The Month of Elul – Why do we need to prepare?

The month leading up to Rosh HaShana is a time of soul searching and preparation. Ideally, I would have liked the month to have been filled with posts here at Pintele Yid, but my little Jonah has made regular posting difficult. But in the final few days on the month, I wanted to try to get some reflections committed in writing.

Rosh HaShana is the Day of Judgment, the day when we stand before G-d and he the actions of the past year are judged and a verdict rendered that will decide what our fate will be in the next year. Surely if you were on trial in a human court, you would spend some time preparing, and not just show up on the court date and wing it. The same reasoning should apply here, if we are to successfully plead our case before G-d, we need to be prepared.

So why don’t people prepare? My guess is that people view Rosh HaShana as the start of the case, not the end of it. They view Yom Kippur as the end. Whatever verdict is rendered on Rosh HaShana can be appealed on Yom Kippur. People rely on that. Of course, this technique would never be applied in a human court. “I’ll take my chances at trial, and if I don’t like the verdict, there’s always the appeal.”

By spending the month of Elul preparing for the Day of Judgment, we can obtain a favorable verdict, and then user Yom Kippur to further improve our lot for the coming year.

I challenge everyone to take these last few days to prepare. Examine your past year and see where you have made mistakes, understand what your are asking G-d to forgive. Then when you pray, pray for forgiveness of specific acts, not generalities.

This is the path towards being inscribes in the Good Book of Life.