A poor couple received a letter from the king. The letter informed them that the king would visit their home in thirty days. The couple was very excited and honored and had to prepare. The baal habayis told his wife, "The walls of our home haven’t been painted in years, and all of our windows are broken. The legs of the chairs are of different height, and when someone sits down, he falls off. We know how to balance ourselves on the chairs because we are used to them, but we can't have the king sit on one of our chairs lest he fall off. Tomorrow, I will call handymen to fix up our entire house."
The wife replied, "For the past thirty years, I have been telling you that we have to fix up the house, but you kept saying that we can't afford it. If you go ahead now, it will involve taking out a loan and then paying it back over the next thirty years. The king knows we are poor. He isn't expecting to arrive at a mansion. He will accept whatever we can do."
Her husband answered, "The king told us weeks in advance that he's coming to us. He didn't tell us at the last minute. That means the king wants us to prepare for his visit."
The wife replied, "There are less expensive ways to prepare for the king's visit. Instead of painting the walls, we can hang white sheets on them. For the broken windows, we will place towels in them to keep the cold out."
The husband said, "I agree with your plan, but there is one thing we have to fix: the chairs. There is no way we can have the king sit on one of our broken chairs."
The baalei mussar give this mashal to explain the essence of Elul. Hashem will visit us on Rosh Hashanah, and we must prepare ourselves. We won't be able to fix everything, but we must do what we can. Therefore, we should take on a kabbalah tovah, which will be one step toward improving ourselves.
The king has gold and all types of honor and pleasure in his palace. He didn't come to his friend's home to indulge in the luxuries he has in abundance in the palace. He came to enjoy the simple table, chair, and lamp his dear friend toiled to prepare for him. The same applies to avodas Hashem. Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't expect from a person levels beyond his reach, such as the intense fear and the love of the malachim, because Hashem has that in heaven. Hashem takes pleasure in our mundane utensils, from our everyday battles with the yetzer hara to overcome jealousy, hatred, bad taavos, etc. This is what provides great pleasure to Hashem.
Two people did a great favor for the king. The king awarded them by granting them the privilege of going into his treasury for a half-hour and taking out whatever they wanted. The date arrived, and when the designated hour neared, they arrived in front of the treasury, each holding a sack. The treasury minister met them and said, "When I give the signal, you can go inside. You have a half-hour. Whatever you take out is yours!"
When the minister gave the signal, they rushed towards the treasury entrance. They had never been there before, and they didn't know about the narrow hallway which they had to pass to get to the treasury. As they rushed through this narrow path, their sacks tore on the walls. "What should we do now?" they wondered. They only had a half-hour; time was ticking, and they didn't have sacks to carry the material.
One of them sat in the hallway and began sewing up his sack. He deeded a usable sack before he went inside. The other person ran into the treasury and immediately began filling his torn bag with the precious gems and items he found in the treasury. "There is no time to fix the bag," he said. The other man came in with only five minutes left and quickly threw precious items into his mended sack.
Five minutes later, the treasurer came in and said, "Time is up. You have to leave the treasury." The one with the mended bag had some treasures in it. But the other one, the person who didn't wait to mend his bag, didn't fare as well. When he lifted his bag (which was now heavy from all the items he had collected), the bag tore even more, and all the precious items fell to the ground. He was left without anything at all.
The nimshal of this tale comes to teach the importance of making kabalos tovos. The holy, special days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Succos, and Simchas Torah are approaching. These are like Hashem's treasury; we can take out treasures from these days for the rest of the year. But we accomplish this with kabalos tovos. The kabbalah tovah is like sewing up the bag and tying things up so we don't lose what we gain. Some say, "There is too much to do during these days, many mitzvos to perform. A small kabbalah doesn't mean much to me. I don't have time for it." But at the end of the yomim tovim period, they discover they have nothing tangible. In contrast, those who make a kabbalah tovah have something they can take with them.
People think they can't change and feel this way because they have the "everything or nothing" approach. They don't appreciate the value of a small step of improvement and how much we can gain from a kabbalah tovah. It can be compared to the one step that gets a person into an elevator. It’s a small step, but it’s what will raise him to great heights. Without that one small step, he will remain below.
Tzaddikim advised taking on a kabbalah tovah before the new year arrives. They called it a new garment for the new year. One good deed leads to the next one. It is a step towards improvement. Try it and become amazed at how much growth a person can attain with a small kabbalah tovah.
