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
At the outset of Creation, He removed all light. And that is the source of all that ever goes wrong.
Why did He remove the light? Why did He choose that things could go wrong?
Sometimes we say He wanted darkness as a black velvet setting, an empty space in which to shine a new light and make a world of light. The darkness, we say, is there for the sake of light, as pain exists for the sake of healing.
But this could not be the entire answer.
Why? Because darkness for the purpose of light is not complete darkness. In our world, we find evil that defies explanation, shirks all answers, offers no place for light to shine.
The entire answer must be that in Light alone, G‑d cannot be found. For He is beyond dark and light, presence and absence, being and not being.
And so, just as darkness exists for the sake of light, so light exists for the sake of darkness—to reveal its true purpose, to allow knowledge of a wholly transcendent G‑d to enter His world.
What we accomplish when we withstand the challenge of darkness. When we choose light.