The Klausenberger Rebbe, zt”l, elaborated: “Remember these words. Perhaps they are not understood now but in time they will be, and they will be a source of strength to our people.”
Had you heard these prophecies centuries ago – even just decades ago – you would have laughed and scoffed. But today the seemingly impossible has become reality. How are we to understand it all?
Yalkut compares our suffering to birth pangs. But birth pangs are deceptive; when the contractions begin it is easy to ignore them since they are mild and occur between long intervals. As the birth becomes imminent, however, the contractions intensify and the pain becomes unbearable. When it appears they can no longer be endured, the baby is born and new life enters the world. In that same manner will Messiah come.
Is it possible to protect ourselves from these painful birth pangs? Yes – and that is why I began this column by stating that if ever there was an Elul that demanded that we cry out from our hearts and souls to our Heavenly Father and rekindle the relationship of love – “I Am My Beloved’s And My Beloved Is Mine” – it is this Elul.
How can we do that? Here too our Sages provide a clear answer for those who wish to be spared the birth pangs of Messiah, summed up in a threefold formula:
(1) Occupy yourselves with Torah.
(2) Perform gemilas chassadim – acts of loving kindness.
(3) Be scrupulous about Seudah Shelishis – the third Shabbos meal.
The first two recommendations are self-explanatory but the third – eating a third Shabbos meal – is not so readily comprehensible.
We are enjoined to have three seudos on the Sabbath: Sabbath eve (Friday night), Sabbath noon (following prayer in the synagogue), and in the late afternoon as the Sabbath Queen prepares to depart.
Through these three meals, we honor the three Patriarchs, the three sections of our Holy Writ (Torah, Prophets, and the Writings), and we also recall the three Sabbath meals of manna G-d provided us with during our sojourn in the wilderness (Exodus 16:25).
The final Sabbath seudah is called Shalosh Seudos (which translated literally means “three meals” rather than Seudah Shlishis – the third meal). Our sages explain the reason for this is that all three Sabbath seudos are embodied in this one.
We sit down at the table not because we are hungry – we had a sumptuous lunch not too long before – but to celebrate our spiritual attainments in honor of Hashem. At this meal we divest ourselves of all the materialistic icons we have held dear and reconnect to our Covenant – to our spiritual roots that were sealed at Sinai.
But is it really possible for us to go back in time to Sinai? Of course it is – that moment at Sinai is engraved on the soul and heart of every Jew.
We need not despair. We need only reignite the eternal love that links us to our Heavenly Father. And that is what Elul is all about.
If there is any generation that can understand this, it is surely ours. Let us unite and embark upon this beautiful journey of love to our G-d.
In the month of Elul we recite Tehillim 27. I will share that inspirational psalm with you.
[A psalm] Of David. Hashem is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? Hashem is my life’s strength, whom shall I dread? When evildoers approach me to devour my flesh, my tormentors and my foes against me – it is they who stumble and fall. If any army were to besiege me, my heart would not fear; if war were to arise against me, in this I trust.
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