A lot of people dislike Chodesh Elul for the following reason. To most, Elul is a time to feel bad about yourself. To search for regret about past misdeeds. To wonder how you can attain forgiveness in a month or so. To admit your own shortcomings. And hovering over all these negative feelings is the huge shadow (כביכול) of a God Who's about to exact His revenge on His unloyal subjects.
The reality, in fact, could not be further than the truth.
One of the acronyms for Chodesh Elul is:
אני לדודי ודודי לי
I am to my beloved, and my beloved is to me.
This is a pasuk from Shir HaShirim, expressing the love and intimately fierce connection between HKB"H and Am Yisrael. The fact that it is used to describe Chodesh Elul means that the month is not a time to be afraid of God, but to get close to Him. To realize that HKB"H loves us very much. Elul is a time to re-experience the closeness of a God who cares about every single thing we do.
This month, don't feel threatened by HKB"H. Feel loved. Try to understand what it means to live a life of closeness to God. Realize that Hashem is not out to get you. He's not trying to force you against your will to live a strangled, boxed-in lifestyle. He's trying to help you live the best possible life in His world.
Elul is about rediscovering who we really are. If we have that frame of mind, the whole process doesn't only become less arduous, it becomes exciting.
More on this later on.
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