE TO PEOPLE YOU HAVE WRONGED 
• Have you hurt anyone’s feelings needlessly? 
• Have you gossiped about anyone, or spread mean things about them, even if they did them? (This is called Lashon Hora, and unless you’re trying to protect someone else, it’s considered a Bad Thing - and even then, that person has to be in immediate danger, etc.) 
• Have you come to bad assumptions about another person, or believed bad things about that person without sufficent evidence?
• Have you lied? Cheated? 
• Stolen? 
• Abused someone - physically, emotionally, sexually? 
• Something even worse than all this? 
• T h e n   a p o l o g i z e ,   d a m m i t 
• You need to atone TO THE PERSON YOU HURT in order to make up for what you’ve done 
• Atonement involves: 
• Acknowledging that YOU DID SOMETHING WRONG and YOU ARE AT FAULT 
• BEING SORRY for the thing you did 
• MAKING AN EFFORT to NOT do the thing again!!!!! 
• If you don’t mark those things, then you didn’t atone right!!!!!!! 
• DO NOT BLAME THE PERSON FOR THE FACT THAT YOU WRONGED THEM 
• YOU MUST ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR OWN FAULT 
• You must seek forgiveness from the person you wronged. Asking G?d alone IS NOT ENOUGH. 
• If you apologize, repent, and make an effort to be better multiple times, and they don’t forgive you, then that’s on them, not you 
• But you have to make that effort - and potentially apologize multiple times - first 
• It’s on YOU. YOU ALONE. And you have to do the UNCOMFORTABLE WORK of acknowledging what you did TO THE PERSON. THE END. 
• You wronged yourself? APOLOGIZE AND DO BETTER BY YOU
• You wronged G?d (aka didn’t perform a non-interpersonal mitzvah correctly)? THEN you apologize and ask G?d for forgiveness via prayer 
• Because of this tradition, Elul is often a month of Jewish people frantically apologizing and trying to do right by friends and family. This can be disconcerting for non-Jews. Just roll with it. 
• Next: TZEDAKAH 
• GIVE. MONEY. TO. CHARITABLE. CAUSES. 
• ESPECIALLY if you’re bad at doing it year-long
• This isn’t seen as Optional in Jewish tradition. It is a REQUIREMENT. 
• I will one day write a post about tzedakah, but for now: donate what you can, do it anonymously, and be generous. Consider donating things in intervals of 18 (which is the numerical value of the Hebrew word for life, Chai/חי)
• We live in a world of capitalism, and it sucks, but that means that usually the best way to do works of justice is to contribute money
• Consider, in the year I’m writing this, 5779: 
• Donating to the legal funds of Jewish people who were arrested for protesting ICE and the deportation camps in the USA 
• Donating to Indigenous groups in Brazil trying to preserve their homes and biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest as it fucking burns down 
• Consider other charities that work for animal welfare and the safety of animals in honor of Rosh Hashanah LaBehema - especially zoos and animal shelters! 
• Donating to other groups fighting for social justice 
• Donating to other environmental groups 
• Just. Just. Do something. Donate. Donate. Donate. 
• Then: ACTIVISM 
• If you can’t donate much, or just want to do more, you can also Perform Acts of Justice with your Feet
• PROTEST things that are going on! 
• Join Never Again Action, or other similar Jewish groups fighting for the liberation of those detained by ICE 
• Perform acts of Civil Disobedience, if you are able - put yourself in danger, so others don’t have to 
• Fight against antisemitism! Racism! Sexism! 
• Consider spreading awareness about animal mistreatment, again, in honor of Rosh Hashanah LaBehema 
• DO DO DO DO DO! What you can, don’t hurt yourself in the process, but Do Acts of Justice 
• Also: MITZVOT 
• This is very dependent on what model of Judaism you follow - informed choice, binding tradition, or somewhere in-between 
• But if there’s a Jewish Deed/Commandment (Mitzvah) you’d like to do, that you don’t, now’s the time to start 
• Performing Judaism better than you have been, in whatever way is meaningful for you, is next on our list of self-improvement imperatives 
• Observe Shabbat more! Pray more! Give more tzedakah! 
• Improve your Jewish Ritual Life as well as your Jewish Ethical Life 
• The two go together - they are not separate things. Rituals lead to morals, and vice versa. But more on that… some other time 
• Finally: STUDY 
• STUDY TEXTS ABOUT THE HIGH HOLY DAYS 
• There are so many books to read! Just go searching for them at your local library - books about Elul, Tishrei, the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, etc. 
• Study Torah and Rabbinic texts as well to find answers and your own thoughts on this time
• Improve your Jewish scholarship - we are the people of the book, and this is a mitzvah too 

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• You might start to feel like we’re getting re-depressed - we recovered from Tisha b’Av, and yet here we are, realizing how crappy we’ve been and how we’ve failed others 
• But that is not how this season is supposed to be! 
• Elul is considered to be a continuation of the time of comfort after Tisha b’Av
• G?d is so close to us - the gates are close to opening 
• We are comforted by G?d - see Psalm 27! - not hurt by G?d 
• We may have fallen short the past year - we might need to return to goodness. We might need tshuvah. BUT WE CAN RETURN. We can be better. And we will! 
• Life is a journey. Elul is a time of hope - hope that our journey will continue, that we will continue to improve, continue to be better, continue to bring goodness to the word 
• We are also excited for the joys and beauties of the month of Tishrei - all the exciting holidays, beautiful prayers, and closeness to G?d that it brings 
• We are HOPEFUL for the new year! Not depressed about the last. Don’t forget that. 

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• I swear to G?d, Judaism is a religion OF COMMUNITY 
• So much of Elul is about interacting with others - praying together, celebrating together, mourning together, apologizing to each other, protesting together 
• DO NOT DO ELUL ALONE. Journal together with a friend! Ask for advice in seeking forgiveness! Go to actions of social justice as a group! 
• You do not have to do this alone. You might be responsible for improving yourself alone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get help from those around you. 

GIF by thefastfoodbirbblog

• I am a giant procrastinator who realizes she now has to write her Shabbat post in the next month, there is no more delaying, oh G!d help me 
• I have only my experiences, views, and perspectives to offer - and I am only one Jew 
• Every Jewish person, every Jewish movement, every Jewish text has something to offer about the themes of return, repentance, and the High Holy Days - and preparing for them
• You will discover so much by seeking out more sources - you won’t regret it. I promise. 

a family portrait though fathers who run away from responsibility are not fathers at all

Harold Saxon & Donna Noble Crossover — Phone Call