Q&A: How Can We Take Advantage of Elul?

Q. How can we take advantage of Elul and not "fall" into the High Holidays each year?

A. Elul is a time of awakening for teshuva, and every person must work to fix that which is within him. In the book Orot HaTeshuva, Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook zt"l wrote several times that there are people for whom teshuva brings despair and weakens their mind ("Where do I stand?", "How much have I sinned?", and so on).

This is forbidden! A person must know that even if he stumbled once, even if he acted incorrectly, he should always strive forward. So if a person knows he has a set time to do teshuva - and there are Rishonim who think that doing teshuva is a mitzvah - then surely it should give a person strength and incentive to do teshuva.

Answered by HaRav HaGaon Dov Lior, for Yeshivat Bet El
Translated by Sharona Eshet-Kohen