This idea helps us understand more clearly the spiritual service of the month of Elul. The Hebrew word Elul - אלול - is an acronym for the verse from the Song of Songs (6:3) ‘I am to my Beloved, and my Beloved is to me’ אני לדודי ודודי לי.
This verse suggests that we, the Jewish people (or the Jewish individual) makes the first step towards the Divine, expressed in the words ‘I am to my Beloved’, and then the Divine responds, as in the second part of the verse: ‘and my Beloved is to me’.
This sounds very simple. But a question is asked about this process. Chassidic teaching explains that when we make a step towards G-d (as we do in the opening words of this verse - I am to my Beloved) we first need to have a spiritual input from above to get us into the mood. The verse does not mention this. It seems as if we start off from ‘cold’ and are able to launch ourselves towards G-d.
But the teaching from our Sedra solves the problem. The blessing which it describes, coming from the exalted level of Anochi, starts the process. And then we are able to make our step toward G-d - ‘I am to my Beloved’, and G-d responds: ‘my Beloved is to me.’.
In fact, as a result of this exalted input from the very beginning, we are able to reach an especially exalted level of response. Some kinds of input from the Divine come about as a direct effect of our spiritual service: our ‘arousal from below’ triggers the complementary ‘arousal from above’. But a higher level of Divine input is from a level which cannot be reached by our human efforts. All we can do is prepare ourselves, so as to be able to receive the exalted Divine input. This takes place through the blessing from Anochi described in the Sedra, followed by our efforts of ‘I am to my Beloved’ and the initial Divine response, ‘my Beloved is to me’.
This is then followed by a much more exalted Divine revelation and blessing, granting us and the entire Jewish people every aspect of goodness for the new year ahead.
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