by Rabbi E. Tauger
Elul
A Month of Stock Taking and Preparation
Every storekeeper takes inventory from time to time. To see how his business is progressing, he reviews his accounts, sees what he has purchased and what he has sold, and in this way, gets a handle on where he will be going in the future.
Our Divine service must also be a live, ongoing concern with ups and, unfortunately, sometimes with downs, and we should make similar reckonings. Are we growing in our connection with G-d and our relationships with our fellow men or have we become more brittle and insensitive? Where should we be focusing our attention? And which areas are quagmires holding us back from advancing.A storekeeper generally does not do his accounts alone; he hires a bookkeeper or an accountant. Why? Because he wants an objective opinion, a picture drawn by someone who does not have a vested interest. Now if this is true with regard to a simple, cut and dry matter like buying and selling, it certainly applies with regard to delicate matters like our personal growth and spiritual sensitivity. Simply put, a person shouldn't try to make his reckoning on his own. Instead, he or she should consult his wife or her husband, and/or some genuinely good friends. Ask them honestly: Have I become more refined and sensitive over the past year? Do you see me growing? Does being in my company give you a deeper and more fulfilling life experience?
Helping Hints
In the secular world, to grab a person's attention, Madison Ave has taught us how to use slogans and catch phrase so that ideas stay in our conscious foreground. Thousands of years previously, our Sages coined acronyms for concepts that they felt were important to attract our notice. In that vein, they explained that Elul is an acronym for a number of four-word phrases from the Tanach.
#1 Elul refers to the cities of refuge established for the unintentional manslaughterer, alludes to Torah study, because "the words of Torah are a refuge.
#2 Elul is an acronym of "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine". This points to prayer, for in prayer our love relationship with G-d finds expression.
And #3 "[Sending portions] each man to his friend and gifts to the poor") suggests deeds of kindness. For Elul should be marked by heightened attention to these three fundamental elements of our Divine service, the "pillars upon which the world stands."
Meeting the Overdraft
Not surprisingly, when taking stock of our efforts throughout the year, we may discover shortcomings, things that have to be corrected. For this reason, Elul is also associated with the thrust of teshuvah, turning to G-d with "regret for the past and positive resolves for the future."
Our Rabbis also highlight the connection between Elul and these endeavors by citing a fourth Biblical phrase, ··"[The L-rd, your G-d, will circumcise] your heart and the hearts of your descendants", whose letters also serve as acronym for the name Elul. Teshuvah is not merely intended to compensate for deficiencies in our Divine service. It is also, in itself, a positive spiritual impulse that enhances our relationship with G-d.
Although popularly, teshuvah is translated as repentance, its real meaning is return. A person feels distant from G-d - whether or not he has sinned - and desires to return and enhance his connection with Him. This desire for closeness which teshuvah inspires animates every element of our Divine service, filling it with vigor and energy.
Looking to the Horizon
Our Rabbis also relate that there is a fifth phrase, "[Then Moshe and the Children of Israel sang this song] to G-d and they spoke, saying, 'I shall sing....' " which serves as an acronym for the name Elul. (In this phrase, the letters Elul are found in reverse order.) This phrase uses the future tense, for it refers to the Era of the Redemption and the Resurrection of the Dead when mankind will sing a true song of rejoicing to G-d.
This is a pleasant prophecy of the future, but how is it relevant to us today? All the other four acronyms for Elul point to practical things we must do or to an impulse we should feel. How can knowing the fifth acronym for Elul contribute to our relationship with G-d and our relationship with our fellow man?
The fifth acronym is important, because it opens us up to a new approach to Divine service. The approaches alluded to by the first four acronyms all look at man as one thing, G-d as another, and emphasize the need to establish a connection.
From the standpoint of redemption, there is no need to work for connection; it is an ongoing reality. Man is an actual part of G-d; the world is G-d's dwelling and our lives, a continuous effort to heighten and express His oneness.
Although these truths will be revealed more overtly in the future, they represent our true state of being at present. When Mashiach comes, the natural order of the world will not necessarily change. What will change will be ourselves, and the way we look at the world. Instead, of getting stuck with our sometimes petty material concerns, like we do at present, we will open our eyes and appreciate the innate G-dliness that sometimes pervades our inner being and the world at large.
Elul gives us a chance to experience a foretaste of this state. When we take time off to really think of who we are and what we should be doing with our lives, we should take the time to appreciate the wide-ranged picture. Certainly, we have to look at the details as the other acronyms remind us. But never should we be so involved in the details that we are unable to appreciate the fundamental nature of our relationship with G-d. And as we contemplate the true picture, we can appreciate how the concept of redemption is not a dream of a distant future, but a reality that is progressively unfolding before our eyes. Nor should we remain idle observers, but instead spread this awareness to others and in this manner hasten the time when its truth will be openly apparent to all.
Telling Tales
Each day of the month of Elul, we sound the shofar. The Baal Shem Tov once described the significance of the shofar's call with the following parable.
A king once decided to test the virtues of his son: Would he be able to show wisdom and character outside the sheltered environment of the palace? He gave his son ample resources of money and several advisors to accompany him and sent him to the far ends of his kingdom with instructions not to reveal his identity.
He could do anything he wanted, but he could not tell anyone he was the king's son. The prince was more than slightly immature. From the outset, he ignored his advisers and squandered his money, seeking pleasure and diversion. Soon his financial resources were dwindling and the advisors had all left him. He began to seek work, but he did not know a profession. Moreover, he was lazy and unused to discipline. He tried one job and a next, but without success. Wherever he was employed, he was fired within a few days. Ultimately, he was reduced to begging for his livelihood. He began to wander from town to town without any sense of direction or purpose. Here he would receive a meal; there he would do an odd job. And then it hit him. This was not who he really was! He was the king's son. Yes, he had been childish and foolish, but his father loved him. He would surely forgive him and grant him another chance.
