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Blowing the Shofar: Confusing the Satan?
The widespread custom in the month of Elul is to blow the shofar everyday, in order to awaken us to teshuva. We also blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah itself, the fulfillment of a mitzvah from the Torah. The Rema tells us that we do not blow shofar the day before Rosh Hashana, which the…
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The Interconnection between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
Rosh Chodesh Elul marks the beginning of our focus on teshuva, leading up to the Yamim Noraim and the Aseret Yemei Teshuva. Sephardi communities begin to recite selichot – penitential prayers – from Rosh Chodesh Elul. Throughout the Jewish world, Elul takes on solemn character, marked by Cheshbon HaNefesh (self-accounting) and repairing our relationships between…
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What Makes a Good Year? The Secret to a Successful Rosh Hashanah
Elul is the start of this journey and shemini Atzeret is the culmination. Rashi tells us that the Yom Tov of shemini atzeret was created because Hashem says ‘kashe alay preidaschem’ ‘it is hard for me to separate from you.’ Hashem wants one more day, one more yom tov, one more embrace. But on a…
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Do Women Have the Obligation to Hear the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah marks the new year and the day of judgment…
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3 Ways to Co-Create Your New Year
Elul is here, and the eagerness to welcome the New Year is filling the air. Besides the sense of newness that “nature” so graciously gives us, including changing leaves, a crisp, cool breeze to break the summer heat, and for many, starting back in school and the post-summer grind, we also benefit from the palpable…
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Malchut: Revealing the Feminine Energy on Rosh Hashanah
Malchut is the highest of the ten sefirot…
