RABBI YAKOV YOSEF SCHECHTER
Chodesh Elul: Tehillim 100:3 “דעו כי ד' הוא עשנו ולא )ולו( אנחנו” – “Acknowledge that Hashem is the G-d of the world, He made us and we did not.” What does the Posuk mean, “דעו” – that we should know and acknowledge this – who is the fool that doesn’t know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu created us, and we did not create ourselves?
It says in Bereishis 1:26 “נעשה אדם” – “We will make man” – which gives the heretics a place to err, and say that Hashem did not create man alone – rather “we” created man. Although heretics may err here, the Posuk still says, “נעשה” to teach us the Midah of Anavah, humility. Although Hashem created man alone, the Posuk still says, “נעשה” – “We will make” – to demonstrate humility – as if to say that Hashem did not do so alone – He is not taking all the credit for it. The Posuk is coming to teach us, “דעו כי ד' אלקים, הוא עשנו” – that it was Hashem Who created us, that one should not Chas V’shalom turn towards the mistake of the heretics. If you will ask, if it is indeed so, then why does the Torah say, “נעשה אדם”? To this we say, “ולא אנחנו” – in order to teach us the Midah of Anavah, “not us” – that we should not consider ourselves anything – we must have much humility.
At the time of creation of man was where we demonstrate the Anavah of Hashem, to teach us that the Ikar creation of man was through Anavah. Being that man was created through Anavah, he has the power to grab hold of this Midah, and to be truly humble. In this Posuk, there is what The Month of The Month of לולו , ,לאלא – – אלולאלול is called a קרי and כתיב – the כתיב way it is written in the Posuk is, “ולא”, but the, “קרי”, the way it is said is “ולו.”
Avodah Zarah 20b – “ענוה מביאה לידי יראה” – “Humility brings one to fear.” Yiras Hashem brings one close to Hashem, not like the way of people. When one fears another, it causes him to be further away, for one runs away from one who he fears. However, when one has Yiras Hashem, it brings him close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. This is as the Posuk says in 13:5 “ובו תדבקון” – to attach oneself to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, upon which Onkelos says, “ובדחלתיה תתקרבון” – and with fear you will come close. (ישא ברכה)
This is what the “לו” with a ו' teaches us, “לו” – meaning close to Him. We use the קרי and כתיב together to obtain the message of the Posuk. “ולא אנחנו” – Through us seeing ourselves as nothing, being exceedingly humble, “לו”, that will bring us close to “Him”. This is the Avodah of Chodesh Elul, that one must increase his Yiras Hashem, as it says in Amos 3:6 “אם יתקע שופר בעיר ועם לא יחרדו” – “When a ram’s horn is sounded in a town, do the people not shudder?” Similarly, the Posuk two Pesukim later says, “אריה שאג, מי לא יירא” – “When a lion roars, who doesn’t fear it?” The preparation of this Yirah, fear, is the Midah of Anavah. The month of “אלול” are the letters, “לא לו” which is a Remez that it is the month when one needs to work on the Midah of “לא אנחנו” – the Midah of Anavah, “לו אנחנו” will bring one to Yiras Hashem, which will bring one close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
