Tefillah
The Tur א"תקפ states, רחמים לבקש המוסיף וכל לו הוא זכות, "The more you ask from Hashem [in Elul, and the more you invest in tefillah] it is to your benefit." One only gains from tefillah in Elul.
We add that in Elul, Hashem is always near, as it states (Yeshayah 55:6) קרוב בהיותו קראהו בהמצאו 'ה דרשו, "Seek Hashem when He can be found; call upon Him when He is near." The pasuk uses two terms, בהיותו ...בהמצאו קרוב, "When He can be found... when He is near." The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 18.) translates בהמצאו that Hashem is found during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. The Gemara doesn't tell us when Hashem is near (קרוב בהיותו), but the Meiri tells us that this is in Elul. And since Hashem is near, He will certainly perform the mitzvah of perikah and save us.
Among the thirteen attributes of mercy are (Shemos 34:6) ואמת חסד רב, "Abundant loving kindness and truth." The Arizal said that חסד רב is Elul and אמת is Tishrei. In the tefillah of Unesaneh Tokef (on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), it states באמת עליו ותשב כסאך בחסד ויכון, "He prepares his throne with chesed and sits upon it with truth." This can be translated to mean that if we prepare ourselves בחסד during Elul and then on Rosh Hashanah, Hashem will sit on the throne with אמת and will perform kindness for the Jewish nation.
A religious Yid, who owns a chain of grocery stores in Eretz Yisrael, sometimes does things that are "unusual." A couple of years ago, before Chanukah, he sold olive oil for one shekel a bottle. Last year, close to Pesach, he came up with another "unusual" idea. He came to one of his stores and announced loudly to all the customers, "Whatever you have in your shopping carts at this moment, you can take home for free." He wanted them to pass the cashiers to record what was taken, but they didn't pay for anything. As the people stood in line, one said to his friend, "I saw an expensive wine that I wanted for the seder, but I decided against it. Now I regret that I didn't take it." His friend said, "I took one box of kosher l'Pesach cereal. If I had known that everything would be free, I would have taken three boxes. I wish I knew beforehand."
The lesson for us is, as the Tur writes, "The more you ask from Hashem [in Elul], it is your benefit." We know beforehand how much we can gain with our tefillos in Elul, so we should take advantage of this great opportunity.
It is possible to turn every situation and everything one studies into a tefillah. Here are a few examples:
It states in parashas Mishpatim (Shemos 23:5) עזב לו מעזב וחדלת משאו תחת רבץ שנאך חמור תראה כי עמו תעזב, "If you see the donkey of someone you hate crouching under its burden, would you refrain from helping him? – you shall help him repeatedly." This mitzvah is called perikah, helping to unload the donkey. Chazal (Pesachim 113:) ask why the Torah discusses שונאך, someone you hate. Is it permissible to hate one's fellow man? The Gemara answers that if he saw the owner of the donkey perform severe aveiros, he has a mitzvah to hate him. Even so, he must overcome his hatred and help him unload the donkey. Chazal say that the mitzvah of perikah is solely when he meets up with the donkey collapsing under his load. If one is very far away (like on another mountain) and sees the owner struggling with his crouched donkey, he isn't obligated to go there to help him.
Reb Yehudah Assad zt'l spoke about these halachos and turned them into a tefillah. He said to Hashem, "Ribono Shel Olam! You keep the entire Torah. This means you keep this mitzvah of perikah as well. So why don't you unload our burden and bundles when you find us crouching under the weight of our tzaros? You should perform the mitzvah of perikah and save us. If You will say that You don't want to help us because we sinned, behold the mitzvah of perikah is even when the owner has sinned. It seems that You aren't performing this mitzvah of perikah because You see us from far away, and then the mitzvah doesn't apply. So, our solution is to come near You because then You will be obligated to save us. We come near to You with tefillah, as it states (Tehillim 145:18) קוראיו לכל 'ה קרוב, 'Hashem is close to all those who call upon Him...'"
