Your burning questions about this time of year, answered. 

During Elul, the Hebrew month leading up to Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), we feel the spiritual energy shift. We begin engaging in some serious introspection, hoping to change ourselves for the better.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, literally means “Head of the Year.” In the Torah, this holiday is never called Rosh Hashanah. Instead, it is referred to as “Yom Teruah,” the “Day of the Great Shofar Blast.”

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the culmination of a 40-day-long process of teshuvah—shedding the dysfunctional patterns in our lives, making amends for our actions, and returning to the essence of ourselves.