The month of Elul is now upon us. It is said that in Europe the yeshiva students would tremble when Elul approached. And I don’t think it was because summer vacation was ending. Elul is a serious time. It is incumbent on every responsible Jew to try to grow during the month of Elul in order to properly approach the Days of Awe that follow it. But what is the growth of Elul? In which particular way are we supposed to improve during this month? Come; let’s figure it out.
There is only one calendric observance associated with Elul and that is the daily shofar blowing. The Rambam explains the purpose of the shofar – “Wake up you slumberers from your sleep!” – in other words, the purpose of the shofar is to wake us up. But what does the Rambam mean? Who’s sleeping? It would make sense if you say that the shofar is meant to inspire us to repent from our misdeeds. But why is the state we are in called “sleeping”?
Let’s ask another question. The Sefer Yetzirah says that the avodah of Elul is to “rectify our deeds through wisdom (ltaken hamaaseh al ydei chochmah).” What does this mean? How can we accomplish this suggestion?
In order to answer these questions, let’s take a detour. Each month is associated with a particular tribe. The month of Elul is matched up with Gad. What makes Gad unique? In the sidra of V’zos Ha’bracha we find a fascinating description of the qualities of this tribe. “Of Gad he said: Blessed is He who broadens Gad; he dwells like a lion, tearing off [the] arm and even [the] head.”(Deuteronomy 33; 20) In this verse, Moshe is describing the great military prowess of the members of the tribe of Gad. According to the basic understanding, he is comparing them to a lion and stating that when they would strike in battle, they would strike with such ferocity that not only would the enemy’s arm be cut off, but his head would also be shorn off in the same blow!
Now one could ask a fair question. Who cares? If Moshe wants to describe the great qualities of Gad, let him just say that they are fierce warriors. Why would the Torah (which is notoriously stingy with its words) need to inform us of this particular gruesome detail? Is it not superfluous? The Shivtei Yisrael answers this question in the following manner. The Torah is not only describing the details of the battles in which Gad fought. The Torah is also alluding to another great quality of this tribe. What does the arm represent? The arm signifies action. And what does the head represent? Thought. The single greatest issue which causes people to make the most mistakes in their lives is that there is a disconnect between their brains and their deeds. Moshe was praising Gad by saying that they were masters of the art of keeping the two connected. If they would think of what should be done, they would follow through and go all the way. And if they did something, it was because they thought it through beforehand.
Now let’s turn back to Elul. The great Rav Yisrael Salanter explains the “sleeping” that the Ramabam referred to in the following way. Man is a creature of habit. He does what he does because he is accustomed to doing so. This is a great problem which the baalei mussar refer to as “mitzvas anashim milumadah” – “Man acts by rote.” When a person is asleep, their brain is shut off. Their body may be functioning, but it is without any cognitive participation on their part. Unfortunately, people go through the waking part of their lives in the same way. Their minds are not connected to their deeds. This is true in two ways. One can act but not be thinking if his deeds are proper or not. One can also take the time to think through what the proper thing to do is, but his idealistic thoughts won’t translate into action. Either way, the issue is that his head is not connected to his arm, and he is, in essence, asleep.
Now we can understand our job during the month of Elul. The avodah of Elul is to wake up. We need to become like Gad and connect our brains to our arms. The Sefer Yetzirah said that our goal is to rectify our deeds through wisdom. This is not as abstruse as it sounds. It merely means that we have to start thinking before we act. The action will be rectified (done right) if it’s thought out beforehand.
But if we are creatures of habit, how can we accomplish this? The answer is: though the shofar. Every morning we do a positive action which should serve as an alarm clock to wake us up and shake us out of our mindless waking stupor. We do it again, day after day, until hopefully by the time Rosh Hashanah comes around, we are a little more cognizant in our daily routines of what it is we are doing and if it is proper or not. May we merit growing in this area and in becoming bigger and better people. Have an accomplishing Elul.