Hello John and Doves,
Back on 14 Aug 2022, Jean Stepnoski had a
letter to Doves, "Elul 30: Last Day". I had read
it back then, and was intrigued, but 'got distracted' and
later forgot about it.
ELUL
30: LAST DAY
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/aug2022/jeans814.htm
So I was glad to see that the following week
Derrick Drew commented on this letter, 21 Aug 2022 -
reminding me of what Jean had written about the last day of
Elul. Thank you, Derrick.
RE:
Jean Stepnoski ELUL 30: Last Day
Thank you Jean, for this information about Elul
30 and the list of "Last Day" connections. Very
interesting.
And in Derrick's response he wrote about the
Last Day of Elul, "29 or 30, whatever the last day of the
month of Elul" is...and "this current Shemitah cycle".
When I read Jean's letter I was reflecting on
the Shemitah cycle also, and Derrick wrote that maybe we
will be gone in the pre-tribulation rapture right before
Rosh Hashanah starts - right when the next 7 year Shemitah
cycle begins....the Rapture could happen right up to the
last minute before the sighting of the new moon of Tishrei.
I thought about that also, Derrick. If
this year does begin a new Shemitah cycle - and that looks
to be the case - and the Rapture is still a possibility for
this year - and that also looks to be the case...the Rapture
may be in our near future - the end of the month of Elul.
I decided to do a little looking around at the
month of Elul also.
"Another custom during the
month of Elul is the sounding of the shofar (ram's horn
trumpet) at the end of the morning prayer service." "The sound of the shofar is the
expression of that yearning for the coming of the
Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth."
The
Shofar Call of Elul | Calendar | First Fruits of Zion
"During the month of Elul, from the second
day of Elul to the 28th day, the shofar (a hollowed out
ram's horn) is blown after morning services every
weekday....the shofar is not blown on Shabbat. It is
also not blown on the day before Rosh Hashanah to make a
clear distinction between the rabbinical rule of blowing
the shofar in Elul and the biblical mitvah to blow the
shofar on Rosh Hashanah." Blowing the shofar is a
call to repentance.
"As the month of Elul draws to a close, the
mood of repentance becomes more urgent."
During Elul, many people visit
cemeteries...to "think about life and death and our own
mortality." (If a christian's body is in a visited
cemetery and the Rapture happens during Elul, right before
the High Holy Days - that would be quite the experience~)
The Month of Elul
and Selichot - Judaism 101 (JewFAQ)
"...the Hebrew letters that make the word
"Elul", aleph, lemed, vav and lamed are an acronym for the
phrase (from the biblical Song of Songs) ani l'dodi v'dodi
li, which means "I am to my beloved and my beloved is to
me." That is, the first letters of the phrase "I am to
my beloved and my beloved is to me" spell the word Elul.
"This beautiful and romantic phrase is that
which represents our relationship with our Creator, which is
often paralleled to that of a husband and wife, a
bride and groom, in our individual lives."
"The Zohar explains that at the beginning of
Elul we are the achor el achor, meaning "back to back" and
by the end of Elul we are panim el panim, "face to
face."..It is the month of Elul that teaches us the
necessity of being willing to turn around. The King is
in the field, our Creator is there, and no matter how we may
feel, He has never had His back turned. All we need to
do is turn ourselves around to realize that He is there and
waiting for us. The "back to back" that we experience
in the beginning of the month is based on our
misperceptions, our fears, our assumptions. Only when
we turn around do we realize the truth, the inner essence,
and then we are "face to face"....the root of the word for
face, panim, is the same as pnimiyut, which means
"innerness".
Aleph: aleph is the
first letter of the Hebrew alphabet - is it equivalent to
the number 1 "which represents the idea of G-d's total
unity."
Lamed: Lamed is the
twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It's numerical
value is 30. Lev is the Hebrew word for heart.
Heart in Hebrew is spelled lamed-beit. When the two
letters - lamed and lamed - are facing one another they form
the image of a Jewish heart (picture in the article).
Vav: As a word, vav
means "hook" Vav is the sixth letter of the Hebrew
alphabet. Vav is "the connection between the head and
the heart"
"...Elul is the month that begins
back to back and ends face to face."
"Elul then must be understood as an aleph,
representing G-d, followed by a lamed, vav, lamed - a lamed
that is connected (via the vav) to the other lamed."
The Torah is a scroll where the "end is wedged
in the beginning, and the beginning in the end."
The Torah starts with "In the
beginning", bereishit - which is the reverse of the word for
1 Tishrie. The new month at the end of Elul. So,
"In the beginning" is 1 Tishrei. Thus - "On 1
Tishrie, God created the heavens and the earth."
A Shemitah year starts on a Rosh
Hashanah. Shemitah means "to release".
"The Shemitah year waives all outstanding
debts.." Our 'debt' has been paid by Jesus
Christ. This Rosh Hashanah may start the next Shemitah
cycle.
Jean, in her letter notes that "the shofars are
traditionally silent" on the last day of Elul. So...the
next to the last day of Elul would be "the last trump".
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/2306683/jewish/Shofar-During-the-Month-of-Elul-How-and-Why.htm
The shofar is blown so often as "to confuse the
prosecuting angel" - during the month of Elul repentance
brings: "G-d has already inscribed us in the book of life
for the coming year - even before Rosh Hashanah. This
leaves the prosecutor confused......That's the
meaning of "not knowing what day is Rosh Hashanah"...he
can no longer tell when the judgment occurs....This is also
why we do not blow on the day before Rosh Hashanah: By
that point we are so confident that G-d has accepted our
sincere repentance during the first 29 days that we do not
even need to blow on the last day of the month."
Shofar
During the Month of Elul: How and Why - And how to confuse
Satan - High Holidays
The names of the Believers are inscribed in The
Book of Life - before the Tribulation starts. They are
confident that God has given them into the hands of His Son,
Jesus. They will 'make it' in the Rapture. The
last trump of Elul could be The Last Trump Paul told us
about. Before Rosh Hashanah.
When one of the above
articles said 'in the month of Elul, we will see our
Creator face to face by the end of Elul' - this reminded me of 1 Corinthians 13:12 "For
now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face
to face" now I know in part, but then shall I
know even as also I am known."
On the day of the Rapture, hopefully soon, we
will see Jesus 'face to face'.
So when did the month of Elul
2022 start?
"The New Moon was sighed this evening in
Israel, Sunday, August 28, 2022. Therefore the New
Moon the first day of the Sixth Month starts (Sunday)
August 28th, evening at sundown, and goes through (Monday)
August 29th.
Sixth
New Moon Report – When Is The New Moon
This site shows the new moon sliver on August
28.
How many days are in the month of
Elul?
The chabad calendar shows 29 days. 1 Elul
is August 28; this matches with the new moon sighting in
Israel. 25 September is the Eve of Rosh
Hashanah. So the day before that is 24 September, for
the last trump/shofar blast of Elul. (Remember Jewish
days start with sunset the day before and end sunset the day
of) And 24 September is a Shabbat and during the month
of Elul the shofar is not blown on the Shabbat. 24 September
begins Friday sunset 23 September and endd\s nightfall
Saturday 24 September - so this is a sabbath. Will the
last trump of Elul be blown at the end of Sabbath on 24
September? I haven't been able to find anything about
this, other than some Jews blow the shofar at night during
Elul also. Maybe someone has come across this.
The hebcal also shows 29 days..1 Elul August 28
2022 also - so these two calendars match up.
However, the shofar is not blown on a
shabbat.
Looking forward to the end of Elul and, of
course, Rosh Hashanah - Feast of Trumpets!
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance