We confess ten times on Yom Kippur for our sins, and we seem to say the Thirteen Attributes of God's mercy over and over again. Is all this repetition really necessary?
The lion roared. It roared last Elul, it roared last Rosh Hashana, it roared on Yom Kippur and it roared on Hoshana Rabba, October 6th – but we didn’t hear it.
Right now, faced with the prospect of having to turn my life and my emotions upside down, I go into a panic that results in total spiritual paralysis. Fear of Elul.