Elul - Are You Heading In The Right Direction

Elul - Are You Heading In The Right Direction

There is a well-known roshei teivos for the word Elul, which is “ani l’dodi v’dodi li" – I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me. This is an expression of Klal Yisroel's deep love for Hashem and Hashem's deep love for us. But there's another explanation to this famous pasuk from Shir Hashirim. When a person wants to say "my son” in Hebrew, he uses the word “b’ni”. The word “b’ni” is a combination of “ben sheli” – my son. Therefore, the word “ani” according to that interpretation should be “an sheli”. But what does “an” mean? The Mishna in Pirkei Avos 3:1 says: Akavya ben Mehalalel says that a person should look at three things and he won't come to do an aveira. One of those things is “uli'an ata holech “- and to where you are going – meaning that a person should contemplate where he is heading towards (the grave) and that will help him stay away from sin. So, we see from the word “uliʼan” that the word “an” means direction. The Mishna is telling us that we should be aware of which direction in Avodas Hashem we are going. This translation can also be used in the word “ani” - “an sheli" - my direction. So “ani l'dodi” can be translated as "my direction is heading towards Hashem”. During Elul we have to evaluate our direction and ensure that we are indeed climbing higher in our Avodas Hashem.

Rav Efraim Shapiro once related a story that occurred on a large, two-way highway, with one lane going north and the other going south. Without realizing, a man was driving north in the south bound lane, head-on against the oncoming traffic. After a few minutes of driving he saw about a hundred cars coming towards him! What a fright! And just then he heard on the radio that

there was a crazy man driving against traffic on the highway. He immediately called his wife to tell her the news. Little did he know that he was that crazy man. He didn't even take notice of the fact that perhaps he was going the wrong way. He assumed that all the other hundred cars were going the wrong way and that he was heading in the right direction. After all, who wants to admit that he's in the wrong? Rav Shapiro explained that all too often we are like this driver. We are heading in the wrong direction but can't admit it. So instead we blame everyone around us and convince ourselves that we are innocent of wrongdoing. It's so much easier to shift the blame than to admit guilt.

Rav Yaakov Galinsky related a story of a town that had a windy road with many potholes and ditches. Due to the many twists and turns on the road, it was hard for people to see the potholes and so many people got injured from driving down this road. After a while, the township held a meeting to decide how to fix the problem. One man got up and said, “I have a great idea. Let's build a hospital at the end of the road so that the people who get injured will be able to have easy access to doctors and emergency services". Another man got up and said, "Your idea doesn't make sense; why don't you just repair the road so people can drive safely and there won't be a need for a hospital!"

Says Rav Yaakov: In our lives, there are unsafe roads that we travel upon and get damaged. Instead of fixing the problem, we look towards the end of the road and try to build hospitals there. We try to patch up the issues after the terrible effects actually occur. In our spiritual lives we don't look to fix potholes, our holes in Avodas Hashem. Rather, we tend to wait until we get hurt and then attempt to patch them up. We must try to fix ourselves so that the problem does not happen in the first place. The road in our spiritual lives has to be a smooth ride without holes and gaps. The Yimei Ratzon are a time to recognize our direction and determine where we are heading, to fix the road before we stumble and avoid devastation and destruction.

The gemora says in Megila 30 that thirty days before a yom tov you should study the laws of that yom tov. This halacha only applies to the three yomim tovim of Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos. The Maharsha asks why aren't Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur included in this halacha? He answers that this halacha only pertains to mitzvos which are practiced from time to time, like Sukkos and lulav. We must study these laws and review them properly so that we should be familiar with

them when the yom tov arrives. However, the main mitzvah of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is teshuva and that applies all year.

Rav Zev Dov Tchechik recovered from a heart attack and the doctor prescribed him certain medications and put him on a strict diet. He listened to everything the doctor told him and he said to himself “I could have avoided all of this if I would have davened better on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur". We know that tefilla has a koach to change reality. But how is one able to change the will of Hashem? If there was a gezeira on a person for bad chas v’shalom, how can tefilla reverse it that things should be good? Rav Yosef Albo in Sefer Ikarim answers that tefilla doesn't change the will of Hashem; rather, tefilla makes a change in the person. A person who davens is not the same person from before davening. He's a different person, a changed person. That's why he's saved from the gezeira. If that is the case, how can a person daven for someone else? How can I change the will of Hashem that things should turn out good for that person? He's not a changed person from my tefilla. The meforshim answer when a person gets punished, his friends and family are also punished as they suffer because of what happens to him. And the ways of Hashem are “mishpitei Hashem emes tzudku yachdav"- the judgments of Hashem are completely truthful and righteous. This means that if a person deserves a punishment but his family or friends don't deserve to suffer, he won't receive that punishment. Hashem only punishes a person if every single person who is affected by that punishment deserves it completely. So, if we daven for others, we ourselves are elevated and then we can better the judgement for whomever we are davening for.

In these special yimei ratzon, let's utilize this tremendous power of tefillah both for ourselves and for our loved ones. May it be a year of brocha and hatzlocha for all of us.