We know the famous verse “אני לדודי ודודי לי – Ani ledodi vledodi li” that the initial letters of each word form the word Elul. The first part “אני לדודי– I am my Beloved’s” means that we are willing to give-up our selves to Hashem.  In the Kabbalah this is related with the meditation of the Ariza”l that is found in our Siddur, that is called “Arbah Mitot Beit Din” the basic principle of this kabbalistic meditation is that we show Hashem that we are coming towards Hashem telling Him that we are ready to give up on the things that, we understand, are holding us back from Him. According to how much effort and how much we invest on coming closer to Hashem it is going to be proportional to the way He is going to approach us, and this is the meaning of the second part of the verse “ודודי לי – and my Beloved is mine”. In the concepts of the Kabbalistic Meditations of the Arizal this is called ‘Mochin’ which is abundance of new wisdom, understanding and knowledge, that are parallel to Chochma, Bina and Daat.   

We all know that the process of giving up things could get very difficult and some of those things are hard to work on. The main point is to, every year on Elul, look for those things that are separating us from Hashem and try to find within ourselves the strength to let go. To let go those bad habits, all those bad attitudes and all of the negative that we find in our lives through out inner introspection. It really looks as hard task to do, but in Elul it is an auspicious time...