Sabbath Keepers Fellowship and Prison Ministries
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael

Reishyth Tzom B’elul is the beginning of the fast of the sixth Hebrew month, a forty-day fast of repentance during the days leading up to Yom Hakippurym.
On the eve of the first of the sixth Hebrew month, the shofar is blown as a clarion call to repentance. It is blown again on each of the forty days to “awaken the slumberers” from their apathy and warn them of the impending arrival of their King.
The prayers of Selichoth are also begun on this day.