Ever feel like you’re too late, too messy, or too disconnected to start building your Jewish life? Elul is here to tell you otherwise. 💙
The Jewish month of Elul isn’t flashy — there are no fireworks, no confetti, no big celebrations. But it might just be the most important month in the Jewish calendar. Elul is the quiet threshold before Rosh Hashanah, a season of reflection, repair, and gentle return.
In this post (and the video below), we’ll explore:
- What Elul is and why it matters
- Simple rituals and practices you can try at home
- How to connect with Elul even if you don’t have a local community
- Bonus ideas to deepen your Elul experience
If you want a simple way to carry Elul’s reflection into your everyday life, download the free Jewish Experience Tracker by joining my mailing list in the sidebar to your right. It’s a printable tool that helps you record your small wins, notice your patterns, and see how your Jewish life is taking shape over time. Use it during Elul to jot down your reflections, or bring it to your next rabbi meeting as a reminder of everything you’ve already done. You’re building something sacred — let the Tracker help you see it.
Transcript below.
Transcript:
You are not too late and you’re not too messy. You’re right on time for the Jewish month of Elul.
Elul isn’t flashy.
There’s no confetti, no fireworks. No big public spectacle.
But it might just be the most important month in the Jewish calendar.
 Most people wait until the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, to start reflecting on how the year has gone.
But the real work, the healing, the teshuvah, the returning, the quiet reconnecting, that all starts in Elul.
And here’s the good news. You don’t need to be a rabbi, a mystic, or a Hebrew scholar to prepare for the High Holidays.
You just need to be willing to step into the rhythm of Jewish time.
Judaism moves in seasons, not checklists.
Each month carries its own flavor, its own invitation,
and Elul’s invitation is simple: come back.
Not because you’re broken, but because you’re beloved.
And if you’ve been feeling disconnected spiritually, burnt out, or just plain overwhelmed,
Elul was made for this.
Hi, I’m Kochava. I’m a Jewish convert who’s been helping people convert to Judaism since 2010 at my blog Building a Jewish Life.com.
I also help people practice seasonal Jewish living: learning to align your life with Jewish rhythms.
Subscribe for more and access my entire library of free tools by joining the mailing list at Building a Jewish Life.com.
What is the Jewish month of Elul? At the most basic, it’s the month before Rosh Hashanah.
It’s a quiet threshold into a new Jewish year.
It’s a season of preparation, but not in the sense of frantic to-do lists.
Think of it more like tending the soil before planting. The very name Elul is an acronym, ” Ani l’dodi v’dodi li.” ” I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine.”
It sets a tone of relationship, return, and tenderness.
Traditional seasonal markers of Elul
include a daily blowing of the shofar, uh, a Rams horn musical instrument, war cry type thing as a kind of spiritual alarm clock to wake you up.
We also add the Psalm 27 to the daily liturgy.
And there’s a special set of daily prayers called slichot
They’re not there to overwhelm you.
They’re gentle reminders that this season carries a different energy than the rest of the year.
Why does the Jewish month of Elul matter in seasonal Jewish living?
Judaism isn’t about checking off holidays on a calendar.
It’s a cycle, a rhythm of becoming, resting, renewing.
And Jewish time is not a straight line; it’s a spiral.
We don’t just march from one date to the next. We circle back season after season, carrying our past with us while stepping into something new.
In Judaism, time is less about clocks and more about cycles. Shabbat each week, the holidays each year. The rhythms of planting and harvest,
exile and return.
Each cycle revisits familiar ground, but never exactly in the same way.
We arrive with new experiences, new questions, new growth.
that’s what makes Jewish time seasonal, not linear.
It’s a rhythm that holds us, that shapes us, and invites us to return deeper each time.
And that’s where Elul comes in.
Elul is where the cycle slows down so you can catch your breath before the High Holidays begin.
It’s the pause to ask, “where am I now? Where do I wanna head next?”
And this isn’t about doing everything perfectly. Not at all.
Seasonal Jewish living is just about being present with the time you’re in.
And returning to that time when we drift away,
and Elul is designed for exactly that kind of work.
Wanna live the Jewish month of Elul intentionally? Think of Elul as offering three simple anchors to help you live in season with Jewish time.
First: ritual markers. Every season has its sounds and symbols. For Elul, it’s the shofar.
It’s blown each morning as a wake up call for the soul. If you don’t have one at home (’cause you can blow the shofar for yourself every morning if you’d like. Just be careful of the neighbors.)
You can even listen to one online and still be part of this rhythm.
You could try the practice of of reading Psalm 27. In English or Hebrew.
English is perfectly fine.
It’s about letting the words shape your heart over time.
And last is selichot,
Prayers of forgiveness that open the gates to Rosh Hashanah.
This is usually a communal practice and the timing of when different communities start saying slichot… I have a hard time with words. Don’t @ me.
So the timing of different communities is a little different of when they start saying selichot. So contact your local synagogue to find out when they start.
Even if you don’t understand every word or any of the words.
Just being present for the music and the mood of it
while you follow along in English-
that’s a powerful way to enter the new year.
Two: study as nourishment.
Seasonal Jewish living isn’t about cramming in as much as you can.
We’re all about slow and steady here.
It is sitting with things long enough for them to nourish you.
In Elul that could mean picking a Jewish text to learn: the ethics of the fathers, Pirke Avot; the book of Jonah, Yonah.
Or even a single High Holiday prayer like Avinu Malkeinu or Kol Nidre.
Try learning it over time. See what repeats, see what changes.
