Elul 5785

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

The parsha states: When you go out to war and Hashem gives the enemy into your hands, if you see a captive woman and want to marry her, you should bring her into your house, where she cries for a month. After that, if you still desire, you may marry her (Devarim 21:10–13).

The Or HaChaim explains that the pasuk is hinting not only to a physical battle, but also to the real war — the war with the yetzer hara. The Chovos HaLevavos in Shaar HaYichud tells of a chassid who met soldiers returning from war. He told them: You came back from the small war, but now you face the great war — the war inside you that lasts your whole life. This is the struggle with the yetzer hara. Every person has his own battle, his own yetzer hara. And the pasuk is teaching that Hashem will place the enemy in your hands — but only if you keep fighting. If you do whatever you can, if you constantly struggle, then Hashem will help you.

The Kotzker Rebbe adds: the parsha emphasizes ki seitzei la’milchamah — you must set out to battle. You cannot stumble into war carelessly; you must prepare yourself. Make a plan to avoid the yetzer hara. Don’t go to the wrong places. Don’t meet the wrong people. Don’t look at the wrong things. Then, when you go out to battle, Hashem will help you, and you will certainly defeat the yetzer hara.

The pasuk continues: you bring the captive woman into your house, and she cries for her father and mother for a month. The Zohar teaches that this month alludes to Chodesh Elul. But what does her crying have to do with our crying in Elul?

The mashgichim explain: What is she really crying about? She misses her parents, her old life. She is used to living like a non-Jew, with non-Jewish customs and habits. Now she is entering a Jewish home. It is difficult to leave behind everything familiar and accept a new way of life. Very painful.

So too, in Elul, we also go through painful changes. It means trying to leave behind our bad habits — the unnecessary conversations, the little distractions in seder, the indulgences that waste our energy. We must leave them behind. And we try to acquire new ways — put ourselves more into Torah, more mitzvos, more serious learning, more kavanah in tefillah. That is what Elul is about.

Rav Chaim Friedlander said: You must do this with great strength; you have to push yourself firmly, because if you do not push yourself, you will not change. Just like someone sleeping soundly, you cannot whisper to him. You must shake him awake. So too in Elul, we are all asleep. We must push ourselves awake — with more Torah, more mitzvos, and more tefillah — with strength and determination.

Rav Zelig Epstein added another layer: Elul is not only about adding Torah where you didn’t learn and kavanah in tefillah or mitzvos. The very word “Elul” is the roshei teivos of Ani l’dodi v’dodi li — I am to my Beloved, and my Beloved is to me. Elul is about coming closer to Hashem.

Somebody once came to the Rav and asked: What do I really need to work on in Elul? What exactly should I be changing now? Rav Zelig answered: Don’t think only of changing practices. Think more about Hashem. When you do mitzvos, do them for Hashem, to do Hashem’s ratzon. When you learn, remember you are learning Hashem’s Torah. When you daven, remember you are speaking to Hashem and asking Him for help. Focusing on Hashem draws us closer to Him. It gives strength and prepares us for Rosh Hashanah.

I heard this story from Rav Gamliel Rabinovitch. When the Slonimer Rebbe (later author of Nesivos Shalom) was a young bochur in Eretz Yisrael, he fell ill with a severe case of measles. It worsened. The doctor said it required immediate surgery — a dangerous and complicated operation. This was at the end of Av. The Rebbe asked: Can we wait until after Sukkos? The doctor said: Impossible. You are in danger. But the Rebbe insisted: Please wait until after the Yamim Noraim. The doctor returned the next day and agreed: if you take it easy, perhaps we can wait.

After Sukkos, the doctor examined him again. The illness was gone. No operation was needed. The doctor was shocked: “What did you do? Which medicine? Did you go to another doctor?” The Rebbe said: “I took no medicine. I did not go anywhere. I davened to Hashem. I begged Him not to take away my Elul and my chizuk for the next year. Hashem helped me.”

May we be zocheh to utilize Elul fully and to merit a good year.