We have little time, so let us take a single idea, bound to the days we are in. The month of Elul is hinted at in several verses of Tanach whose initials spell its name.

The best known, the one that leads all the others:

But there are others. For instance: "one to another, and gifts to the poor" — the initials again spell Elul. Yet this verse comes from the Megilla of Esther. You will say: we have found an acronym by chance, but what has it to do with Elul? Perhaps Purim and Kippur… granted, for Kippur; but Elul?

And a third, which we read precisely in this week's parasha:

Let us go to the content. What does "and the Lord will circumcise your heart" speak of? Of teshuva.

Once that husk is removed, the heart is open enough to receive the Lord and to do teshuva. This verse, then, stands opposite teshuva.

And the verse from the Megilla, what does it speak of? Of the mitzva of the day: sending portions one to another, which creates affection and closeness — and gifts to the poor.

There remains the first verse: ani ledodi vedodi li. Who is dodi? The Holy One, blessed be He. But what does the word mean?

And the proof is in the word itself. Why is a friend called yadid? Because when you meet him you give him your hand.

So what does ani ledodi vedodi li mean? That I pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, and that He answers my prayer. The initials of this verse therefore stand opposite prayer.

These verses do not bear Elul's initials by accident. They bear its content as well: the solution, the formula for coming out of judgment acquitted.

This is exactly what we say in the awesome piyut of Rosh Hashana. We read it on the first day, in the repetition of Musaf, according to the Moroccan custom — and we say it on Yom Kippur too.

Why the first day? Because the two days of Rosh Hashana are not alike: the first is the severe judgment, the second the softened judgment.

And the psalm we add through Elul and up to Sukkot confirms it. "The Lord is my light and my salvation": my light is Rosh Hashana; my salvation is Kippur; and "for He will hide me in His sukkah" is Sukkot. That is why we say this psalm precisely in these days.

We say "LeDavid, the Lord is my light" before the evening service, and again in the morning at shacharit. The sefarim note that one who merits saying it twice a day is preserved from all evil.

By setting those 676 against the evils that might occur, a man is preserved from them. It is also the secret of the twenty-six times we say "and the Lord passed before him" on Yom Kippur: twenty-six times the Thirteen Attributes of mercy, to defuse all the evil. May we come out of the judgment acquitted, speedily in our days.