In Chodesh Elul we strengthen ourselves and exert ourselves more in avodas Hashem, and it is very important that all this should be with simchah.
One may wonder: How could one be happy in Elul while being so preoccupied with avodas Hashem?
The answer lies in understanding the essence of the avodah that is demanded of us in this month. The mashgiach Reb Nosson Wachtfogel zt”l would say that the main task we have in Elul is not to focus on this sin or that stumbling block ... rather, the main thing is to occupy ourselves with coming close to Hashem yisbarach.
The Rambam, in discussing the reasoning behind the mitzvah of shofar (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4), wrote that the main thing is to arouse ourselves from slumber, to remember our Creator, and not to forget the truth, not to forget the futility of this transient world.
In truth, this is what we say in the perek of Tehillim that we recite throughout the month of Elul, L’Dovid Hashem Ori: “...I said to You, ‘Seek my face’; I request Your Face, Hashem’.” But this is not the main thing. Our main focus should be coming close to Hashem, as the Mabit explained the meaning of teshuvah (in sefer Beis Elokim, Unit Teshuvah, ch. 1): “We investigated the definition of teshuvah and found that in its truest and most complete sense, it is coming close to Hashem through distancing oneself from sin.”
Likewise, in sefer Leket Sichos Mussar, by the gaon Rav Eizik Sher zt”l (part 2, p. 112), we are taught that the kabbalos you take upon yourself during the days of teshuvah are not the main thing. The main principle is: “A righteous man shall live by his emunah.” We are lacking tangible emunah in day-to-day life through finding joy in the fact that we have a Father in Shamayim Who wants our good and Who seeks to enable us to exist with eternal joy. This awareness brings one to love for and dveikus in Hashem, and to yiras Shamayim and bitachon in Hashem. We should have no fear of another human being, Rav Sher writes, nor should we trust in another human being, who does not hold the key to our salvation.
May Hashem help us during these days of rachamim v’ratzon, mercy and desire, to be zocheh to His closeness, with joy, emunah, and inner peace; amen.
Excerpts from the popular shiur by Harav Yehuda Mandel shlit”a from Lakewood
