The Yeshivah "Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch", the first to integrate the "revealed" part of Torah (Talmud and Halachah) with the esoteric teachings of Chassidism in a formal study program, was on this date founded by the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn.
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 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
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
Is this a curse or a blessing?
G‑d will have you return to Egypt in galleys, by a route which I told you you should not see again. There you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy. (Deuteronomy 28:68.)
There are no curses in Torah, there are only blessings and hidden blessings. And the greatest of blessings are the hidden blessings.
There are no futile routes in this world, just shorter routes and longer routes. And the longer routes lead to the highest places.
There are no irreversible mistakes in life, none at all.
Even if you will "return to Egypt in galleys"-- even if you will reverse all the good G‑d has done for you and attempt to sell yourself to the slavery of this world, what will become of you?
Eventually you will discover you do not belong there. As the Torah predicted, “no one will buy.”
They may give you money, they may give you every honor and pleasure of this world. But there is no person or thing in this world that can purchase your soul.
It already belongs to the One Above.
And so, eventually you will take all that you have gained from that distant place and return.
Because that is the meaning of all wrong turns in this world. They are nothing more than the One Above providing you a route to acquire these experiences of His world and know Him better when you return.
That is the meaning of life. It all begins and ends with “G‑d will cause you to return.”