The Achdus Attitude
Now, I would like to speak more about this subject but I want to digress now to another important element that must be part of our mindset when we talk about preparing in Ellul. Yes, the mindset of indebtedness to Hashem is number one because you can’t ask for more before you say thank you for what you already got. But there’s something else, something almost as important. There’s a second vital attitude that we have to acquire for ourselves when we talk about coming before Hashem for the Yom Hadin.
Pay attention to what you’re going to hear now because it’ll come as a surprise to many of you. The second most important hachanah for Rosh Hashana is to stop thinking about yourself; you have to go into the Yom Hadin together with the Am Yisroel. Our connection to our people, achdus with our people, identifying with them, appreciating them and loving them, that’s number two on the list. Let that sink in! Number one is Hakadosh Baruch Hu, absolutely; but number two, right on the heels of the first principle, is your connection to the Am Yisroel.
Bonding with Hashem
Now, that has to be explained because some might think that it’s what you call nationalism. No, no; this has nothing to do with nationalism. The purpose is not because of the Am Yisroel. The purpose is because the Am Yisroel, that is our bond with Hashem. Our bond with Hakadosh Baruch Hu is only due to our bond with Yisroel and our bond with Yisroel is only valid because of our bond with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And so achdus with our people has nothing to do with nationalism and it has everything to do with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It has to do with what Hakadosh Baruch Hu is most interested in. Listen now and I’ll explain that.
The Torah declares as follows: Behold the heavens belong to Hashem and space above the heavens and the world and all there is, and only in your forefathers did Hashem delight to love them. Hashem owns all the millions of space-worlds, all the stars and planets and galaxies, but he doesn’t delight in them. He owns all of mankind, but he doesn’t delight in them. What is His one delight, His one interest? The Avos.
Look, it’s an open verse – we can’t argue with a possuk. Only in your forefathers did Hashem delight to love them. Rak is a mi’ut; it excludes everything else.
So you’ll say, maybe it’s only the forefathers? No, not only them. And He chose their children after them. Which children? You, as of this day. It means that whenever you’ll read the words, wherever you are, as long as you’re part of the Am Yisroel, then Hashem is thinking about you more than anything else in the universe. He’s interested in the Am Yisroel. Intensely interested!
Now, this is not drashos I’m telling you; I don’t say drashos. We’re learning now a basic principle of emunah. Number one we have to understand that Hashem is always thinking. He’s not just a word in the siddur. He’s chai v’kayam; He’s real and His reality includes His great Mind and Wisdom. And that great Mind, that infinite Intelligence, is concentrated only on one thing in the universe, on the Am Yisroel.
The National Reward
Now, if that’s the case, we have to realize that when we’re talking about preparing to appear before Hashem, we have here a second attitude that we have to work on acquiring in the month before Rosh Hashanah. We’re not going to go into the Days of Judgement on our own, flying solo – instead we’re going to appear before Hashem together with the Klal Yisroel! We want to come before Him together with the ones whom He is interested in, the ones whom He loves and is thinking about always. That’s our ticket to a successful Rosh Hashanah.
It’s the same like our ticket to Olam Haba. You know, if you hope for Olam Haba, eventually, after 120 years, you have to know that it will never be given to you on your own individual merit. That’s very important to understand. You can never earn Olam Haba on your own. It’s only because it’s a national gift for kol Yisroel.
If a man would go off, let’s say, and say, “I’m going to keep the whole Torah. I’ll move away from Boro Park. I’m going to move into let’s say Nantucket, a small town in Massachusetts. No Jews are there. Or no frum Jews. I’ll live by myself. I won’t have any connection with Jews. I’ll keep the whole Torah. I’ll learn mussar. I’ll do mitzvos.” No, it won’t help. Kol haporesh min hatzibbur, he will not see b’nechamas hatzibbur. He has to be together with the Klal Yisroel. Of course you have to keep the Torah too in order to remain part of kol Yisroel, but only if you’re connected with kol Yisroel, then you have hope – that’s a prerequisite for a good judgement.
Don’t Fly Solo
And so if we hope to be given another year, which we all do, nobody should be so foolish to go into Yom Hadin by himself. First of all, how can you be sure what you did or didn’t do, whether you deserve another year on your own merits? Who knows? Who knows? And secondly, even if you’re the biggest tzaddik you can’t make it without being part of the nation. Your membership in the Am Yisroel, your connection to the nation that Hashem loves more than anything else, that’s your salvation.
