Stop Sleepwalking through Life
by Joining in on the Avodah of Elul!
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
This Shabbos is the first day of Elul. Elul, being the month last month of the year, is a time for making an accounting for the entire past year. The Rebbe explains the process of taking stock with an example in the Hayom Yom for the 27th of Menachem Av: “The month of Elul is the month of reckoning. In the material world, if a businessman is to conduct his affairs properly and with great profit, he must periodically take an accounting and correct any deficiencies. This is also true in the spiritual avoda of serving Hashem. Throughout the year all of Israel are occupied with Torah, mitzvos and (developing and expressing) good character traits. The month of Elul is the month of reckoning. It’s a time when every Jew, each commensurate with his abilities, whether scholar or businessman, needs to make an accurate accounting in his soul including everything that occurred in the course of the year. Through this he comes to know the good qualities in his service of Hashem so that he can strengthen them. He also becomes aware of the deficiencies in himself and in his service, and is able to correct them. Through this good preparation, one merits a good and sweet year, materially and spiritually.”
Elul is a month of teshuva. In order to awaken us to engage in a process of teshuva the custom is to blow the shofar every day throughout the month. The goal of the shofar is to awaken us from our state of spiritual slumber. Most people define the word teshuva to mean repentance. Chassidus explains that teshuva means to return, go back to where we belong and to reveal who we really are. This is the truest and deepest meaning of teshuva. To do this we need to hear the call of the shofar. The shofar reminds us to wake up because we have forgotten who we really are and what we can be either completely or to some extent. We wake up to the need to make an accounting for this. When we do we can change and return to our true nature. But we can only begin once we have awoken. We cannot do it sleepwalking! Just as every morning we first wake up and the say Modei Ani, we cannot say it while we are still sleeping! This is also true with our service in the month of Elul. We first need to wake up and then we can get back on track.
Last week we spoke about the concept of personal responsibility and accepting the sovereignty of Hashem (kabolas ol). This does not mean that we are some kind of separate being that accepts Hashem as an authority outside and infinitely removed. We also feel that we are a portion of Hashem (Chelek Hashem Amo), and through that connection we achieve our purpose, our truest selves. Just as anyone who suffers from addiction and eventually goes into recovery and returns to his or her original health, so too we recover when we do teshuva and we return to our true state and our true potential. Re-cover means to ‘remove the cover’. From the beginning of Elul until the day of Yom Kippur is a 40-day recovery program. The gates are open and the King is waiting with open arms to welcome us back.
There's a story told about Reb Mendel from the years that he was in the Gulag. One day he noticed a follow prisoner didn’t look well. Another prisoner approached the man and asked him what was bothering him. He responded by saying that once he was a great doctor. He wasn’t just any doctor; he was the director of a very large hospital, which had many departments. He said; “People were constantly coming to me for all kinds of advice and guidance. Then they arrested me and threw me into this prison. Now look at me, and what has become of me; my life has no value.” Another one of the prisoners overheard the conversation and approached with his story. He said; I was the lead attorney of a large law firm. I was responsible for litigating some of the most famous and important cases in recent history. He then sighed and said “Look at me today and where I am.” Another man approached to say that high ranked Natchalnik who wielded a lot of authority and of whom everyone was afraid. One day the NKVD arrested him and now he is the prisoner, in the place he put so many of his victims. “Now look at me” he said. They then all turned to Reb Mendel to see what he would say. Reb Mendel said: “I never lost anything. Before I came I was a servant of G-d, 24 hours a day seven days a week. It is different now because before it was easier and now it's harder, but I never lost anything. I’ll still the exact same servant who still needs to serve 24 hours a day seven days a week.”
Hashem waits for us to begin our recovery. He’s waiting for us to return to him and to give us good sweet year materially and spiritually.
A Good Shabbos A Good Chodesh