10 Sep THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY OF ELUL

The incredible
opportunities of the days
of Elul for returning to
Hashem and acceptance
of our repentance and
prayers can be seen from
an awesome statement of
the Ben Ish Chai in one of his letters. He
writes that one minute of Elul is potentially
equal to a complete month during the rest
of the year. The Chayei Adam famously
calls this season the yamei harachamim
v’haratzon. Literally, this translates to
‘days when Hashem has special mercy and
desire for us.’ While this is certainly true,
the word rachamim also means love, as in
the Talmudic dictum, “Mahn d’racheim
Rabbonon – One who loves Rabbis.” Thus,
we should certainly avail ourselves of the
chances that a person has to score big-time
with Hashem at this time of the year.
We believe that each year we use the same
fabric of time that they used thousands
of years ago at this time. This is why we
make a blessing, “She’asa nisim lavoseinu
bayomim haheim bazman hazeh – That
Hashem made miracles (for example
Chanukah) for our ancestors in those days
with this time.” Different fabrics of time
have different effects embedded in them.

For example, in Adar there is the potential of
joy and good mazal. In Av, there is the latent
effect of mourning and danger. So too, since
Moshe Rabbeinu went up to heaven at the
beginning of Elul to plead with Hashem to
forgive Klal Yisroel for the sin of the golden
calf, and came down on Yom Kippur forty
days later having succeeded in his mission
with the declaration “Vayomer Hashem,
‘Salachti k’dvarecha’ – And Hashem said,
‘I forgive you like your words,’ these forty
days in the fabric of time have become
embedded with the great power for finding
forgiveness from Hashem. This is why the
famous explanation of the acronym of the
word Elul, “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li – I am to
my beloved and my beloved is to me,” each
of the four words end with the letter yud,
which equals forty. This points to the golden
opportunity that is available to us during
these forty days.
In Siman 581, the Tur teaches that during
Elul, “Kol hamosef l’vakeish zchus hu
lo – Whoever makes additional requests
to Hashem at this time is considered
meritorious.” This seems a bit puzzling.
We can understand if the Tur would say that
‘petitions’ at this time are effective. That
would be understandable for, as we said,
it is a time of rachamim and ratzon. But

why, when we are asking for ourselves, is it

deemed meritorious? Isn’t it simply a self-
serving act?

To understand this, let me ask another
question. At the beginning of our Shemone
Esrei, we preface our prayers with a
request. “Hashem, sefasai tiftach u’fi yagid
t’hilasecha – Hashem, open my lips and my
mouth will relate Your praise.” Then, we go
on to literally barrage Hashem with a dozen
requests. Forgive me, cure me, bless me
with sustenance, grant me peace, listen to
my prayers! What happened? We asked for
the strength to praise Hashem and then we
turned it into a potpourri of requests. The
Alei Shur answers that the biggest praise
to Hashem is when we realize that we need
Him for our health, peace, sustenance and
everything else.
In a similar vein, when we take the
opportunity in Elul to ask Hashem for
forgiveness and for a better year, we are
expressing that we realize that everything is
up to Hashem. This is a merit for us and is
the perfect preparation for Rosh Hashanah,
when we coronate Hashem as our King,
acknowledging our belief that everything is
up to Him.
Rav Moshe Shternbuch, zt”l. zy”a, urges
us to get moving with our Elul pursuits
as early and as quickly as possible. He
compares it to a wedding. If you go early,
the baalei simcha, the celebrants are more
likely to notice you and to interact with you
personally. When you come later, you’re
just one of the crowd. So too, when we
start relating with Hashem, our Beloved,
early in the month, He will take more
special notice of us.
Reb Chaim, the son of the Ohr Zerua, who
was himself a Rishon, says that the middle
letters of the words Ani l’dodi, nun, daled,
vav, daled, spell n’dod, to move. When we
take the advantage of connecting personally
to our Beloved, Hashem, it causes Hashem
to move from the kisei hadin to the kisei
harachamim, from the throne of judgment
to the throne of mercy.
Reb Elimelech Biderman, shlit”a, tells a
story about the early years of Rav Yitzchak
Tuvia Weiss, the gavad of the Eidei
Chareidis of Yerushalaiyim. In his youth,
he lived in the small town of Pessing, in
Slovakia. It was the beginning of World
War II and his town was unsure of the
looming dangers around them. Travel was
dangerous so they sent the young but very
mature Yitzchak to travel under the radar
to the capital in Pressburg to find out more
about the dangers that confronted them. In
Pressburg, young Yitzchak heard about the
true horrors of the time. The Rabbonim of
Pressburg were so impressed by the young

Yitzchak that they offered him a coveted
berth in the lifesaving Kindertransport to
England. He took it and was thus, b”H,
saved.
Shortly after the children arrived in
England, the king made a parade for them
which he himself attended. As the king rode
his chariot amongst the children, Rav Weiss
related that a young boy next to him broke out
from the group and threw himself in front of
the king’s chariot and started yelling, “Your
majesty, your majesty!” When the guards
tried to remove the boy, the king motioned
for them to stop and allow him to come over.
The boy then bravely spoke to the king with
great emotion. “Your highness! Thank you
for saving my life. I will be forever indebted
to you. But, how can I be truly happy
knowing that my father and mother are still
there facing the gas chambers. Please save
them also.” The king was moved by the
plaintive plea and, two weeks later, through
diplomatic channels, the child’s parents
were brought to safety.
Rav Weiss reflected upon what had
happened. He commented that, “Any
one of us could have done what this child
did. But he had the smarts to seize the
opportunity and ask the king, and he alone
saved his parents.” We, too, need to have
the smarts to ask our King during this very
propitious time. So, let’s seize this golden
opportunity of Elul and, in that merit, may
we all be blessed with a kasiva v’chasima
tova umasuka.