{"id":51656,"date":"2021-08-06T17:40:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T17:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=51656"},"modified":"2021-08-30T15:37:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T15:37:57","slug":"elul-entering-and-exiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/elul-entering-and-exiting\/","title":{"rendered":"Elul: Entering and Exiting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Naaleh_logo\"<\/a>\u00a0Shiur provided courtesy of\u00a0Naaleh.com<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein<\/p>\n

As we enter the month of Elul and approach the\u00a0Yomim Noraim<\/i>\/Days of Awe, we struggle with the same paradox our Sages and Rabbis have struggled with throughout the ages: Every year we do teshuvah, we regret our past sins and resolve to do better. Yet, here we are again, not having met our past aspirations. How can we not feel despair over our past failure, and what can we do to be more successful in the coming year?<\/p>\n

During this period of preparation, during the month of Elul, we listen to the sound of the shofar every day. Yet, on Erev Rosh Hashanah, we do not blow the shofar. As Rabbi Rothberg points out in\u00a0Moda Labinah<\/i>, we are aware that blowing the shofar is halachically mandated only for the days of Rosh Hashanah even as it has become a universal custom to sound the shofar this entire month dedicated to arousing us toward repentance. We do not need to be reminded of this difference, so why not blow the shofar on the very day leading into Rosh Hashanah?<\/p>\n

If we begin our discussion with the chapter of Tehillim we read every day now, Chapter 27, we may begin forming some insights into our question, although we may begin with an additional oft discussed question. King David asks, \u201cOne thing I asked of Hashem, that shall I seek: That I dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life; to behold the sweetness of Hashem and to visit in His Sanctuary.\u201d The often asked question is that David Hamelech says he is asking only one thing, yet he seems to be making two requests. But Rabbi Rothberg adds an additional question: If I am already sitting in God\u2019s house all the days of my life, am I not already there? Why do I also ask to visit His Sanctuary?<\/p>\n

To understand our goal in Chodesh Elul, it is important to review the historical perspective of the month. Moshe ascended Har Sinai three times. First, on Shavuot he ascended, brought down the first\u00a0luchot<\/i>, but smashed them when he witnessed Bnei Yisroel sinning with the Golden calf. He ascended for a second forty day period, descending on Rosh Chodesh Elul, and bringing down the second set of\u00a0luchot<\/i>, tablets that he himself had hewed from stone but whose text had still been written by the finger of God. But the relationship between Hashem and Bnei Yisroel had not yet been fully repaired. Moshe ascended a third time, on Rosh Chodesh Elul, pleading with Hakodosh Boruch Hu to fully forgive Bnei Yisroel and reengage intimately with us. It is on Yom Kippur that Moshe descended again with Hashem\u2019s promise of \u201cSolachti kidvarecha<\/i>\/I have forgiven as you\/Moshe have said.\u201d It is within this context that we interpret ELUL as an acronym for\u00a0(E<\/b>)A<\/b>ni\u00a0L<\/b>edodi (U<\/b>)V<\/b>edodi\u00a0L<\/b>i<\/i>\/I am to my Beloved (Hashem) and my Beloved is to me, writes Rabbi Bernstein.<\/p>\n

Elul is interpreted as the acronym for several other additional verses. Among them is the verse discussing the cities of refuge for one whose negligence caused someone\u2019s accidental death, This is described as, \u201cVehaElokhim\u00a0E<\/b>na\u00a0L<\/b>eyodo (U)V<\/b>esamti\u00a0L<\/b>ach.<\/i>..\/And Hashem \u2018forced his hand\u2019 and I [Hashem] have paced for him [a place of refuge].\u201d This the acronym Rabbi Rothberg uses to discuss the function of the month of Elul. On Rosh Hashanah, we don\u2019t recite\u00a0Hallel<\/i>\u00a0even though it is a holiday, for we are filled with fear and awe at our imminent encounter with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. But Hashem has prepared this safe place in time so that we can less fearfully approach Him on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, in spite of our sins.<\/p>\n

What is the connection between Elul and the atonement that will be finalized on Yom Kippur? While Hashem gifted us with the first set of Tablets, completely formed and written by Hashem, these could not survive in a flawed, human society. The second set of\u00a0luchot<\/i>\u00a0were chiseled by Moshe\u2019s human hand, representing an \u201carousal from below,\u201d the stirring of humanity toward the relationship with Heaven. Humanity has to prepare for itself the \u201cTablets\u201d to receive the writing of God. That connection, writes Rabbi Rothberg, would be permanent, culminating in the forgiveness on Yom Kippur and the repair of the relationship. Our task during Elul is to prepare our personal\u00a0luchot<\/i>\u00a0so that Hashem\u2019s presence can come down into this world, and into ourselves.<\/p>\n