The following story took place in 1960, and it was well known at the time. The Pittsburgher Rebbe zt'l lived in Ashdod and, from time to time, traveled to his chassidim in America. Once, he was flying to New York, and another eight Yidden were on the plane. Midflight, the passengers noticed that the aircraft was rapidly losing altitude. Panic reigned on board. No one knew what was happening. Finally, a flight attendant announced that they were experiencing engine trouble and hoped to find a runway nearby. Otherwise, they realized the plane would plummet into the forest below r”l.
The Yidden on board recited viduy and kriyas Shema and davened for a miracle. It was a frightening moment. Hashem answered their tefillos. With Hashem's compassion, they located a small airport, and the plane landed safely. It was time to daven Shacharis. The nine people who were on the flight approached one of the men working at the tiny airport and asked if they could have a private place to daven shacharis. They explained they needed a place away from all the confusion and turmoil in the airport.
Without warning, the airport employee passed out. When he awoke, he spoke to them in Yiddish. He said, "Don't judge me by my appearance. I am a Yid, and I was brought up in a chassidic home in Williamsburg. I was orphaned from my father when I was ten, and made some foolish choices in my life, and now I live and work here, distant from all Yidden. Last night, my father came to me in a dream and said, 'Today is my yahrtzeit. I want you to say Kaddish for me.'"
"I replied, 'How can my Kaddish help you? I'm so distant from Yiddishkeit.' My father replied, 'No, my son. Your Kaddish will help me immensely.' 'But there is no minyan where I live. How can I say Kaddish?' My father replied, 'If I send you a minyan, will you say Kaddish for me?' I said I would. And here you are, nine people, sent down from heaven, so I can say Kaddish with a minyan." He brought the group to a private place, davened with them, and said Kadish. It was a very emotional moment for him and the entire minyan.
This person was at a very low level. For years, he was living among goyim. But he discovered that he wasn't as detached as he thought. His mitzvos had importance, and his kaddish was meaningful in heaven. Therefore, even those who are on low spiritual levels should take on a kabbalah tovah. It is significant and can act as a catalyst for their ascent to significant spiritual levels.
Reb Moshe Aharon Stern zt'l, the mashgiach of Kamenetz, related that in Brisk when the Maharil Diskin was the rav, there was a rosh hakahal who had a daughter with many good qualities. When she reached marriageable age, shadchanim came up with many good bachurim, talmidei chachamim, for his daughter. The rosh hakahal had set aside a large dowry for his daughter. After looking into many suggestions, it boiled down to two outstanding bachurim, and the rosh hakahal didn't know which one to choose for his daughter. One of the bachurim suggested wasn't an iluy, he wasn't a genius, but he made up for that with his immense hasmadah. The other bachur was a genius, but his hasmadah was standard. Not knowing how to proceed, he went to the Maharil Diskin for advice.
The Maharil Diskin replied that he should undoubtedly take the greater masmid. Although Chazal (Pesachim 49.) say, "A person should sell everything he owns to marry off his daughter to a talmid chacham," and behold the genius bachur is a greater talmid chacham, I still recommend the masmid because Chazal (Avos 4:9) also say, מעושר לקיימה סופה מעוני התורה המקיים כל, whoever studies Torah when he is poor, will end up studying Torah though wealth. I say that this also refers to poor acumen abilities. If he continues studying Torah, he will become wiser and deeper and, ultimately, a great Torah scholar. So, ultimately, you will end up with a son-in-law an iluy, and a masmid as well! But the other one, he will remain a genius, but hasmadah doesn’t grow on its own.
The rosh hakahal followed this counsel. This son-in-law indeed grew immensely in Torah, and became renowned as the great gaon, Reb Yosef Zundel zt'l of Eishishok, author of many wondrous sefarim on the four sections of Shulchan Aruch. (The sefarim are called חיים גנזי on Orach Chaim, המשפט אולם on Choshen Mishpat, דעה חדרי on Yorah Deiah, and העזרה חוקי on Even HaEzer.) He was respected and loved by all the gedolei hador of his generation. The Chofetz Chaim, who lived in Radin, near Eishishok, would come to speak to him in learning and to get his advice on many subjects. The Chofetz Chaim also asked him for a haskamah on his sefer Likutei Halachos.
In a similar vein, we can explain the Mishnah מעושר לקיימה סופה מעוני התורה המקיים כל applies to someone who studies Torah when he is at a low spiritual level, struggling with many challenges. If he studies Torah and keep the mitzvos at these times, heaven will grant spiritual wealth, and he will be able to serve Hashem on a higher level, with a happy heart.
