Elul’s Independent Opportunity

Generally when we think of Chodesh Elul, we think of a period of intense hachana for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. And certainly that's a correct association, a correct perspective. Within that perspective, the significance of Chodesh Elul lies in its proximity to Yom HaDin. If one imagined a system where there wasn't an annual Yom HaDin, so then Elul would lose its special status. Let's just very briefly—won't be big tonight im yirtzeh Hashem—try to understand a supplementary perspective on Chodesh Elul. We begin with a moshal. A moshal from Hilchos Brachos. Gemara in Brachos quotes a braisa I think: what happens if in Birkas Krias Shema a person tonight, instead of beginning אשר בדברו מעריב ערבים would have begun יוצר אור ובורא חושך, but would have straightened himself out by the time he got to the end of the bracha such that he concluded hamariv aravim? So it says הכל הולך אחר החיתום. Everything's determined by the conclusion. Okay, so that's a halacha in Hilchos Brachos. Does it have an analogue in other areas of halacha, of life, of existence? Rabbeinu Yonah in Shaarei Teshuva quotes an extraordinary Koheles Rabbah.

ואמרו רבותינו ז"ל כל העושה מצוה אחת סמוך למיתתו דומה שקיים את כל התורה ולא היה חסר לאותה מצוה.

If in the final moments of a person's life he's osuk b’mitzvah,

דומה שקיים את כל התורה ולא היה חסר לאותה מצוה.

It's as if that was the one mitzvah that he was lacking, that was still outstanding in terms of his shleimus, in terms of his avoda. But

הן לטוב הן למוטב וכל העושה עבירה אחת סמוך למיתתו דומה כאילו ביטל כל התורה.

But even more pointedly, and the following it goes without saying is not my bekius, it's quoted: the Bnei Yissaschar has in his sefer Agra D’Kalla in the beginning of Parshas Bamidbar. He says מה שכתבו חכמי האמת, the mekubalim write, that זמנים המסוגלים ביותר לתשובה משאר הזמנים. Every time is a time for teshuva, every day, every moment is a time for teshuva, but hazman which is especially mesugal, especially conducive, הוא בסוף איזה זמן הנוהג. It's at the end of a time period, at the end of a unit of time. דהיינו זמן המנחה לעתותי ערב דהוא סוף היום. In the waning moments of every day is a zman hamesugal liteshuva. Erev Shabbos hu sof hashavua, Erev Rosh Chodesh im Kippur Katan hu sof hachodesh, Erev Rosh Hashana sof hashana. So he proceeds to explain it in categories of Kabbalah which are difficult for us to relate to, so let's maybe try to process it more be'ofen of Nigleh. When we speak of days, months, years, they're not just conventional useful frames of reference, but halachically and metaphysically they exist as units of time. A day again is not just a conventional frame of reference, but it's a chalos in halacha, it exists as a unit of time in halacha. You have to put on tefillin every day, the mitzvah de'oraysa of tefillah is once a day. The dates of the Yomim Tovim, bachodesh hashvii, bachodesh harishon. Weeks, Shabbos, a cycle of Sheishes Yemei Ma'aseh and Shabbos. So all these units they exist in halacha, but they also exist metaphysically. Same way space is something that exists, it's not just a category of thought, but something, it's something Hakadosh Baruch Hu created. Time also exists. And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu created time, He created time in these units. Time exists in units of days, of weeks, of months, of years. What the Chachmei Ha'emes are telling us is that the optimal time to do teshuva is when a person is still in that moment. The optimal time for teshuva for Yom Chamishi is when a person is still within that moment of Yom Chamishi. Lechodesh hashana, the year consists of units of months. Chodesh Elul as the final month of the year is a zman of teshuva. It's the optimal time and a time that's especially mesugal, a time that's especially mesugal to being mesaken that year. Lu yetzuyar, you do a thought experiment, lu yetzuyar that again Yom Hadin wasn't something annual, Yom Hadin was once a decade, Chodesh Elul would still have tremendous significance. As the final month of the year, not only as the last thirty forty days before the Yemei Din V'rachamim, but as the final month of the year, Chodesh Elul is a zman of teshuva. It's a zman while still within that moment, within that year, to be mesaken. It's a zman of teshuva. It's a zman while still within that moment, within that year, to be mesaken. A person looks back over the preceding, at this point it's eleven plus months, I guess twelve plus months, the ibbur year. So it's virtually impossible to be completely satisfied with one's ben adam l'chaveiro. Was I impatient with other people, was I short-tempered, was I insensitive? Tough to imagine that there aren't going to be some yeses if a person poses and honestly responds to such questions. How was my davening this year? Now it's true that it's a tremendous challenge for us to have and then sustain kavana. It's true. But how many times did I try my hardest to do that? My learning this year. Was there room for it to have been better both on a quantitative as well as a qualitative level? V'kahena v'kahena. And the Chodesh Elul is an extraordinary and extraordinarily wonderful opportunity that as upsetting as the yeses are to those questions on the one hand, but it's an extraordinary opportunity to be mesaken because the zman that's mesugal, most mesugal to teshuva is the sof hazman. Even independent of its proximity to Yom Hadin, the sof hashanah, and the closer we get to Rosh Hashanah, not to suggest that one should be complacent and not try to take advantage of every day of Elul, but the further we get into Elul, increasingly the more and more mesugal the time is, the days are to not only salvage but to correct, to rectify, to elevate the entire year.