Elul

What do you make of Elul?

It's the one month of year that has so much intensity to it. Almost conflicting emotions run through you. What does this month mean? I'm I really up to it, again?

Cheshbon HaNefesh. Do we really want to go there. It's scary. Can I really live up to what I want to live up to? Is it going to be the same of the old? Getting into it right in the beginning, half way through you're like, hey, where did it go, and then comes Rosh Hashanah and it just slipped by. Now I'm in panic mode. How can I salvage what is left? How can I even do Rosh Hashanah now? And the real question, Is it really going to last? Will I be able to look back and say, this year something changed for the better? I came away with something.

But this whole thing is so anti what we stand for. In our circles Elul is one of the most inspiring and maybe even joyous months of the year. The King is right here. Chai Elul brings a Chayus into Elul. That was a misnagid talking before.

But what can we do? These are the feelings.

What it really boils down to is probably 2 things:
1. Being alive and being Human. We are always growing and in order to grow we must reflect, question ourselves. And have goals. Something we look forward to. Something we look up to and are trying to reach. That's just being human. So even if you don't succeed in your goals, you're still alive. And that's really the main thing.

2. Knowing ourselves. And I find this to be very difficult. For instance in the time of inspiration, you're ready to tackle anything, how do you not forget who you really are and where you're really holding. And it's much more than that. How do we differentiate between what we would love to be like and what we are? We didn't do something right, how do we know what was in our hands and what was out of our hands, particularly because that other guy did do it right?

This takes a lot of thinking and a lot of questioning. It also takes a lot of optimism.

By the Rebbe growth was a given. That was the Rebbe's call to people, to grow.

So the King is in the field. There's a lot we can accomplish. It's all at our fingertips. How are we going to anchor it? How are we going to make sure that this year it will happen.

He will give you compassion

"He will give you compassion, be compassionate to you and multiply you". This is Moshe's words to the people of Israel at the conclusion of the commandment to destroy a city if all its inhabitants served idles.

Why the double language? "He will give you compassion and be compassionate to you"?

The "Kliy Yakar" explains: in the event that there is an unfortunate necessity to destroy a city, Hashem gives a special blessing. Namely, the destroying will not impact our character, it won't make us cruel. We won't bring the cruelty back home to our families and communities. He will give us compassion, refers not to Hashem's compassion on the people but to the people's compassion to one another.

Only after we are assured of the above, we have Hashem's blessing that we will be compassionate to others, can we receive the next part of the blessing "and he will be compassionate to you".
_____________________________

We go out and into the world; we are placed in places and circumstances that are very different from where we really want to be. We are there only because of Hashem's desire that we make a home for him in the most unlikely of places.

We pray that "he will give you compassion" that we don't bring the negative influences of the world back home. We pray that our souls remain compassionate, sensitive to spirituality.

That will make us worthy of "He will have compassion on you" by showing us the pleasantness of his radiance.

Bad Neighbors

"Nitai the Arbelite would say: Distance yourself from a bad neighbor, do not cleave to a wicked person, and do not abandon belief in [Divine] retribution". Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 1:7
A bad neighbor doesn't mean a bad person, s/he's just bad for you. The bad neighbors are those people in your life who bring you down or get you in trouble. They might be the kindest or smartest, but for you they're a bad influence and a bad neighbor. From those people you should stay far away from, distance yourself from them.
Then there are wicked people, bad people. You shouldn't distance yourself from them. Actually you should talk to them, teach them, reach out to them, help them become good people. Just don't cleave to them, don't become too friendly or you might be influenced by them.
One more thing to be careful with. If we're hanging out with the right people, doing the things we're supposed to be doing. And we're reaching out to those around us, Nitai is telling us, don't become too sure of yourselves, never think you can no longer make mistakes, "Never abandon belief in Divine retribution". Remembering this will always keep us in the right direction.