Meaningful Life Center

We stand now in the second half of the Hebrew month of Elul, a powerful month that radiates with intense spiritual compassion. This month prepares us for the awesome High Holidays. This coming Saturday night after midnight we begin saying the special Selichot prayers, which signal the ushering in of the Days of Awe. In this spirit we bring you another excerpt from Simon Jacobson's new book, 60 DAYS: A Spiritual Guide to the High Holidays. Each of the 60 Days comes with a calendar, inspirational quote, facts and historical events, laws and customs, a relevant insight and a daily exercise.

As we approach the final week of Elul, when we begin to recite Selichot, the special prayers for forgiveness, we have the confidence that, as weak as we may feel, we have tremendous strength nevertheless.

The cumulative mitzvot of the past generations gives us that strength. The good that our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents did lives on forever and accumulates, and is our inheritance.

We might be midgets, but we stand on the shoulders of giants. Although we are puny, we can see even farther than the giants, because we are standing on the shoulders of past generations.

Nine generations ago, the Baal Shem Tov would go to a special place on Rosh Hashana, he would light a fire in a special way, say a special prayer, and as a result the entire world would be blessed.

In the next generation, his successors knew the location of the special place and they knew how to light the fire but they forgot the prayers. So instead, they would pray, “Whatever the Baal Shem Tov achieved here with the fire, we should achieve.”

The next generation knew the location but they forgot the rest. So they just stood in the location and said, “Whatever the Baal Shem Tov achieved here, we should achieve.”

Today, we have forgotten even the location. So what do we do? We tell the story…

We are asked to do only that which we are capable of. We do not have to be like the giants of the past. We just have to do what is in our power—stand on their shoulders. When we do so we lay claim to everything they achieved plus we add our own small part—and that small part, added to the good deeds of our ancestors, might just be enough to tip the scales and bring redemption.

Ask yourself: Do you know what your small part in this world is? What can you add to the cumulative accomplishments of the giants of the past?

~ Identify something positive that your parent or grandparent did and take it one step further.

“G-d will answer you on the day of distress.” (Psalms 20:2) David knew that the Holy Temple was to be destroyed and that the offerings were to cease. He was aggrieved for the sake of Israel and asked: “How will they attain atonement for their iniquities?” G-d answered: “David, do not be distressed, for I already disclosed to Moses the sidrei selichah [the orders of prayers for forgiveness] and I said to him: When troubles come upon Israel because of their iniquities, let them stand before Me as one band and utter the seder selichah, and I will respond to them.” [1]

Eight days left to Rosh Hashana. Today is the day of accounting for the month of Shevat. Look back eight months to last Shevat. The 15^th of Shevat—Tu B’Shevat—is known as the “New Year for the Trees.” Do you recall how the energy of Shevat impacted your life in the past year?

“But if we had not waited so long, we could have returned there and back twice by now.” (Shavnu zeh paa’mayim)—Judah’s words to his father Jacob urging him to allow Benjamin to be brought before Joseph (Genesis 43:10). Shavnu paa’mayim—“return twice”—refers to two types of teshuvah: a) The general teshuvah of Rosh Hashana, and b) The specific teshuvah of Yom Kippur, in which we specify our iniquities. Both these types of teshuvah are dependent on the accounting of Elul. Elul is the same letters as the word lule (“but if we had not”). In Elul we wai’ and reflect on our actions and behavior, and that prepares and enables us to “return twice,” in the two types of teshuvah on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Elul however, is a general preparation; the more specific preparation to Rosh Hashana is in the days of Selichot; and the specific preparation to Yom Kippur is in the Ten Days of Teshuvah that begin on Rosh Hashana. (Baal Shem Tov) [2]

[1] How did G-d disclose this? R’ Yochana said: [With the verse] ‘And G-d passed before him and proclaimed…’ (Exodus 34:6). This teaches that G-d came down out of His thick cloud like an emissary of the congregation who wraps himself in his talit and descends to face the Ark [to read the prayers], and thus disclosed to him the seder selichah (Eliyahu Zutta, ch. 23).

[2] Kesser Shem Tov, additions, ch. 17.