What lands differently each day.
Or each week.
We’re all about sustainable practices here. We don’t want you to burn out by doing too much too fast.
Consider jotting down your reflections. because living in Jewish time is about patterns and growth, not just powering through information.
Three: reflection as harvest. Every season brings a harvest. Elul’s is inner reflection.
This is the time to pause and ask, ” where have I grown this year? What still feels unfinished?
Who do I wanna reconnect with?
Who do you need to make up things to?”
Consider writing an apology note. Traditionally, the High Holidays is a lot about apologies, making things right with both man and God. Because in Judaism, you don’t just get to say a prayer and be off the hook. You have to repair the relationships, as much as you can. It’s not always possible, but we do the best we can.
So you might consider writing an apology note: to a friend, to yourself, to God,
to someone entirely different.
Even if you’re not ready to send the note yet.
Or you can take a small act of teshuvah: return, apology, making things right.
Return something you borrowed and forgot to return.
Connect with a friend you haven’t spoken to in a long time. Try to mend a relationship that’s been fraying.
These small acts are the fruits of Elul And they’re reminders that change doesn’t have to be dramatic in order to be holy.
And if you want a simple way to keep track of the ways you’re growing through this season,
I made a free tool called the Jewish Experiences Tracker. It’ll help you notice patterns and growth, celebrate small wins,
and see how your Jewish life is taking shape over time. Whether you use it for yourself or whether you use it while working with a rabbi.
You can grab it through the link down below or by joining my mailing list at Building a Jewish Life.com.
And inside that resource library, there’s a whole lot of other free guides and tools that you might find helpful, including things like a way to start celebrating Shabbat, a guide to antisemitism,
and a guide to dealing with the feeling of not feeling “Jewish enough.”
So now how do you do the Jewish month of Elul without a community? I know so many of the people watching my videos are not living in an active Jewish community.
But seasonal Jewish living doesn’t require a synagogue or a rabbi in order to begin. Obviously those are the goals we wanna work towards. But you can start wherever you are,
with whatever you have.
Shabbat candles on your kitchen table,
a few minutes of prayer,
or the sound of a shofar online.
These small rituals and reflections
are enough to carry you through the rhythm of Elul for this year.
There is always next year . That’s what that spiral of Jewish time means: we always get more chances.
Start now and start small and don’t let overwhelm or analysis paralysis paralyze you. Just pick something and go with it. You can change your mind later. You’re not married to it.
And if, like most people that I talk to, you’re craving community and connection, I’m gonna link up to a video that I made about finding community as someone without a Jewish community.
One of those options that’s new is my membership called Bayit Builders. Bayit means house, spiritually and physically.
And you can find out more about Bayit Builders down below.
Don’t discount online friends.
Even community that is not face-to-face is still community.
Take it where you can get it.
But remember too that Jewish time is a kind of community itself. You’re never alone doing these practices. Jews all over the world are doing these practices with you. You are part of an Am, a people.
It links you to the generations before and the generations after you.
When you live in sync with that rhythm, you are never truly alone.
The Jewish month of Elul has so many doorways in.
In addition to the standard traditional practices,
here are a few other ways you can step into the season. You can visit a cemetery. Yeah. We’re gonna jump right in. Right? In many communities it’s customary during Elul to visit the graves of loved ones and teachers… and famous rabbis. Who are your teachers too.
Standing there reminds us of the shortness of life,
the weight of memory,
and the ways our choices ripple forward. Just as those people’s choices have affected your life.
It’s not universal, but it is a powerful way to prepare for the High Holidays.
You can spend time with High Holiday melodies and prayers.
Listen to a recording of Kol Nidre or a or Avinu Malkeinu, even for just a few minutes.
Letting these seasonal sounds wash over you
can help you put your heart in motion. For bonus points, learn some of the translation.
Three. You can pick a word or theme for the new Jewish year.
Think of it as planting a seed you’ll tend all season long. If you’re not sure where to start,
I made a short video on how to choose a word of the year. It works just as well for a theme or a feeling of the year.
I walk you through the process step by step, and even give you sample ideas.
Four. You could do some decluttering.
Hopefully you’re already doing some emotional and relationship decluttering, but some good old fashioned digital and physical decluttering works as an Elul practice too.
Clearing out what no longer serves you makes space for what’s coming, both in your home and in your heart.
These aren’t requirements, obviously. They’re invitations,
ways to align your everyday life with the larger cycles of Jewish time.
Here’s the thing.
You’re already participating in Jewish seasonal living. Because you’re here noticing that the Jewish month of Elul exists at all. Not all Jews know Elul exists.
You don’t have to be perfect. You just need to show up, which is what you’re doing right here,
and I’m so proud of you for that.
Judaism gives us soft landings like Elul.
I don’t know how much you’re hearing this. This leaf blower, they should be illegal. I hate them.
Judaism gives us these soft landings, like Elul, before the big holy days, so that when Rosh Hashanah arrives, you’ve already been pro. Mm.
I would murder leaf blowers if I could,
so that when Rosh Hashanah arrives, you’ve already been practicing return, teshuvah,
in small, steady, sustainable ways.
Elul is a whisper, not a shout.
Start small. Stay curious, and let this season shape you.
Subscribe for more ways to live Jewishly in rhythm with the seasons of Jewish time.
And you can download that Jewish Experience Tracker at the link down below, or by joining the mailing list at Building a Jewish Life.com.
Now, I want you to let me know in the comments: what’s one way you are going to mark Elul this year?
