Preparing for the Jewish High Holidays.

Every year around September and October is a time when there is a great heavenly shift as The Jewish people commemorate the following Biblical Feasts:

• The feast of Trumpets
• Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) – The holiest day for the Jewish People.
• Feast of Tabernacles
• Simchat Torah (Beginning of the new Torah Reading Cycle)

We are in the year 5780 according to the Jewish calendar that started on sundown 30^th September 2019 to sundown 1^st October 2019. In the Jewish calendar the month before the new month is known as Elul and Tisherei is officially the month that presents Jewish people as the head of the year or the Jewish Civil/Agricultural year.

Please note that there is the head of months which is commemorated during Passover when the Jewish people came out of bondage in Egypt.

Exodus 12: 1- 2 The Lord said to Moses, this month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

Why is this season very important: -?

Recently I got a great nudging in my spirit and after some soul searching I understood that the Lord was calling me to the significance of the season, we are currently on the tail end of the month of AV. The month of Av precedes a very important time known as Elul, this is a month when the Jewish people are doing a lot of reflection in preparation to meet with their maker for the high feasts which are a great time of powerful activity and shift in the Heavenly realms as such we need to be in tune with Heaven.

Jewish Months.

Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, and Elul

This is the order of the months starting with the month of Tishrei which hosts the 3 significant feast of the fall ie… The Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur or day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles.

The main purpose of this write up is to help us understand the time we are about to go into ie the month of Elul. It’s the 6^th month of the Jewish Sacred year as commanded to Moses in Exodus 12:1-2 and the 12^th month of the civil calendar which starts with Tishrei the month hosting the feasts.

In the month of Elul the Jewish people take time to prepare accordingly for the high holidays:

1. Introspection to where we have gone wrong with an aim of repenting before God in the words of Rabbi Paul Steinberg there is so much at stake at Rosh Hashnah which is the first day of the month of Tishrei ie the month that precedes Elul. Therefore, preparations for the high holidays begin a month before since a lot is at stake by readying our minds for prayer and hearts for forgiveness – Rabbi Paul Steinberg.
   1. Jews will recite prayers of repentance known as the Selichot.
2. Blowing of the Shofar every morning – starting 1^st Elul the shofar or ram’s horns is blown every morning as an alert that the day of atonement is coming and the need to set the heart right and to awaken us to the fact that God is near us, The King is in the field to meet with us and help us align to Him and His heart. The month of Elul carries the connotation that the King is in the filed which emphasizes on the importance of this 6^th month of the Jewish Sacred Calendar.

What happens in the High Holidays?

1. Spiritual Reset – in preparation of the year.
2. Shift.
3. New Beginnings.

Today is 13^th August 2020, in the Jewish calendar 23^rd Av, 5780. We are 7 days away from the month of Elul , as we all know that we are grafted into Israel and this are prophetic time signals that we need to engage in to pray with them as we also pray and prepare ourselves to meet with Elohim during the Feasts.

Here are the dates of the feasts 2020: (Leviticus 23 :23 – 44)

• Rosh Hashnah – Friday to Sunday. 18^th September 2020 to 20^th September 2020
• Yom Kippur  - Sunday to Monday . 27^th September 2020 to 28^th September 2020
• Feast of Tabernacles – Friday to Friday. 2^nd October to 9^th October 2020

Here are a few Bible verses to guide you through the season of Elul.

1. Isaiah 55:6 – Seek the Lord while he is near, call upon Him while He is near (The King is in the Field)
2. Psalms 27 – The Lord is our Light and Salvation. Jewish people recite the entire chapter everyday during Elul, let the Lord guide you.
3. Proverbs 28:13 – he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

All the best as you seek to meet the King in the Field as you prepare for the High holidays.

Yvonne Njeri.

Erez Africa.