It is now Rosh Hodesh Elul . There are many hints to Elul found in the different commentaries. One of them that connects to Anavah and Bitachon as follows: We say, every, single day, in Mizmor L’Todah (Tehilim perek 100) Hu Asanu /He made us, V’ Lo* Anachnu The Hebrew word Lo can be spelled two ways. If spelled Lamed Aleph, it’s לא /Not, and if spelled with a Vav it’s לו and it means to him, There are a lot of words in the Torah that can be written one way but read another way, and this is one of those cases, so it’s as if it says both things: 1- Hu Asano V’ Lo Anachnu/ He made us and we didn't make ourselves, 2- Hu Asano V’Lo Anachnu/He made us and we belong to Him Both are correct, and if we take the two versions, לא and לו and scramble the letters, it spells אלול / Elul , because Elul is all about this concept; realizing Lo Anachnu, and therefore Lo Anachnu . First we have to say to ourselves, Hu Asanu/ He made us , and Lo Anachnu we didn’t make ourselves. Everyone has a little Paroah inside, that’s the Yetzer Hara. Paroah said ‘ Li Hayaor/The Nile belongs to me.. And I made myself, I made the Nile. I'm the source of myself,’ as we say, a self-made man. So, the first step is to say, Hu Asanu/ He made us V’ Lo Anachnu/And we didn't make ourselves. Once you get to that step and annul yourself to God, and say, “ I don’t do anything,” then comes the other V’ Lo Anachnu/We belong to Him . When you realize that you didn't make yourself, then you belong to God. That's extremely important, because when we belong to God, we're connected to Him. We're protected by Him. But when we don't belong to God, we are, so to say, left to the other forces of nature. So step number one is V’Lo Anachnu We have to understand that we didn't make ourselves, and therefore we belong to Him. Another hint to אלול Elul is the famous א ני ל דודי ו דודי ל י / I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me. How do we become to Him? Only when we realize Hu Asanu V’Lo Anachnu . When we realize that we didn't make ourselves, then we belong to Him. Ani L’ Dodi, I'm to my beloved. I'm focused on Him. I realize how much He does for me. And then God reciprocates V’Dodi Li/and My beloved is to me. These are important words. We have to understand that we are preparing for the high holidays where God is the King. Yes, He’s our father, but He's also the king, and we have to act like we're in the King's presence. Even though we are His children, there are still rules and regulations. We have a system that we can't bypass. Yes, our Father will cover for us, so to say, but we still have to deal with Him as a King. That being said, God doesn't want us to forget that He is our Father and He loves us. Therefore, the entire month of Elul focuses on Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, which is a love between God and the Jewish people. That's the focus of this month- to realize how much God does for us, how much He has done for us, how much He will do for us, and that we are connected to Him. We love Him and He loves us. Those are the thoughts to have during the month Elul, and again, Anava and Bitachon are exactly what we're focusing on. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom