When Chodesh Elul approaches, everyone is talking about teshuvah, about repentance, and so just by walking in the Jewish street—I’m talking about the good Jewish street, where there are yeshiva men—so we already understand that this is the time to get busy. The atmosphere is calling out to us, ם∆כ¿ ַ̇ינƒׁ ̆ƒמ יםƒנ≈ׁ ̆¿יּרוּעו – ‘Awake o’ sleepers from your slumber, ם∆כ¿ ַ̇מ≈ּ„¿רַּ ̇ƒמּוˆיƒ ָ̃ה יםƒמָּ„¿רƒנ¿ו – arise sleepyheads, and do teshuva.’ We can feel it in the air.
Now, I don’t want to depress you but it's important to realize that it’s nothing like it was in Europe, in the good streets in Europe. You have no idea what it was like to walk in a good Jewish street in the old days—the air was mamish saturated with yiras Hashem. And it’s not an exaggeration. Like the Mashgiach, Rav Yeruchem, once said. He said this about eighty years ago: “We can not even understand the greatness of our great-grandmothers.” Not our great-grandfathers—our great-grandmothers! They had such yiras Shamayim that even Rav Yeruchem himself couldn’t feel it.
And that’s why in the ancient times—and by ancient, I mean a hundred years ago—when they bentched Rosh Chodesh Elul there was a trembling, a tziternish. Even in an ordinary shul of peddlers and shoemakers as soon as they mentioned Elul there was a tziternish. And in the yeshivahs even more so. In Slabodka on Rosh Chodesh Elul they began saying a shmuz every day; instead of three times a week now it was every day. An hour and a half every day! We, the yeshiva men, spoke constantly about the Yom Hadin and the air was saturated with gravity, a seriousness. All of our thoughts were, “We’re approaching the Day of Judgment.” The entire month was spent in preparation for Rosh Hashanah.
And so we still have a way to go when it comes to making our Elul a Jewish Elul. We have to work very hard in order to regain just part of the attitude that our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers once had. And yet, even though we’re very far away from how they used to approach Elul, the good Jewish street is bubbling now with a movement towards teshuvah. And just because of the atmosphere—as long as a person is not hard-headed—so by means of osmosis he feels that it can’t be pushed off any longer. The Day of Judgement is coming!
And so, it’s an especially opportune time right now, erev Shabbos Mevorchim, to make use of that atmosphere; to soak up whatever inspiration we can. It’s a good time to study together the subject of returning to Hashem.
A New Teshuvah
Now, the first thing we must make clear when we talk about repenting is that we shouldn’t make the common error that teshuvah is talking merely about righting some wrongs that you did. No, no; teshuvah in that sense is too limited, too hollow. I’m not saying it’s nothing; it’s very important, but when we talk about real teshuvah, we’re talking about shuvu el Hashem, about returning to Hashem. “El Hashem” means that we’re trying to begin walking on the road toward Hashem.
And so Elul means that we’re not merely repenting for things that were done incorrectly; what it really means is to come to Hashem by gaining certain qualities, certain attitudes and practices that were never done before in your life. It means to get better! That’s what teshuvah actually means—to get better. You’re not just traveling through life, doing mitzvos, learning Torah — teshuvah means you’re actively traveling toward Hashem. It’s an entirely different type of life.
A Not So Big Job
Now, when you hear something like that, it could be that it already puts a damper on things. Here you thought you were just going to have to say you’re sorry and make some amends. But now you’re hearing about changing the direction you’re going in life. Instead of just being a better Orthodox Jew, we’re talking about shuvu el Hashem—about getting on the road and starting to travel toward Hashem. That’s already a big job; it’s a sobering thought.
But along comes the Torah and says it’s not so. When the Torah talks about the subject of teshuvah, it says: ̇‡ֹּזַה הָו¿ˆּƒמַה יּƒכ – This commandment of teshuvah that I’m commanding you today is not something that’s difficult. ‡וƒה םƒיַמָּׁ ַ̆ב ‡ֹל – It’s not in the sky that you should say, ‘How can we go up and get it?’, ‡וƒה םָּיַל ר∆ב≈ﬠ≈מ ‡ֹל¿ו – And it’s not across the sea that you have to travel a long distance, ָיך∆ל≈‡ בֹרוָ ̃ יּƒכֹו ֹׂ̇ ֲ̆ﬠַלָך¿בָב¿לƒבּוָיךƒפּ¿ב „ֹ‡¿מ רָבָּ„ַה – This thing is very near to you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart—‘heart’ in the Torah means ‘mind’—to do it (Devarim 30:12).
