Giving Our Investment Portfolio a Boost on Chai Elul
This week is Chai Elul, the birthday of the two great luminaries the Baal Shem Tov in 5458-1698, and the Alter Rebbe in 5505-1745. What does this mean to us today in 2020? The Previous Rebbe said that Chai Elul is the life of our service in Elul, the service of Ani L’Dodi v’Dodo Li.
Each of the last 12 days of Elul, beginning with the 18th, Chai Elul, are dedicated to retrospection and teshuva for an entire month of the past year. The day of Chai Elul corresponds to the both the past and the coming month of Tishrei.
Nowadays, we are looking for inspiration from others. We are waiting to get motivation and encouragement from others to take us through the month of Tishrei.
Because of today’s fast pace we are rushed and distracted. We wait for the jolt of finely crafted 30 second sound bites to do the trick. We don’t have focus for more.
The Baal Shem Tov revealed the essence of emuna within the neshama of every Jew. The Alter Rebbe’s Torah brings that emunah into our hearts and minds when we apply ourselves to avodah.
The Baal Shem Tov revealed that emunah is already ingrained and a part of us. It may be covered or concealed at times but it’s always there; it’s our life and our essence. It’s the same for everyone. In our core we know that Hashem is the essence of all of life. We arouse this essence through stories of Tzaddikim.
The Alter Rebbe guided us to on how to make ourselves a vessel, a keli, to incorporate this into our daily intellect. The purpose of Chassidus Chabad to become a keli; to focus on growth and development of our minds and hearts. We need to learn and contemplate Chassidus in order to arouse our hearts to serve Hashem with true sincerity in the month of Tishrei.
Even though we feel the great inspiration of Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, Sukkos and Simchas Torah nevertheless all too often this inspiration fades after Tishrei. What can we do so that the inspiration will last? We need to prepare by making ourselves into a keli with the avodah of “Ani L’Dodi” in the month of Elul. Then when we are inspired in Tishrei, the time of “Dodi Li” it will have a lasting effect.
There is a story of a wealthy man who lived in a village with two poor families. After watching their plight for some time he could no longer bear to see their suffering. He approached the father of each household with 10,000 rubles as a loan, a huge sum at the time. He told them to use it well, to invest it etc., in order to get themselves out of poverty.
The first man used the money to fix his house, buy his family new clothes and give them proper food to eat. Once they were in a better situation he carefully managed what was left. He diversified his investments, reinvested and saved. After a few years he was doing well in business and wanted to repay the loan. Instead of taking the money back the wealthy benefactor encouraged him to use the money to help others. He could teach them what he had learned and help them get out of poverty.
As you can imagine, the second man spent all of his money without making any investments. Soon enough he was back asking the wealthy man for another loan. The wealthy man told him to learn from the first man.
This analogy is relevant to the month of Elul. We have a precious opportunity to prepare. And then when Hashem “invests” in us with a Shana Tovah uMesuka we can make it last.
This is the message of the Hayom Yom for Chai Elul. Everyone should study it carefully. The point of the Hayom Yom is the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching that Hashem has inherited to each one of us the desire to serve Hashem.
When we get inspired we need to place it in a basket, a tena. The word tena is an acronym for taamim, nekudos and osios, the letters, vowels and cantillations of the words of the Torah.
This is why we are given inspiration in the month of Tishrei; in order to invest. We invest well wherever we go by using every opportunity to make a dwelling place for Hashem.
This is our service in the month of Elul. We focus, review and contemplate how we managed what Hashem invested in us both physically and spiritually in the last year and how to best manage our ‘investments’ in the coming year. Are we utilizing them for what they were intended? This is our ultimate purpose and this is what brings Moshiach.