It is for this reason that we request from Hashem, “Bring us back with complete Teshuva before you,” and, like it says in Eicha, (5:21) “Return us to You, and we will return.”
Meaning that You, Hashem, should pour on us a “spiritual awakening” from Above, causing His abundant mercies to flow down to us from the source of all mercies, from His 13 Attributes of Mercy, which are specified in the verse from Micha (7:18-20), “Who is like you, G-d, Who pardons iniquity, etc.,” since this is what will give us the ability to do Teshuva.
And this is the idea of the revelation of the 13 Attributes of Mercy in the month of Elul: It is a preparation that enables us to do Teshuva, to actualize the truth of “אֲנ י לְדוֹד י-I am connecting to Hashem whom I love.”
And even though throughout the whole year we mention in the Tachanun prayer the 13 Attributes of Mercy as they are specified in the verses from Ki Sisa, “Hashem Hashem, G-d who is merciful, etc.,” then what is special about the 13 Attributes of Mercy in the month of Elul, in contrast to what is revealed the entire year?
The answer is that these Attributes of Mercy learned out from the verses in Ki Sisa are only Hashem's mercies for our physical life. However, the 13 Attributes of Mercy that we learn out from the verses in Micha, that shine in the month of Elul, are Hashem’s mercies for the life of the G-dly soul, which awaken the souls and empower them to do Teshuva.
And this is the meaning of what is written in Shir Hashirim (6:3) regarding the month of Elul, that “He nourishes me with roses:” Meaning that He nourishes the Jewish People with the power to do Teshuva. He nourishes and sustains us with “roses,” which have 13 petals, corresponding to the 13 Attributes of Mercy that empower us to do Teshuva.
The 13 Attributes of Mercy are listed in two places: in the Chumash, Parshas Ki Sisa, and in the Tanach, in the book of Micha. In Parshas Ki Sisa Moshe Rabeinu needed to ask for Hashem’s mercies on the Jewish people to not destroy them physically after the sin of the golden calf. Hashem’s response to him was to teach him the 13 Attributes of Mercy mentioned in the Parsha there (see part 1 of the translation of this maamar for a complete listing of the 13 Attributes of Mercy mentioned in Ki Sisa). Those Attributes of Mercy were intended to protect the Jewish People from physical destruction, and when we mention them every day of the year, it awakens Hashem's mercy to grant us physical protection and physical life. However, the 13 Attributes of Mercy mentioned in Micha are specifically about our ability to do Teshuva, not about protection from what happens when we don't do Teshuva, but about the very fact that we can really do Teshuva. That's why they end off by saying, "You give truth to Yaakov and kindness to Avraham, as You swore to our father from days long ago." This means that Hashem gives us the power to do Teshuva in truth, not just Teshuva from sins but the true meaning of Teshuva, to return to our source in Hashem. This "promise to our fathers from days long ago" is that we have an essential connection to Hashem that we inherit from our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Through Teshuva, we return to reveal that essential connection to the innermost Essence of Hashem.
