The incredible opportunities of the days of Elul for returning to Hashem and acceptance of our repentance and prayers can be seen from an awesome statement of the Ben Ish Chai in one of his letters. He writes that one minute of Elul is potentially equal to a complete month during the rest of the year. The Chayei Adam famously calls this season the yamei harachamim v’haratzon. Literally, this translates to “days when Hashem has special mercy and desire for us.” While this is certainly true, the word rachamim also means love, as in the Talmudic dictum, “Mahn d’racheim Rabbonon – One who loves Rabbis.” Thus, we should certainly avail ourselves of the chances that a person has to score big-time with Hashem at this time of the year.
We believe that each year we use the same fabric of time that they used thousands of years ago at this time. This is why we make a blessing, “She’asa nisim lavoseinu bayomim haheim bazman hazeh – That Hashem made miracles (for example Chanukah) for our ancestors in those days with this time.” Different fabrics of time have different effects embedded in them. For example, in Adar there is the potential of joy and good mazal. In Av, there is the latent effect of mourning and danger. So too, since Moshe Rabbeinu went up to heaven at the beginning of Elul to plead with Hashem to forgive Klal Yisrael for the sin of the golden calf, and came down on Yom Kippur forty days later having succeeded in his mission with the declaration “Vayomer Hashem, ‘Salachti k’dvarecha’ – And Hashem said, ‘I forgive you like your words,’” these forty days in the fabric of time have become embedded with the great power for finding forgiveness from Hashem. This is why the famous explanation of the acronym of the word Elul, “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li – I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me,” each of the four words end with the letter yud, which equals forty. This points to the golden opportunity that is available to us during these forty days.
In Siman 581, the Tur teaches that during Elul, “Kol hamosef l’vakeish zchus hu lo – Whoever makes additional requests to Hashem at this time is considered meritorious.” This seems a bit puzzling. We can understand if the Tur would say that ‘petitions’ at this time are effective. That would be understandable for, as we said, it is a time of rachamim and ratzon. But why, when we are asking for ourselves, is it deemed meritorious? Isn’t it simply a self-serving act?
To understand this, let me ask another question. At the beginning of our Shemoneh Esrei, we preface our prayers with a request. “Hashem, sefasai tiftach u’fi yagid t’hilasecha – Hashem, open my lips and my mouth will relate Your praise.” Then, we go on to literally barrage Hashem with a dozen requests. Forgive me, cure me, bless me with sustenance, grant me peace, listen to my prayers! What happened? We asked for the strength to praise Hashem and then we turned it into a potpourri of requests. The Alei Shur answers that the biggest praise to Hashem is when we realize that we need Him for our health, peace, sustenance and everything else.
In a similar vein, when we take the opportunity in Elul to ask Hashem for forgiveness and for a better year, we are expressing that we realize that everything is up to Hashem. This is a merit for us and is the perfect preparation for Rosh Hashana, when we coronate Hashem as our King, acknowledging our belief that everything is up to Him.
Rav Moshe Shternbuch, zt”l, zy”a, urges us to get moving with our Elul pursuits as early and as quickly as possible. He compares it to a wedding. If you go early, the baalei simcha, the celebrants are more likely to notice you and to interact with you personally. When you come later, you’re just one in the crowd. So too, when we start relating with Hashem, our Beloved, early in the month, He will take more special notice of us.
Reb Chaim, the son of the Ohr Zerua, who was himself a Rishon, says that the middle letters of the words Ani l’dodi, nun, daled, vav, daled, spell n’dod, to move. When we take the advantage of connecting personally to our Beloved, Hashem, it causes Hashem to move from the kisei hadin to the kisei harachamim, from the throne of judgment to the throne of mercy.
Reb Elimelech Biderman, shlita, tells a story about the early years of Rav Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss, the gavad of the Eidei Chareidis of Yerushalaiyim. In his youth, he lived in the small town of Pessing, in Slovakia. It was the beginning of World War II and his town was unsure of the looming dangers around them. Travel was dangerous so they sent the young but very mature Yitzchak to travel under the radar to the capital in Pressburg to find out more about the dangers that confronted them. In Pressburg, young Yitzchak heard about the true horrors of the time. The Rabbanim of Pressburg were so impressed by the young Yitzchak that they offered him a coveted berth in the lifesaving Kindertransport to England. He took it and was thus, baruch Hashem, saved.
Shortly after the children arrived in England, the king made a parade for them which he himself attended. As the king rode his chariot amongst the children, Rav Weiss related that a young boy next to him broke out from the group and threw himself in front of the king’s chariot and started yelling, “Your majesty, your majesty!” When the guards tried to remove the boy, the king motioned for them to stop and allow him to come over. The boy then bravely spoke to the king with great emotion. “Your highness! Thank you for saving my life. I will be forever indebted to you. But, how can I be truly happy knowing that my father and mother are still there facing the gas chambers. Please save them also.” The king was moved by the plaintive plea and, two weeks later, through diplomatic channels, the child’s parents were brought to safety.
Rav Weiss reflected upon what had happened. He commented that, “Any one of us could have done what this child did. But he had the smarts to seize the opportunity and ask the king, and he alone saved his parents.” We, too, need to have the smarts to ask our King during this very propitious time. So, let’s seize this golden opportunity of Elul and, in that merit, may we all be blessed with a kasiva v’chasima tova u’masuka.
Transcribed and edited by Shelley Zeitlin.
