Rabbi's Blog

There are several times in life when a person (including me!) finds him or herself in situations which causes total loss of general demeanor due to unforeseen or unfamiliar circumstances. No matter how much I know and anticipate this scenario, I tend to lose my composure and am no longer able to act with confidence. When I was a student in school, I dreaded taking tests, and especially dreaded receiving the graded tests from the teacher.  The before and after stress threw me off my game. Well, I managed to graduate from school and to survive the tests, only to graduate to a different realm called driving, facing “the test” which came in the form of being pulled over by a police officer. Getting back that test was comparable to facing the judge in court over the infraction.  Truth be told, some infractions can be paid online, and one can avoid the face-to- face with that human sitting royally in the black robe. On the other hand, there are times a person must show up in court.

We all know that one of the Seven Noachide laws is to set up a court system to ensure a functional society. Officers and judges presumably are appointed to maintain law and order in addition to settling personal disputes between people. On the surface it sounds as though this commandment is strictly for the physical element of life, but I have often opined that everything in the Torah, and for that matter life in general, reflects the physical and spiritual realms that mirror each other. Clearly stated,  every situation that has a physical side also has a spiritual side. Therefore, when speaking of judges and officers, it is not only referring to the physical individuals, but also to the spiritual guidelines of officers and judges alike.

The Torah in this week’s Parshas Shoftim states in Devarim 16:18 "שופטים ושוטרים תתן לך בכל שעריך, אשר ה' אלוקיך נתן לך לשבטך ושפטו את העם משפט צדק"  “ - Appoint yourselves judges and police for your tribes in all your settlements that God your Lord is giving you, and make sure that they administer honest judgment for the people”.

Rav Yeruchem Olshin Shlit”a,  Rosh Yeshiva (1 of 4) of Beis Midrash Gavoha, writes in the name of the Shelah HaKadosh that earlier leaders presented an outlook to this month with a passuk in Amos 3:8 "אריה שאג מי לא יירא"  regarding how throughout the month of Elul ”When the lion roars, who is not afraid?” Each of the Hebrew letters of Aryeh/lion stand for א-אלול, ר-.ראש השנה, י-יום כפור, ה-הושענא רבה . All of these letters form a pneumonic for Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabbah; all days connected to judgment for the coming year, equating the month of Elul to the days of judgment. But why? Why is Elul included with RH, YK, HR? Those days are days of fear because they are the days of judgment, but the month of Elul is NOT a time of judgment. Aren’t these days of Elul the days of preparation for the days of judgment? In fact, the Chayei Adom (klal 138) quoting the Ariza”l, states that “Elul are days of mercy and desire to get close to Hashem, not judgment.” The Noda B’Yehuda similarly states in Mahadura Kamma siman 32 that even the days when we recite selichos in Elul are not days of judgment rather they are days to get close to God. These are the first thirty days that Moshe was on Har Sinai to receive the second Luchos, clearly set up for the sole purpose of Moshe getting close to Hashem, strengthening his relationship to God. That is what Elul is meant to be for us as well. So the question remains, ”Why is Elul associated with judgment?”  

Rav Olshin explains, in truth, there really isn’t any open pretext for fear in the month of Elul itself, at least not from the point of view of this month. Rather the internal presence of fear during the month of Elul serves as a preamble for the ear of judgment that is on the way, growing closer day by day. Rabbeinu Yonah writes in his sefer Yereim, “…from the time we enter the month of Elul until the exiting of Yom Kippur, we should tremble and be fearful of the fear of the judgment”. This has been witnessed in several places. When the month of Elul was announced on the Shabbos before Rosh Chodesh (Shabbos Mevorchim), fear and trembling overcame many of the greatest sages of the time. The mussaf of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter on Shabbos Mevorchim Elul was gripped with fear and awe, even though the actual arrival of Elul had not yet occurred! The presence of being gripped with fear was reported by someone who davened Shabbos Mevorchim Elul with the Chofetz Chaim. As the words “Rosh Chodesh Elul will be on such and such days” the Chofetz Chaim began to tremble, and the entire assembly began to cry as they all were gripped with fear.

Yet we must contemplate and remind ourselves that the fear and trepidation was due to the approaching of the days of awe and judgment, albeit they had not yet arrived.  Even though one should always be afraid, the presence of fear is only applied to the immediate month preceding Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Nevertheless, Reb Aharon Kotler in the Mishnas Reb Aharon, writes, based upon a verse in Tehilim 119:91 that servants stand before God in judgment. The subpoena to Din/judgment in Jewish law is thirty days. Therefore, even the month of Elul itself has the conditions and feelings of judgment that warrant a person to tremble and fear, not only regarding what is coming, but also to what has arrived! However, the distinction between the Din of Elul and Tishrei is that only during Elul can we prepare ourselves with good arguments and defenses. The harshest accusation levied against a person is Chas V’Shalom - Heaven Forbid, if one should NOT search for ways and means to defend himself in the high court of God. The biggest issue arises when a person does not feel the need to research, to find good reasons why he or she should be exonerated come Rosh Hashana. We see that Rosh Chodesh Elul is the day when everyone receives a Hazmana L’Din, a subpoena to court, which is thirty days before the trial begins.

Within the deep recesses of our hearts, we know that Hashem is a God of Mercy; God is not looking to exact punishment upon us. Rather, God is a Rachaman, a compassionate One Who only seeks our own regret and remorse due to our poor decisions and failure to fulfill the Mitzvos. Therefore, the task at hand is to be humble, to search in earnest in order to find the means to correct our faults, devoid of arrogance and self-denial, to contemplate and address that we have erred. free There is no need to be nervous or scared so long as we prepare adequately and appropriately during this month of Elul. In doing so, we will enter the courtroom confident that Hashem will see how we prepared and exercise His right of forgiveness to us and to all Klal Yisrael.

Ah Gutten Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

Please note: judgment is the American spelling for this word.  The British spelling has an ‘e’ between the g and the m.