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
The sages describe the Torah as the wisdom by which the world was made. But that does not capture its essence. It is far beyond that. Torah is the wisdom by which the world is healed.
To heal a world, you must stand entirely beyond it. You must enter into the very essence of its Creator and sense what He wanted from this world to begin with. In the story of creation, you will find whispers of an unfathomable Author. In its healing, you will discover the Author Himself.
That is why Torah was initially given to survivors, to people who had suffered lives marked by trauma, yanked out of the darkest pits of human existence at the last possible moment. To people who had to be told not to steal, not to murder, not to covet that which belongs to someone else.
Because it is when Torah reaches you at your lowest point and pulls you out of there that you see its very essence and deepest power.
And it is when you have been to the rock bottom of human experience and back that you have the power to grasp the Torah at its essential core. To sense the Author within the command.