When Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World in 1492, many people thought he would fall off the edge of the earth and vanish into oblivion. The cosmography of the fifteenth century held that the world was a flat disc. Nowadays, this idea seems childish. however, in one respect, they were right: the physical world has an end.

New Year's Eve must be the loneliest night of the year.People jumping up and down imbibing vast amounts of alcohol in a frenzy of unspontaneous merriment. Painted faces contorted in expressions of forced hysterical laughter. At twelve o'clock everyone joining hands and slurring their way through a Highland ballad with obscure lyrics. And then, the morning after... New Year's was always a bit of a mystery to me.

The month of Elul is the time of return. A time where we try to sensitize ourselves to our mistakes and work on rectifying them. Elul is a time of preparation. Preparing for the day on which the whole world is to be judged - Rosh Hashana.