It’s the advent of Elul (which means “searching” in Aramaic; it’s an acronym in Hebrew for “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine”), the last month of the year (in my calendar), which begins the two month period of accounting and preparation. [Ed: This was written a few weeks ago.] It’s the end of our spiritual new year. This means it’s time to reflect on the year, what I plan to do next year, and to make amends should I have offended some… Which means we need to consider whether or not this was all fore-ordained; in other words, is there free will or not?