The reciprocal awakening of Elul teshuvah

כתיב אני לדודי ודודי לי.

It is written: "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine."

This pasuk (Shir HaShirim 6:3) opens with the person's own movement toward Hashem — first "I am my Beloved's," our reaching upward, and only then "my Beloved is mine," Hashem's response.

ופ"א כתיב דודי לי ואני לו.

And in another place it is written: "My Beloved is mine, and I am His."

Elsewhere (Shir HaShirim 2:16) the order is reversed: first Hashem's awakening toward us, and then our response back to Him.

והכל ענין א'.

And it is all one matter.

The two orderings are not a contradiction; they describe one bond seen from two directions.

להראות כי בנ"י הם הדבקים בה'.

To show that Bnei Yisrael are those who cleave to Hashem.

The essence of Bnei Yisrael is this dveikus (cleaving) — an unbreakable attachment to Hashem.

וכשמכינים לבם להתדבק למעלה נעשה עת רצון למעלה.

And when they prepare their hearts to cleave Above, an eis ratzon (a time of favor) is made Above.

When a person readies his heart to attach himself to Hashem, that very readiness awakens a moment of Divine favor on High.

וכמו כן כשיש עת רצון למעלה מרגישין נפשות בנ"י למטה.

And likewise, when there is an eis ratzon Above, the souls of Bnei Yisrael feel it below.

The flow runs both ways: an awakening Above is sensed and stirred within Jewish souls here below.

ובוודאי זה מתקיים תמיד בכלל בנ"י.

And certainly this is fulfilled always within the klal (collective) of Bnei Yisrael.

This mutual bond is never absent; it endures permanently within the Jewish people as a whole.

ועתה בחודש אלול ע"י תשובת בנ"י נעשה למעלה ימי רצון.

And now, in the month of Elul, through the teshuvah of Bnei Yisrael, days of favor are made Above.

In Elul our teshuvah is the human awakening that draws down, from On High, the special "days of favor" leading to the Yamim Noraim.

כמ"ש מה הראשונים ברצון כך האחרונים.

As Chazal said: "Just as the first [forty days] were with favor, so too the last."

Moshe Rabbeinu's first forty days on Sinai and his final forty days were both days of ratzon, and our Elul mirrors them.

ומ' ימים הראשונים הי' רצונו ית' מעורר רצון בנפשות בנ"י.

And in the first forty days, His will, may He be blessed, was awakening the will within the souls of Bnei Yisrael.

In the first set of forty days the initiative came from Above — Hashem's ratzon arousing the desire within us.

והוא דודי לי ואני לו.

And this is "My Beloved is mine, and I am His."

That is the order where Hashem's awakening comes first and our response follows — corresponding to those first forty days.

ובמ' ימים האחרונים בכח תשובת בנ"י מאהבה נעשה למעלה ימי רצון:

And in the last forty days, through the power of the teshuvah of Bnei Yisrael out of love, days of favor are made Above.

The final forty days (from Rosh Chodesh Elul through Yom Kippur) reverse the order — now our teshuvah me'ahavah (teshuvah out of love) is what generates the days of favor Above, corresponding to "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine."

Summary: The two orderings of the bond between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael — sometimes He awakens us, sometimes we awaken Him — are one truth. In Elul it is specifically our own teshuvah out of love that rises and creates the days of favor Above, making us the initiators of the relationship.