In this week's Torah portion, Shoftim, we read of the cities of refuge, to which a man who had accidentally killed someone, could flee, find sanctuary and atone for.
We have just entered the month of Elul, the month in which this portion is always read. Elul is a "time," equivalent to the “place” of the cities of refuge. It is a month of sanctuary and repentance, a protected time in which a person can turn from the shortcomings of his past and dedicate himself to a new and sanctified future.
Although all the cities of refuge were to be in the land of Israel, they were not all in the same territory. There were three in the land of Israel proper - the Holy Land. Three were in trans-Jordan, where, according to the Talmud, "unintentional killing was common." And, in the Time to Come, “the L-rd your G-d will enlarge your borders”, three more will be provided in the newly expanded territory.
This means that every level of spirituality has its own refuge, from the relatively lawless trans-Jordan to the Holy Land, and even in the Time to Come. And this is true spiritually as well as geographically. At every stage of a man's religious life there is the possibility of some shortcoming for which there must be refuge and atonement. Even if he never disobeyed G-d's will, he may still not have done all within his power to draw close to G-d. This is the task of the month of Elul. It is a time of self-examination, when each person must ask himself whether what he has achieved was all he could have achieved. And if not, he must repent, and strive towards a more fulfilled future. Whether it is a businessman who has lived a more worldly life, or the scholar and he who has spent his days under the canopy of the Torah, both must make Elul a time of self-reckoning and refuge.
The month of Elul is the time to take stock of oneself, for self-examination, and the opportune time to change one's life. The place for this is the city of refuge, in the 'Holy Land', which practically means for us, in a place of holiness, a place of Torah. Each Jew should set aside Elul for turning it into an island of refuge, in a place of Torah.
A refuge is a place to which one flees: that is, where one lays aside one's past and makes a new home. Elul allows us to exchange the past for the sake of a better future. It is also the necessary preparation for the blessings of Rosh Hashanah, the promises of plenty and fulfilment in the new year to come.
