Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi describes this new Hebrew month of Elul: 'A King decides to leave his palace and walk into the fields where the simple farmers work. There, all are able to come and meet the King. He greets each one with a shining face and happy smile.'

Hashem is opening a door of accessibility for each of us to enter. Even if our actions lately are not befitting a royal palace, we can reconnect now where we are.



But how do we connect? Perhaps the secret is in the analogy of a field. Each of us have our own unique way of connecting, but for me, being in nature helps awaken my soul awareness & feeling of divine closeness. Many of our forefathers and prophets and kings were shepherds, spending their time in quiet solitude in tune with the rhythm of nature, with time to think and feel clearly.

Another tool I love is music. King David would compose and play music as he prayed, while King Saul and many prophets utilized music to help them reach higher states of soul consciousness. 



Nature & music are interconnected. The Baal Shem Tov would spend time in the forests of Ukraine in meditation.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that speaking to God in nature is beneficial as - on some level - the grass itself sings together with you. 



On Fridays at sunset, the Arizal & his disciples would go out into the fields of Tzfat to sing mystical poems and welcome the feminine divine energy of Shabbat.

The Hebrew word for matters of the spirit is “ruach” which also means wind. Air - like spiritual reality - surrounds us at every moment. But to benefit, to survive, we have to breathe in and internalize it. Divine music waves surround us too, but if our soul’s antenna doesn’t tune out the static and attune its sensitivity to pick up the frequency playing within our universe, we will remain deaf to its beauty.

Elul stands for Ani l’dodi v’dodi li - I am for my Beloved, and my Beloved is mine. Always, but especially in this month, our connection to God - and to our deeper self - is so very accessible. It’s time to enter the field and tune in.