The Imrei Emes once traveled a long way during Elul. He said, "For my father [the Sfas Emes], the walls of the home would tremble during Elul. But for me, on Elul, I go on one train and then I get onto another train..." The Pnei Menachem said that his father, the Imrei Emes, said this due to his humility, but actually, the Imrei Emes had a lot of fear during Elul, and the fear was felt in his home.
Rabbeinu Yonah (Shaar HaYirah 101) writes, "From when Elul arrives until after Yom Kippur, a person should be afraid of the judgment."
The Baal HaTurim (Netzavim לבבך על ה"ד) gives some hints to ל-אלו. One is from the pasuk (Devarim 30:6) לבב ואת לבבך את, that we should circumcise our hearts, and the hearts of our children to love Hashem. The roshei teivos of לבב ואת לבבך את spell Elul. Also, he brings the pasuk (Tehillim 27:13) 'ה בטוב לראות האמנתי לולא, and he writes that לולא spells אלול. He concludes with the following awesome words: "From Elul on I am afraid before Hashem."
The Shlah Hakadosh explains the pasuk (Amos 3:8) יירא לא מי שאג אריה, "a lion has roared, who will not fear." He writes that אריה is roshei teivos for רבא ושענאה ,כיפור וםי ,השנה אשר ,לולא.
Seven Gates
In Elul, when you judge yourself and review your deeds, special attention should be given to the "seven gates of the soul," which are the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth. We must check that they are used only for Hashem's honor. The parashah begins with בכל לך תתן ושוטרים שופטים שעריך, "judges and officers shall you appoint in all your gates..." The Shlah Hakadosh writes, "There is a lesson of mussar alluded to in these words, based on the Sefer Yetzirah (4:42) which states, 'There are seven שערים, gates to the soul: Two eyes, two ears, the mouth, and two nostrils. A person must guard these gates. They are the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, speech, and anger that comes from the nostrils.... Over these gates, one must place ושוטרים שופטים, which means that one should constantly be judging himself. This is the meaning of לך תתן. He should watch that there shouldn’t be an aveirah.'"
One should judge himself constantly whether he is using his eyes, ears, and mouth properly and whether he is cautious about anger. If improvement is necessary, he should consider what he can take on that will help him improve.
...the eyes during Elul, that it should be עינינו ה"לי, our eyes turned solely to Hashem.
It states (Tehillim 15:3) לשונו על רגל לא, the final letters spell ל"אלו. This is a hint at the importance of guarding the mouth in Elul. On the holy days, we will use our mouths to plead to Hashem for a good year. For our tefillos to be answered, we must see that our mouths are pure and clean, without lashon hara, falsehoods, speaking during the tefillah, and so on.
Guarding the Mouth and Teshuvah
Reb Chaim Volozhiner zt'l (ב"תקע דסליחות 'א יום) said, "A shofar coated with gold is pasul. The sound of the shofar passes through the gold, the material used for making the egel, and [סניגר נעשה קטיגר אין, something that reminds Heaven of our sins – the sin of the egel – can't be used as our advocate]. According to the Zohar, only the erev rav made the egel, and it occurred thousands of years ago, and nevertheless, gold is pasul in the shofar because gold was once used for avodah zarah. We see how cautious we have to be that אין סניגר נעשה קטיגר, something with a mere hint of sin and prosecution against us, shouldn't be used as our advocate. So how can a person blow shofar or daven to Hashem on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when his mouth is disgusting and tamei from speaking lashon hara? Therefore, it is imperative to do teshuvah."
The Chida (Chadrei Beten, Ki Seitzei) writes, "The beginning of teshuvah is to guard the mouth. As Dovid HaMelech (Tehillim 34:13-15) says, מרע סור ...מרע לשונך נצור – guarding the tongue comes before everything, it is a precursor to מרע סור."
