Elul is a time in which we focus on Teshuvah and correcting any wrongdoing of the past year. In this Sicha, the Rebbe compares Elul to an Ir Miklat, a place of refuge and explains the purpose of this special month.
Elul
The Rebbe begins the Sicha by stating: The Gemara writes that the word אלול אנה לידו ושמתי לך. When observing the concept of an Ir Miklat, one might argue that if the sin wasn’t intentional, why should there be a need for a place of refuge?
Just as a person that accidentally kills another must run to an Ir Miklat, so too, when a person commits an Aveira (sin) unintentionally, he must seek refuge. This is not only to escape punishment, but also to rectify the wrongdoing. The Ir Miklat serves as a place for reflection and correction.
Classic Concepts
Elul is compared to an Ir Miklat, a city of refuge. The month provides an opportunity for every Jew to run away from their past misdeeds and settle in a place of spiritual safety. The Rebbe explains that just as the Ir Miklat protects the accidental killer from the avenger of blood, so too Elul protects us from the spiritual consequences of our actions.
Through Teshuvah, especially Teshuvah from love, a person’s intentional sins are transformed into merits. The process begins with Teshuvah from fear, which turns sins into mistakes, and culminates with Teshuvah from love, which elevates them even further.
Hashem gives us the days of Elul as a special gift, a time to tear ourselves away from negative habits and actions, and to settle into a new order and system. By doing so, we are written and sealed immediately in the book of Tzadikim for a good and sweet year.
Getting Started
To fix everything which was until now not the way it had to be, and automatically, this will be a “refuge” from the “avenger of the blood”, from all types of prosecutions. And through T’shuvah, first T’shuvah from fear, when the sins become like mistakes, and afterwards T’shuvah from love, when they turn into merits, you will be written, and also be sealed immediately in the book of Tzadikim, for a good and sweet year.
This is the idea which must be publicized: Hashem tells the Jewish people, “I give you twenty nine (or) thirty days, that in the duration of these days you will tear yourself away from the not good habits and actions from until now. And you will run there, you will run into the order and system of Elul in order to settle there. Then you will be able to fix everything.”