And so here’s a very big tzaddik and he decides, ‘I’m going away from my people this Rosh Hashanah; I’m going in the wilderness all by myself. I have no connection with any Jews, only I and Hashem alone.’ Goodbye Charlie! Even if you’ll say the whole machzor twice and you’ll do everything, you’re a failure because the connection with Klal Yisroel, that’s our only hope. Yes, Torah and mitzvos and teshuvah, of course. Absolutely that’s a requirement. But even with everything else you’ll only be successful b’soch Am Yisroel.
Vision Therapy in Ellul
And that means that included in our work for Ellul, one of the first requirements is to be together with the Am Yisroel because that’s our connection to eternity, our bond to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
That’s why its so important to get into the habit of looking at Jews, frum Jews, and thinking of their good qualities; to develop the middah of ayin tov. Our habit as human beings is to try to find faults in others, to belittle other people - that’s the derech of people - and to find only virtues in themselves. But it’s a habit we have to turn away from if we want to be connected with the Am Yisroel. We want to feel a certain affection for our fellow Jews, a certain love. And not only because it’s a mitzvah to love your fellow Jews; that’s true, but even more, it’s also the biggest favor for yourself because your connection to the Am Yisroel is a lifesaver for you.
And therefore as much as possible we have to look for the virtues of the Jewish people, not their faults. Everybody has some faults - everybody is human - but don’t concentrate on them. Never talk about the failings and the drawbacks that you see in Orthodox society. Think only about the positive virtues.
Whatever you’ll say about them, the Jews give more charity than any nation in the world. No nation compares! The Jews are more moral than any nation in the world. No question about it! Is there a nation in the world that has a law that a man and a woman who are not married to each other cannot be together in a private place? That’s a Jewish law! It’s unequaled! So who is like this nation?
Seeing Holiness
And therefore, don’t be too critical. Look away from the faults that you like to see in your neighbors, in the frum people, in bnei Torah, and on the contrary look as much as you can at the kedushah of your people. It’s an am kadosh. Yes, every Jew refrains from mixing milk and meat together; that’s kedushah. Women are very careful. They tell the husband “Don’t touch that. That’s fleishig. That’s pareve. That’s milchig.” She’s like the kohen gadol managing all the affairs of the house al pi din. That’s an am kadosh.
Do you ever hear about Jews who murder? Look how the Jew says al cheit on Yom Kippur. He says al cheit and he confesses almost every sin. Things he wouldn’t even dream of doing he confesses. But one sin is missing there. We don’t find that. Why isn’t that said there? Why don’t Jews confess the sin of murder?
The answer is, the Jews are trying their best to confess everything - even the things they’re not guilty of – but this they couldn’t even imagine. They couldn’t think of such a thing! Up till now, until they became Americans, they became ‘cultured’, they learned the ways of Eisav, but up till now, a Jew couldn’t dream of murdering anybody. And therefore, try their best, they couldn’t remember to insert shefichas damim in the list of the al cheits.
It’s because the Jewish nation is a nation of doves, a nation of peaceful people unlike all others. You know, when you see a crowd of black boys in the street, you have to know that one out of four is carrying a weapon. I’m not telling you something of my own. It’s well known. One out of twenty was in jail already. That’s also well known. Italian boys too. Maybe not as many as blacks, but believe me Italians are very far from being a kosher people. They’re violent. They carry knives in their shoes.
But when you see a crowd of Jewish boys coming from a yeshivah, not even one has a weapon. Not even one was ever in jail. There’s nothing to compare when it comes to the bnei yeshivahs, the Bais Yaakov girls.
National Perfection
And therefore, as individuals yes, we have faults. People are not angels after all. Nobody is perfect. But the Am Yisroel together is! Shlomo Hamelech said that. He calls us the perfect one. It means that as a nation, together, we are perfect in the Eyes of Hashem.
And therefore those who are happy in the fact that they are members of the Am Yisroel, shelo asani goy, and they’re proud of being frum Jews, they have a connection to frum Jews, they have an affection for frum Jews, those are the ones who are now ready to come on the Yom Hadin. And that’s
