Having begun the month of Elul, whose arrival heralds the coming of the Yomim Noraim and the solemnity and seriousness which identify those days, our attention starts to focus upon Teshuvah. We thus begin to take personal inventory, reflecting on the year that is now drawing to a close and making personal commitments for the coming new year. Teshuvah must of course be rooted in the heart - in feelings, in emotions and in sensitivities which inspire us to regret and feel genuinely sorry about things we have done and to make a commitment to change for the better.

At the same time, however, Teshuvah must be rooted in another part of the body, the head. It is man's superior brain that distinguishes him from the rest of the animal kingdom. It is his head, the center of his thoughts and activity, that allows him to achieve greatness in his world. He must therefore do Teshuvah that is rooted in his head as well. There must be an intellectual decision made which reflects pragmatism and logic. One must carefully consider what achievements are possible and what goals are realistic. One cannot do correct Teshuvah merely by reacting to an emotional feeling and thereby committing himself, without thought or realism, to all kinds of promises and decisions.

Rav Aryeh Kaplan zt"l once noted that the Shofar grows from the ram's head. By taking the Shofar, man indicates his desire to utilize his own head in his fight to do Teshuvah. We hear the Shofar in Shul already in the month of Elul as a kind of first warning signal. May we all indeed be motivated to do Teshuvah from the head and arrive at the right philosophical and pragmatic conclusions so that we will all be blessed with a Kisiva V'Chasima Tovah!