When we first accepted the Torah, we were on the level of total perfection of Adam before the sin, fully ready to accept God\u2019s presence. While we no longer have the\u00a0luchot<\/i>, they are symbolically contained in our hearts, writes Rabbi Wolbe. [This explains why the luchot are generally depicted curved, as a heart.] But those original tablets were broken, and we must prepare to imprint them again on our hearts. While Moshe was preparing the physical stones for Hashem\u2019s writing, Bnei Yisroel were also doing teshuvah to prepare to receive Hashem\u2019s word anew. Hearing the sound of the shofar helps us prepare down below to receive Hashem\u2019s Sovereignty from Above.<\/p>\n

The Torah itself was not affected by our sin, writes Rabbi Rothberg, but our Sinai experience was damaged. We create the sounds of the shofar here on earth to try to recreate the scene of receiving the Torah at Sinai, when the sounds of the shofar came from above. Our teshuvah did not end on Rosh Hashanah, when Hashem again revealed Himself to us, but on Yom Kippur, when we received the second set of\u00a0luchot<\/i>. Both revelation and receiving the Torah were one combined experience on Shavuot, but the experience of the second\u00a0luchot<\/i>\u00a0was divided into two stages, Revelation of God\u2019s Sovereignty on Rosh Hashanah followed by a recommitment to Torah on Yom Kippur.<\/p>\n

Returning to the question we asked about Psalm 27, we can follow the reasoning of Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz who maintains that David Hamelech was not asking for two separate things, but making one request with a necessary corollary. David, as king, was involved with many issues of state. He could not sit and study Torah day and night. What David requested was that no matter where he was and what he needed to do, he would always feel Hashem\u2019s Presence beside him and keep building the relationship.<\/p>\n

This is a lesson we can also learn from Yaakov Avinu, writes Rabbi Belsky in\u00a0Einei Yisroel<\/i>. Yaakov Avinu metaphorically took the Throne of Glory wherever he went to whatever he was doing. Therefore, when the angels ascended the ladder in Yaakov\u2019s dream, they saw Yaakov\u2019s image at the top of the ladder, for Yaakov never left Hashem\u2019s Presence behind. This is indeed what the month of Elul is all about.<\/p>\n

The Torah itself has a similar verse.\u00a0Devarim<\/i>\u00a010:12, \u201cAnd now, what does Hashem ask of you? Only to fear Hashem, to go in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.\u201d Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach suggests a commonality between these two verses. He posits that in each verse, There is truly only one thing being requested, and that one thing is the heading and general, comprehensive category that encompasses all the other requests. \u201cTo visit in His Sanctuary\u201d is one example of dwelling in the house of Hashem, and \u201cto fear Hashem\u201d covers loving Him and serving Him. All is included in the Oneness of Hashem, in the knowledge that nothing exist outside of Him. The one thing that David wants, and that Hashem wants of us, is that our entire life be a unified whole, being lived under the constant umbrella of creating and maintaining our relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Absent this unifying factor, our lives become fragmented and confusing.<\/p>\n

It is not enough, however, just to have an awakening. One must follow up with action. The word\u00a0shofar<\/i>\u00a0shares its root with\u00a0leshaper<\/i>\/to improve. One must take the message in the sound of the shofar as the impetus for improving ourselves, teaches Rabbi Kofman in\u00a0Mishchat Shemen<\/i>.\u00a0 One should not begin with trying to do a complete overhaul, but by trying to make one small improvement at a time, perhaps reciting one or two daily\u00a0brachot<\/i>\u00a0more mindfully. When we ask Hashem to help us improve, we must make our own effort as well. We must be proactive.<\/p>\n

