By Marco Del Monte
Written in 2023
From today a period of great importance begins for the people of Israel, the month of Elul, which is contiguous to the ten days of repentance, namely those that run from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur.
This is a particularly auspicious time to draw closer to G-d, since even Hashem, so to speak, draws closer to us; the image portrayed by the Chachamim is that of a King who leaves His palace to enter the field and meet the people. This is a very favourable period for teshuvah and purification. It is written in the Song of Songs:[…] Pitchì li achotì rayatì yonatì tamatì sheroshì nimlà TAL”” Listen, my beloved knocks! “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my flawless dove! For my head is wet with dew”! The Song of Songs contains many secrets, and Rav Yoram Abargel Zz”L, in the text Imrè Noam, offers us some of them: The term “Tal” “Dew” has a numerical value of 39, corresponding to the 39 days of the month of Elul together with the penitential days excluding Kippur, which represents the 40th level of purification. During these 39 days Hashem revolutionises the upper worlds by easily opening the gates of teshuvah for us, pouring the “Dew of spiritual resurrection” upon every neshamah of the Bnei Israel, to awaken them from the slumber caused by the forces of impurity (see also Isaiah 26,19 on the concept of resurrection through dew). These 39 levels of purity atone for the 39 curses that came down into the world at the time of the sin of Adam Harishon, and they also atone for the penalty of malkut, that is, the 39 lashes; this is a great act of kindness by the Eternal, which only requires prayers and good deeds to ward off every kind of suffering. The fortieth level, Kippur, is that of the completion of purification par excellence; in fact, the number 40 represents precisely the measure for rebirth, for regeneration, for renewal: 40 seah is the measure of how much water a mikveh must contain; 40 days and 40 nights served the world to perform its own mikveh, its own purification, in the days of Noah; the three sets of 40 days in which Moshe went up the mountain to ask for atonement for the people; the completion of the child in the mother's womb, as an image of a new life being born, requires 40 weeks, and so on with other examples. These days represent a transition, a journey, a ladder, where each day creates an extra step to climb spiritually, to be able to renew ourselves, strengthen the bond with others and above all return to being ever closer to the King of the World, in His palace, like a son who returns to the castle after a long journey and is welcomed with all honours, and above all with a tight embrace from the King which will take place on Sukkot.
Chodesh Tov Umevorach