ELÜL. - The sixth month (counting from nīšār) of the Hebrew calendar, of 29 days (Aug.-Sept.). The name derives from the Assyrian ulūlu. The present-day Arabic names in Palestine are: among Christians, ölün, élül; among Muslims, tahr eş-şalib; among the Bedouins, auzval şafar. According to the Mišnāh (Rō'f haš-šāndh, I, 1), “the first of ’è. is the New Year for the collection of the tithe on animals.” The Gaonites recall the Mesopotamian custom of sowing legumes on the 7th and 14th of ’è. in a basket filled with earth; on the eve of New Year (1 tišrī), the basket was thrown into the water as a substitutionary sacrifice (Rašī a Sabbāth, 81 b). On 20 ’è. the deadline expired for the official delivery of firewood to the Temple.
From the 2nd of ’è. until the last day (29), with the exception, however, of the 29th, the eve of New Year, the trumpet (tīphār) is sounded in the synagogue. After the morning and evening prayer, Psalm 27 is recited. During the night following the last Saturday before New Year (at midnight or before dawn), the prayers of forgiveness (sālibāth) are recited. On the eve of New Year there takes place the absolution from vows (hattorath nīdhārīm) which, through forgetfulness, have not been fulfilled. If New Year falls on Thursday and Friday (so that one is obliged to cook food for the Sabbath, a day on which such work is forbidden), the rite of the “mingling of cooked foods” (vērḥbi tabhālīn) is performed on the eve of the feast (29 ’è.).