One must take action at the time of inspiration. Our Sages have told us that Hashem needed to take Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt at the precise moment He did or we would have sunk to the lowest level of depravity and would have lost all opportunity for redemption. Rabbi Schwadron questions this premise, saying we were at a higher spiritual level at the end of the redemption process that at the beginning. From merely having faith in Hashem and in Moshe, Bnei Yisroel were taking action, taking a lamb, one of the Egyptian gods, and tying it to the bedpost for all Egypt to see, to slaughtering it, to witnessing the death of the firstborn Egyptians while they themselves were saved \u2013 certainly Bnei Yisroel had achieved a high spiritual level. However, this is precisely the paradox Rabbi Schwadron sees. When one is on such a high spiritual level, it can dissipate very quickly. Had Hashem not redeemed us at that moment, the faith and inspiration would have fallen away so quickly that we would have sunk to an even lower spiritual level that ever before and would no longer qualify for redemption.<\/p>\n

It was to that redemption that the Prophet Isaiah alludes when he writes that Hashem created a path for us through the Sea. Rabbi Biderman notes that there is no path through water, that each person must forge his own, personal path through the water. At the right moment, the smallest action can bring you to the greatest realization of and connection to Hashem. One must know that one\u2019s purpose in life is to have this closeness to Hashem, to develop it by following in His ways that can be achieved only by working on our\u00a0midos<\/i>, adds Rav Yechezkel Levenstein. If one\u2019s\u00a0midos<\/i>\u00a0are not whole, one will never come close to Hashem no matter how much Torah he learns. Work on the\u00a0midos<\/i>\u00a0internally, not just externally, exhorts us Rabbi Kestenbaum. And the main classroom for this work is in your own home with your own family. Reframe tasks at home as opportunities for chesed, for emulating Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Carve your heart to resemble the\u00a0luchot<\/i>.<\/p>\n

You may think the task of changing your\u00a0midos<\/i>\u00a0is too big. You would be right. Rabbi Wolbe understands human nature and suggests the smallest of steps. Just five minutes at a time can change your life. Begin with resolving to not speak\u00a0loshon horo<\/i>\u00a0for only five minutes, for example. Those five minutes will be the hole Hashem enlarges to a wide open gate to help you overcome this negative tendency further. With this process, we can understand that we do not return to the same point of the\u00a0teshuvah<\/i>\u00a0process each year, writes the\u00a0Tallelei Chaim<\/i>. The process is a spiral from year to year. We may return to the same shortcoming, but we can see some improvement from year to year, all from five minutes of change.<\/p>\n

Hashem judges each person\u00a0ba\u2019asher hu sham<\/i>\/where he is at at that moment. On Rosh Hashanah are we ready to crown Hashem as King over us? Can we be serious about any resolution to bring us closer to Hashem, even for five minutes at a time? It seems that eleven months later we really haven\u2019t improved, writes Rabbi Rothberg.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Schlesinger provides us with an encouraging metaphor. If we picture a tightrope, we will note that it is high at one end, then it sags in the middle, but returns to the high end again at the other end. We begin the New Year on a high, but as the year progresses, our resolution flags and the \u201crope\u201d sags. Then comes Elul, and we hear the shofar that reminds us of our previous resolution so that we can begin working on it anew, even though we weakened in the middle of the year. But we don\u2019t sound the shofar right before Rosh Hashanah because this month has been dedicated to following through from last year\u2019s Rosh Hashanah.\u00a0 Hence, the Shofar of Elul is a reminder of the commitments we made last Rosh Hashanah when we heard the Shofar, and we break for a day, before we encounter the Shofar of this year\u2019s Rosh Hashanah.<\/p>\n

Elul gives us the opportunity to save face, to exit the year on a regained high. We can now focus on the second half of our initial verse, not only to dwell in Hashem\u2019s house, but also to visit. It is difficult to maintain a constant momentum, but at least let me visit to reignite the relationship with God. Let us return to the loving relationship with Hashem that the name of the month alludes to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Shiur provided courtesy of\u00a0Naaleh.com Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein As we enter the month of Elul and approach the\u00a0Yomim Noraim\/Days of Awe, we struggle with the same paradox our Sages and Rabbis have struggled with throughout the ages: Every year we do teshuvah, we regret our past sins and resolve to do better. Yet, here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":883,"featured_media":51658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elul","post_format-post-format-video"],"yoast_head":"\nElul: Entering and Exiting - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/elul-entering-and-exiting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elul: Entering and Exiting - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0Shiur provided courtesy of\u00a0Naaleh.com Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein As we enter the month of Elul and approach the\u00a0Yomim Noraim\/Days of Awe, we struggle with the same paradox our Sages and Rabbis have struggled with throughout the ages: Every year we do teshuvah, we regret our past sins and resolve to do better. 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