And so, he began to make his way back to his father's capital. After a journey of many long months, he found himself at the palace door. He tried to explain to the guards that he was the king's son, but they beat him for his impudence. How could such a vagabond profess to be the king's son? What an insult to their monarch! With no alternative, he began to cry.
Long, loud wails that gave expression to all the pain he had experienced over the years of separation. The guards hurried to send him away. Certainly, such moaning would disturb the king and his courtiers. In the palace, however, the king heard. And recognized his son's voice. He turned away from all the pressing affairs of state and hurried out of the palace gates. He saw his son, being carried away by the guards, where the King ordered them to stop and release the man they were holding. Much to their amazement, the King embraced him and ushered him inside the palace. The king is G-d; the son, the Jewish people, and the shofar's blasts represent the loud crying which reawakens the son's connection with his father.
Torah readings of the month
Parshas Shoftim
This week's Torah reading begins with the commandment to appoint judges in all communities. This points to one of the fundamental thrusts of Judaism: that a person be continually prepared to subject himself and his conduct to the review of an outside, objective authority. That authority, however, is not merely another person wiser and/or more experienced than oneself, but rather a repository of Torah knowledge. These decisions reflect the Torah's wisdom, and not his own. In that vein, our Sages refer to a Torah scholar as "a walking Torah scroll." For the guidance which he gives is an extension of the rulings of the Torah and not merely what he thinks is right at the moment. More particularly, the Torah commands us to place these judges "at your gates," which can be interpreted as a simile for our sensory orifices, the organs that serve as the "gates" for our conscious experience. What we see, hear, and feel should be subject to the scrutiny of the Torah's wisdom.
Parshas Ki Seitzei
If you open any translation of this week's Torah reading, it will begin: "When you go out to war against your enemy." But if you look into the original Hebrew, you will see that this is only an approximate rendition. Al, the Hebrew word translated as "against," really means "over" or "above." With this choice of wording, the Torah teaches us a fundamental lesson about warfare. To be victorious in war, you've got to be "above your enemy." As long as two foes slug it out on the same level, there will be no true victor; even the one who wins will suffer severe losses. The only way to achieve a victory is to be truly superior. When the Torah speaks about wars, it is speaking on two planes simultaneously. In the past - and in the present - there are times when our nation has taken to arms, and has applied the Torah's guidelines concerning war in an actual sense. On the other hand, for most of our people throughout the course of Jewish history, the wars of primary concern have been "wars of the spirit." The enemy has not been external, but part and parcel of our own being, for there is a battle within ourselves. We have both material and spiritual desires and there is a dynamic tension between them as each seeks to control our consciousness. In this vein, we can appreciate the importance of being "above your enemy." We have within ourselves a truly superior spiritual potential; our soul is "an actual part of G-d." When we bring this spiritual core into expression, we are head and shoulders above our materially oriented obstacles.
Parshas Ki Savo
This week's Torah reading begins with the mitzvah of Bikkurim, the first fruits which are brought as an offering to Jerusalem. Living far away from agricultural communities, it is hard for us to appreciate the sacrifice involved in this mitzvah. Think for a moment. For an entire winter and spring, a farmer has been tending to his fields and orchards and preparing his crops. Finally, in the early summer, his produce begins to ripen. May he partake of it himself? May he sell it for a profit? No. The first fruits must be set aside and taken to be offered in the Temple. Why does the Torah ask this of a person? Why doesn't it allow him a little satisfaction before making demands of him? With this mitzvah, the Torah is teaching us hakaras hatov, the appreciation of the good G-d bestows upon us. The produce did not grow by itself. Were it not for G-d's blessings, neither the farmer nor his land, and certainly not his produce, would exist. In appreciation for G-d's kindness, the farmer does more than simply offer a verbal expression of thanks. He makes a special journey to Jerusalem to show his gratitude.
Parshas Nitzavim-Vayeilech
This week's Torah reading begins: "You are all standing together this day before G-d...: the leaders of your tribes, your elders, your officers, all the men of Israel, your children, and your wives... to pass into G-d's covenant." What is the intent of a covenant? When two people feel a powerful attraction to each other, but realize that with the passage of time, that attraction could wane, they establish a covenant. The covenant maintains their connection even at times when, on a conscious level, there might be reasons for distance and separation. This portion of the Torah is read every year on the Shabbos before Rosh HaShanah, On Rosh HaShanah, we "are all standing... before G-d." The essential G-dly core which every person possesses rises to the forefront of his consciousness, and the fundamental bond between G-d and mankind surfaces. On this basis a covenant is renewed for the entire year to come, including the inevitable occasions when these feelings of oneness will not be experienced as powerfully.
Parshas VaYeilech
contains the final positive commandment in the Torah, the mitzvah to write a Torah scroll. Every individual is obligated to write or participate in the writing of a Torah scroll. The mitzvah of writing a Torah scroll was given to the Jewish peo-ple - and fulfilled by Moshe Rabbeinu - directly before our people's entry into Eretz Yisrael. Our Rabbis have taught us that the fulfillment of this mitzvah is one of the preparatory steps leading to the con-clusion of the exile and to the advent of the era when we will again enter Eretz Yisrael, led by Mashiach, and fulfill all the mitzvos in the most complete manner. May this take place in the immediate future.