We have just started the month of Elul, which means we are coming to the end of this year. Needless to say how much pain and suffering all the families who lost their loved ones feel. Words can’t describe what this nation has gone through.
This past Monday I walked with hundreds of people behind Hirsh Goldberg-Polin’s coffin. It was a sight I won’t ever forget. After the eulogies were said, the masses of people started walking down towards the burial spot. It was a hot afternoon and it seemed like time stood still as the long trail of people very quietly made their way down to the burial place. We all so deeply believed that their rescue was a minute away. Everyone was always praying and wishing them well, just two days earlier they were alive. I know we cannot understand how Hashem works, but they were taken from us so abruptly, six beautiful souls.
This past year we all felt like such failures. We prayed so hard and Hersh’s family worked so hard to bring him home alive without success.
Everyone went to Hersh’s freshly dug grave and everyone said, I’m sorry, Hersh. I’m sorry, I didn’t do more to save you and your friends.
The redemption is upon us. We had a year of sorrow, and bloodshed and it’s time for our salvation. It feels almost unfair what we are going through. We waited all year for the hostages to come home, and then they come home and they’re not alive. They came from under the ground in Gaza to under the ground here in Israel.
Elul is the time for contemplation for connection and for repentance. We’re coming to the holiest day of the year. We will stand before the Almighty in judgment. Hashem judges the whole world, not just the Jewish people. Last year it was decreed that the people of Israel and the Jewish people all over the world will suffer a great loss. We are coming to the end of this difficult year, where we lost so many beautiful souls in this horrible war. And on the other hand we have united greatly as individuals and as a nation. Before Hashem can bring us a Third Temple and bring us back home to worship Him in the city of Jerusalem, we must be united and show G-d that we will obey and listen to Him, just as we did when we received the Torah on Mount Sinai so many years ago.
We’re ending the year with bloodshed and pain.
It is known, that the king Hashem comes down, so to speak from His throne and is in the fields during the month of Elul.
Our Master our King is closer to us during this month than in any other month of the year, giving us a chance to approach Him despite the Almighty’s greatness. Through this act of closeness Hashem gives us a chance to repent, to want to come close to the One above. By being in the field Hashem makes Himself accessible to every person no matter what their spiritual level is. This connection to G-d brings upon us forgiveness and mercy. The last month of the year is full of prayer and repentance. This very challenging year, where so many people have died just for the mere fact that they were Jewish, has had a very big impact on the whole Jewish nation. Unfortunately, this past year we were judged harshly, and it is now time for the Almighty to see our pain and our unity and redeem us once and forever.
We have waited so many thousands of years to be redeemed.
This past year was a holocaust, and we await our salvation. After the horrible Holocaust that happened so many years ago to the Jews in Europe, we merited coming back to the land of Israel, to our homeland after thousands of years in exile.
After this past year we are ready to see the full redemption with great mercy. May Hashem’s name, be glorified, and known to all that He is one and His people are one. It is time for us to lift our heads up to Hashem and appoint G-d as the only King. We must change our clothing of mourning and put on our royal clothing. We are the children of the King and it is time to stand tall and shine onto all. To let it be know that the time has come for our salvation.
May we prepare this month with all our strength to repent and come before Hashem on Rosh Hashana pure and clean, and beg G-d to reign over us in the Third Temple with mercy forever. Amen.
