The month of Elul is a month set aside for preparing ourselves for the upcoming High Holidays -- Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. Because of the tone set for this month, there are various customs we have adopted. These customs, as we will see, have to do with repentance and the upcoming New Year.

We find that the author of the Shulchan Aruch began the section dealing with the High Holidays with the following: "We have a custom to rise before dawn to say penitential prayers and supplications starting from Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the month of) Elul and continuing until Yom Kippur." The Rama, commenting on the above said that this is not the custom of B'nai Ashkenaz (although it is the custom of Sefardi Jews). Ashkenazi Jews begin saying Selichot the Sunday before Rosh HaShana. However, if Rosh HaShana falls on either Monday or Tuesday, we start saying Selichot from the Sunday of the week preceding Rosh HaShana.

Why is there a custom to say Selichot, and why begin with Rosh Chodesh? The Mishna B'rura writes that Moshe went up to Mt. Sinai on Rosh Chodesh Elul to receive the second set of Luchot, the tablets upon which the 10 Commandments were inscribed. Moshe then spent the next 40 days on the mountain, returning to the nation on Yom Kippur. The fact that the nation of Israel received this second set, demonstrated that God had once again found the nation worthy of receiving them, after they had sinned and worshipped the Golden Calf when Moshe went to receive the first set of Tablets. Because God showed favor to the Jewish people then, it is considered a favored time, and one in which our prayers are readily listened to and answered by the Almighty. We therefore say Selichot during this time, asking God for forgiveness and to find favor with us, so we can start the year off positively.

The Rama also comments that the Ashkenazi Jews have the custom to blow the Shofar daily from the beginning of Elul until Rosh HaShana. The Aruch HaShulchan explains that the sounding of the Shofar is a "virtue" associated with repentance. The sound of the Shofar inspires repentance, and therefore we sound the Shofar during the month of Elul to arouse ourselves so that we repent.

The Mishna B'rura writes that we begin saying Psalm 27 with the start of Elul, and continue until Shemini Atzeret. The Midrash writes that the first verse of this Psalm "Of David: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" alludes to the High Holidays: The Lord is my light on Rosh HaShana, and is my salvation on Yom Kippur. Because of this allusion, we say the psalm in the period before the High Holidays, the month of Elul.