Today is the fourth day of Creation, when G‑d created the sun, moon, and stars:
G‑d said, “Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to separate between the day and night….” and it was so. G‑d made the two large luminaries: the large luminary to rule by day and the small luminary to rule at night, and the stars…. G‑d saw that it was good. It was evening, and it was morning, a fourth day. (Genesis 1:14–19)
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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 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
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
It is not so much that we need to be taken out of exile.
It is that we must take the exile out of ourselves.
What is exile? It is the belief that there is some place outside of G-d.
And that in that place, there are forces stronger than G-d.
And those forces will not allow you to do what your soul came here to do.
Fear no thing, no force, no being other than G-d. Do that which you must do as though nothing stands in your way.
Then you will have taken yourself out of exile. And G-d will complete the job.