Reé 5776 - English

By Rabbi Dario Feiguin

B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

Elul: Customs and Traditions

Today is Rosh Chodesh Elul. 

In four weeks, we will be saying goodbye to the year on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.  

Tradition calls upon us to prepare in various ways, so that we may take advantage of this opportunity that comes only once a year, to perform our spiritual balance and to feel that renewal is possible.  

Perhaps the first one is to study: to sit and read to know what it is we are going to do and to soften the soul.  

Along with studying, there are several customs for these days.  Starting today and until the eve of Rosh Hashanah, every morning we finish the daily service of Shacharit with a Tekiyah on the Shofar.  According to commentators, this penetrating archaic sound comes to awaken our being from an emotional and spiritual slumber.  It comes to remind us that no matter the sophistication that we have today from comfort and technology, the purest virginal part of the human being is many times eclipsed and opaque: our ability to love, feel and dream.  

The Midrash says that Moses ordered the Shofar played after the episode of the Golden Calf, so that Israel would not forget G’d while he went to receive the second set of tablets.  

In other words, along with the awakening, the Shofar is here to remind us who we are and what are the covenants and anchors we have established as standards to life.  

During the month of Elul, when we awaken and remember, it is customary to include Psalm 27 in our tefilot.  It talks about hope and salvation, about the deepest most intimate desires of a joyful and peaceful future, of confidence and security, under the protection of G’d.   

During the month of Elul, it is customary to recover the affection and the frame of social contention that friendship and sharing allow us.  We send each other Kartisei Bracha, cards with wishes for a prosperous year.  Sometimes, we include the language of liturgy and say: “L’Shanah Tovah Tikatevu” = “May you be inscribed for a good year.”  In Kippur we add: “Chatimah Tovah” = “May you have a good signature from G’d in the Book of Life.”

With the social frame, we recover the memories that come to us in those terrible days of analysis and reflection.  Before the Yamim Noraim, we usually visit the tombs of our loved ones.  According to some commentators, this tradition originated from the assumption that the memory of our dearly departed would intercede in our favor before G’d during this Judgment period.  

Starting from Elul, Sephardim Jews get up before dawn to say the Selichot.  These “pardons” (literal translation) are special tefilot of silence and penitence, reflection and analysis.  

The time at which they are said is a mystical moment.  While the sky changes from dark gray, to lilac and red, they reach the Shema Israel just when the sky turns light blue.  

Ashkenazim Jews recite the Selichot a week before Rosh Hashanah.  The begin the Sunday before the Holiday, as long as there are at least four days in between that Sunday and Rosh Hashanah.  Otherwise, the Selichot need to start on the previous Sunday.  

Nowadays, there is a new tradition of beginning with these prayers at 0 hours on Sunday, meaning Saturday night, after midnight, and we have added another purpose that is sort of an introduction to the liturgy of the Yamim Noraim.  The officiant and in some cases the choir, sing the traditional melodies of Rosh Hashanah.  

In liturgical jargon, the central melodic mode of each Tefilah is called the Nusach.  From the artistic, it marks out the level of creative expansion of the Chazan.  During the Yamim Noraim, each Tefilah has a special Nusach.  Arvit has it, Shacharit too, Musaf as well, and Neilah too.  

The Selichot are said up until the eve of Rosh Hashanah, when we say the special Selichot but we do not play the Shofar.  

In the week before Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to change the Parochet (the curtain of the Aron Hakodesh) and the covers on the Table and the Sifrei Torah.  The synagogue is dressed in white as a symbol of humility and purity.  Many observant Jews wear the Kitl, a white tunic.  Many others just wear a white shirt or a white dress.

In some circles, it is customary to do “Hatarat Nedarim” in front of a Beit-Din.  This is the annulment of unfulfilled promises done in the presence of a rabbinical tribunal of at least three members.  As a side not, the Kol Nidrei is a legal text from the Hatarat Nedarim and that is why it is pronounced three times.  

Finally, before the Yamim Noraim, we try to resolve our conflicts and pending issues with other people, so as to be free to face the Divine judgment.  Remember the sentence from the Tanaim that says that Yom Kippur expiates the mistakes made by Man against his G’d, but those mistakes that Man committed against his fellow man, Yom Kippur does not expiate unless Man has first apologized and solve his earthly issue with his relative, friend, or acquaintance.  This is a holy task.  It takes a weight off our shoulders and removes an emotional burden from our souls.  It cleans the path to continue building true links of respect, and sometimes of love.  

Among the preparations and logistics, these traditions that we commence on this month of Elul, prepare us to try and tip the Scale towards Life.  

It is also up to us, with the help of G’d, to make sure it will be a life full of good health, of creative realizations and of Shalom.  

Shabbat Shalom!

Chodesh Tov!

Rabbi Darío Feiguin.

B´nei Israel, Costa Rica.