Rabbi's Blog

The calendar on my smartphone displays the number of weeks which have
passed this year. For example, we are now in ‘week 38’. As far as
the Jewish calendar is concerned, however, we are now heading into
the final week of the year. Elul, the last month of the year, is
primarily designed to prepare us for the upcoming Days of Awe: Rosh
Hashana and Yom HaKippurim. In reality, the entire year is meant to
prepare us, to make sure we live meaningful lives which should carry
us into the following year and, after 120 years into the next world.
If the entire year is designed this way, then the very last month
(Elul) is more of the cramming style, packing in everything possible
at the very last minute.

Whether it is the entire year or just the months leading up to the
New Year, it is the preparation that is critical. Throughout our
lives we prepare for different events, some taking longer than
others. A certain reality comes crashing down upon us at the end of
our preparations. No matter what kind of situation we prepare for,
the actual event or occurrence that we are building towards usually
takes a fraction of the time compared to the preparation for that
event.

As Yom Tov approaches we know we have to prepare meals. A festive
meal can sometimes take a few days of preparation, including planning
the menus, purchasing the ingredients, preparing and cooking the
food, setting the table, etc. It literally takes hours, sometimes
days to make it all happen, but the actual time spent from the time
people arrive, sit down to eat, finish the meal, and say Bircat
Hamazon takes only a couple of hours.

I have the opportunity to work with the young boys of our Shul to
prepare them for their Bar Mitzva. One of the skills they master is
reading the Torah. Months and months, hours and hours of preparation,
review, and hard work go into learning how to lain for that very
special day and then, usually within thirty minutes, it’s all over.

Every alternate summer and winter people from all over the world are
attracted to the Olympics. Athletes who have been training for years
in order to reach the highest levels of competition sometimes get one
shot at a chance to succeed at the Olympic level. Years of hard work
and dreams of winning the gold can be smashed by one little fall or
glorified by one perfect performance.

In these examples and in all cases similar to these in life, I
recommend that we savor the moments of the actual performance.
Savoring the moment, taking the time to really appreciate it, will
bring a sense of satisfaction and pleasure to what we are doing
regardless of the outcome. The fact that we took the time and put in
the effort to shop, create, and cook a beautiful, scrumptious meal,
to see that the Bar Mitzva boy learned and then mastered the ability
to read from the Torah or that the dedicated athlete was selected to
compete in the Olympics brings a sense of great accomplishment to
life.

If we have been training, focusing, and preparing for the big days of
Rosh Hashana and Yom HaKippurim, then we want to make sure we do it
right. We want to try to win the gold, to read the Torah flawlessly
and to savor every moment of our yom tov meal, eating it with
pleasure and appreciation, ultimately creating and experiencing
deeply meaningful and spiritual Days of Awe. But what happens if you
are reading this and realize that you did not prepare, that you
aren’t ready for the big days?

*Rav Moshe Teitelbaum in his sefer ‘Yismach Moshe’ writes about
the importance and significance of the last Shabbos of the year. He
says, “When a person lifts up the leg of a bed from one corner, he
has the ability to raise the entire bed.” So, too, if a person
corrects on the last day, be that the last day of the year or even of
his life, it is as though he has fixed and corrected everything from
the beginning of time. It states in Tanna Dvei Eliyahu: ‘Days He
created and not just one of them – this is the day of Shabbos’.
Not just one of them refers to the one day that is unique to all the
other days which is Shabbos. The Gemara in the first chapter states,
‘Yom Echad BaShana, Chashuv Shana’ one day of the year is
considered to be like an entire year’. One day can actually
represent an entire year and any day has the power and influence to
be like an entire year. If this applies to any day of the year, how
much more profoundly it applies to Shabbos. Shabbos is a spiritual
charge for mitzvos; it has the ability to represent the entire year.
This is why the last Shabbos of the year is filled with opportunity.

I believe this same principle can be applied to the days of Rosh
Hashana as well. For those who prepared, there is no question they
will be ready for the spiritual challenges of the High Holidays. But
even the individual who let the days of Elul slip by should not
despair. It all depends upon the performance of that one day, even if
the person didn’t prepare at all. It is possible to begin the
actual day and experience a great surge of energy and adrenalin,
pumping oneself up for the big day.

We learn from the famous story of Reb Elazar Ben Durdaya that Teshuva
and complete repentance can be achieved in one moment. Even if a
person has not prepared properly, as long as the one day is earnestly
focused on Teshuva, Tefillah and Tzedakah, the entire year can be
transformed into a year of blessing and goodness.

May we all merit a Kesiva VaChasima Tova and a good happy and healthy
Shana Tova!

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

*Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum (1759 - 16 July 1841), also known as the
Yismach Moshe, was the Rebbe of Ujhely in Hungary. According to Löw,
he signed his name "Tamar", this being the equivalent of Teitelbaum,
which is the Yiddish for "palm-tree. An adherent of the Polish
Hasidic Rebbe, the Chozeh of Lublin, Rabbi Teitelbaum was
instrumental in bringing Hasidic Judaism to Hungary. Though initially
opposed to Hassidism, after his son-in-law introduced him to the
Chozeh of Lublin, he soon became an adherent to Hassidism(Dezsö
Schön, 1997).

Rabbi Teitelbaum authored three main works, Heishiv Moshe ("Moses
Responded", a collection of responsa), Tefillah Le-Mosheh, (a
commentary on Psalms), and Yismach Moshe ("Moses Rejoiced", 1849; 2d
ed. 1898, containing homilies on the Torah),.Rabbi Teitelbaum is
commonly referred to by the title of the latter, Yismach Moshe. He
originally wrote a significant portion of his commentary on Psalms on
the backs of personal notes handed to him by petitioners seeking his
aid and blessing. These notes were transmitted via a succession of
prominent hasidic rabbis, until finally being edited and published
for the first time in Kraków in 1880.