So what are we hearing? Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling us that the mitzvah of teshuvah is extremely easy. True, there’s a certain new orientation you’ll need to take, a new path in life, but don’t worry too much, „ֹ‡¿מ רָבָּ„ַהָיך∆ל≈‡ בֹרוָ ̃ יּƒכ – because it’s very close to you. It’s only a matter of ֹו ֹׂ̇ ֲ̆ﬠַלָך¿בָב¿לƒבּוָיךƒפּ¿ב. It’s in your mouth, something you should say, and something you should think, and that is sufficient for the mitzvah of teshuvah.
Escaping Danger
Now, we must understand that actually it’s not always so. When you’re dealing, let’s say, with the public like today, you will have many things that people have to be told that do require a drastic change in their lifestyle. Sometimes a man must sacrifice his ambitions, his career, for teshuvah. He might have to give up his parnassa, his profession, and become a pauper. Sometimes you might have to move to a different country to save your soul. And why not? Don’t people move to save their health? If a man is told that for his health he has to leave a certain climate and settle elsewhere—even though it means giving up all his friends and family, and giving up his professional practice—what doesn’t a man do to save his life? He moves, even if it’s across the world, and he understands that it’s worth it.
I knew of a case where there was a couple that had a sickly child. And a physician for some reason told them that the child needed the climate of Southern Italy. That was very many years ago, about sixty years ago. I remember that. He needed the climate of Southern Italy. So what did they do? They moved to Southern Italy, that’s all. They only had one child. They couldn’t let his life be lost, so they moved to Southern Italy. That’s some change! They had to find a home. They had to find a new livelihood. But they moved to save their child’s life!
Now, a sin is a thousand times worse than sickness. ׁ ̆≈‡ָה ןƒמ ַח≈רֹבו¿ּכ הָר≈בֲﬠָה ןƒמ ַח≈רֹוּב י≈ו¡ה – Just like you flee from fire, so you flee from something that smacks of sin. A sin is extremely perilous, and when it comes to peril, you run away.
Saving Your Life
A man called me up long distance, a frum man, married, who is working in a certain place. He says there’s a young lady there that took a fancy to him. And he’s somewhat perturbed. What should he do?
So I said, “Drop that job immediately! Don’t report for duty anymore!”
He’s hemming and hawing. “It took me three years to find this job, and it’s a good salary.”
“It makes no difference,” I told him. “You’re in great peril! You can’t afford to flirt with something worse than death!”
I had a case once where a woman told me in confidence that the Italian bachelor next door speaks to her every day, and she’s friendly with him. So I said, “Drop everything and take the first plane to Florida. And don’t come back anymore. Let your husband stay here to arrange all your affairs, and when he’s finished let him follow you to Florida. You’re in great danger if you don’t do that!”
After all, if a mafia man called you up and said, “I’m coming to your house tonight because you didn’t pay up, and I’m going to take care of you. I’ll bring along the cement and I’ll see to it that you have a kimono made of cement,” are you going to dillydally, waiting for him to knock on your door? You’ll take the first plane to Mexico, even if you’ll never be able to come back again. And an aveirah, you have to know, is much worse than a mafia man!
Save Your Soul
Now, it’s not always so drastic. Sometimes it’s only a matter of changing yeshivahs or shuls. Let’s say you sit on the same bench in the yeshiva or in the shul with a leitz—nothing is serious for him—so this Elul you must find a new bench. If you can’t, find a new shul. I’ve seen it happen again and again. Sixty years I’ve been in this profession and I watched people get ruined by someone they sit next to.
And so we see that sometimes the most drastic changes are required. And if it’s required, we do it! Loyal Jews will take the most extreme steps to save themselves, even if it means becoming a refugee. A refugee drops everything. He leaves all his clothing in the house. He runs out of the house in the middle of the night, and he runs down the street as far as he can to get away from his home where peril threatens. And he makes up his mind, “I’ll never come back again to that dangerous place. I don’t want to encounter the mafia man in my house! If I come back there, my life is over!”
And so, let’s say you live way out near Bangor, in some country place in Maine, and you see your child is losing his religion. There’s only one thing to do. Drop everything and come back to Brooklyn. You have no option! You can’t put your child in sakanah of losing his life! People have only one life to live! And you see people are being lost constantly! Constantly people are going lost because they don’t run away from sin.
You must do everything in your power to save yourself! And so, too, sometimes for certain aveiros it’s necessary to make drastic changes in one’s life. And certainly, he should do it. He shouldn’t hesitate because if a man can save his life, if he can still salvage and achieve something in this world, he must do it. Everything is worth the sacrifice to rescue the rest of your days, the remaining years that you have. And don’t say you’re too old already. Don’t you see that elderly people move to other countries in order to gain a few more years? And so surely it’s never too late to make big changes to save your soul.
