Today is the second day of Creation, when G‑d created the skies:
G‑d said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, and let it be a separation between water and water.” G‑d made the expanse, and it separated between the water below the expanse and the water above the expanse, and it was so. G‑d called the expanse Heaven, and it was evening, and it was morning, a second day. (Genesis 1:6–8)
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The Selichot ("supplication") prayers are recited in the early morning hours, before the morning prayers, in preparation for the "Days of Awe" of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Links: More on Selichot
As the last month of the Jewish year, Elul is traditionally a time of introspection and stocktaking -- a time to review one's deeds and spiritual progress over the past year and prepare for the upcoming "Days of Awe" of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.
As the month of Divine Mercy and Forgiveness (see "Today in Jewish History" for Elul 1) it is a most opportune time for teshuvah ("return" to G-d), prayer, charity, and increased Ahavat Yisrael (love for a fellow Jew) in the quest for self-improvement and coming closer to G-d. Chassidic master Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi likens the month of Elul to a time when "the king is in the field" and, in contrast to when he is in the royal palace, "everyone who so desires is permitted to meet him, and he receives them all with a cheerful countenance and shows a smiling face to them all."
Specific Elul customs include the daily sounding of the shofar (ram's horn) as a call to repentance. The Baal Shem Tov instituted the custom of reciting three additional chapters of Psalms each day, from the 1st of Elul until Yom Kippur (on Yom Kippur the remaining 36 chapters are recited, thereby completing the entire book of Psalms). Click below to view today's Psalms.
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Elul is also the time to have one's tefillin and mezuzot checked by an accredited scribe to ensure that they are in good condition and fit for use.
Links: More on Elul
Know as clear as day and contemplate this deeply, that He who emanates all into being is He who rules and judges this world. In the heavens above and on the earth below, there is nothing else. (Deut. 4:39)
The same G‑d who transcends all time and space is the same G‑d manifest in all the forces and fields of physics.
The same G‑d from whom all existence emerges is the same G‑d who conceals that truth from every conscious being, providing space for each one to be that which it is.
The same G‑d from whom all life extends is the same G‑d who restrains that energy, with kindness, so that finite creatures can exist, to the tiniest worm hiding in the bowels of the earth.
And when you know all this, and you contemplate it well…
…that the very substance of each thing is nothing more than an articulation of divine energy, that even time and space extend from Him at will, as do the very limitations and sense of existence of each creation, that darkness is His presence as much as light, hiddenness as is revelation, matter as is energy, somethingness as is nothingness, for He is both beyond and within each place, moment and thing…
…then you will know that there really is nothing else. Nothing else but the one G‑d.
As the Baal Shem Tov would say in simple, succinct form: Divine energy is all there is, and everything is divine energy.