The eve of Rosh Chodesh Elul is an appropriate time to reflect on the entire month in preparation for the annual month of summary that is upon us for good.
This week's Torah portion - Torah portion - which is sometimes read on the first Shabbat of Elul and sometimes on the last Shabbat of Menachem-Av, gives us the strength to confront the passions and traits with which we were born.
This is how the Rebbe explains the verse "See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse" that opens our parasha:
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See - God gives us inner vision, one that is above the level of hearing and understanding. Moses acted at the level of vision. When a person sees, he is not required to interpret.
Anochki - acronym for 'Ana Nafshi Kvitvet Yahavith'. God, the Blessed, gives us His interiority through the power of the Torah, which is a medicine for every soul.
Giver - The help that God gives us comes in the form of "giving," about which our sages, blessed be their memory, said, "Everyone who gives with a good heart gives.".
Before you - the granting of power is done in a manner adapted to the inner nature and characteristics of each individual.
Today - the giving is done anew every day. In every moment God gives us the strength to deal with our nature.
Blessing and Curse - Along with the power given, we have the power of choice to choose at any moment between negative and positive. We can decide whether to use the divine blessing or the curse that will work against us.
The blessing is to go against our negative qualities. Seemingly a curse. But no! This is the true blessing, to force our nature to the will of God. This is truly the true desire of every Jew.
Proud pedophile
I want to tell you the story of Cili.
Tsili is a certified holistic therapist who has succeeded in life despite her shocking story. Tsili decided to dedicate her life to helping victims of child abuse. She sums up her entire life in one sentence: "My father had pedophile tendencies and he almost killed us"!
""It's time to talk about it openly and stop hiding it. If I know about my friends who touched their children, I will definitely complain about them. Under no circumstances should this be swept under the rug. It ruins entire lives.".
""I know of a teacher whose rabbis knew about his 'problems' and approved continuing to employ him anyway. The children who were harmed by him grew up and became young men who ultimately shed the yoke of Torah and mitzvot. There's no point in hiding it anymore. We must talk about it to stop it. We must explain to the children, even in a small yeshiva and even in a large yeshiva, that today everything is exposed and open.
""There are a lot of people among us who were hurt in childhood, whose lives were ruined. People who are functioning at their best because they are busy dealing with the damage they suffered in childhood.".
""And if we don't talk about it, it will only get worse in the future.".
We must stand up and talk about this!
Proud patient
And let's return to this week's parsha and the month of Elul. The month of Elul is known as the month of mercy and forgiveness.
The Rebbe, in a compassionate conversation on the subject of the "proud," clarifies that bringing up the fact that this is a bad trait or disease that resides in a person's body is not an attack on their dignity. Rather, it is an attempt to help them recover.
It is true that people are born with a certain trait. But the claim that because he grew up with it and for some reason this problem was not solved and fixed for him, does not justify the continuation of the mistake.
And if he thinks that what is harmless to him is something that is harmless to the world, this only shows and proves even more that the illness lies much deeper and much more dangerous in him and requires special measures to save him.
We must explain that we are not getting into a debate here about who is to blame and what is to blame. The story here is whether this is the "return of the world." After all, we are in the world of God, the Blessed One, and we are helping Him in His work of purification.
On the contrary, a person who is required to face such a great challenge is a person to whom God has granted great and immense powers. For God, the Almighty, does not give a person a trial that he cannot withstand.
In the "Yom-Yom" of the 28th Menachem-Av (Yom-Yom is a book of proverbs for every day that the Rebbe collected and wrote before he was appointed Rebbe) it is written as follows: The methods of healing in bodily illnesses in general are two: A. To heal the damaged organ or force, sick and weak. B. To strengthen the healthy organs and forces, which will overcome the sick organ and force to heal it.
The example of this in the mentally ill is the two ways of working: repentance and good deeds.
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The month of Menachem Av comes to comfort us for what we lack – the Temple. The month of Elul is the month of mercy. Mercy completely erases the lack. It is beyond comfort.
The mercy of God is so great that everyone sees - "See, I have set before you" - the immense powers inherent in him to overcome every obstacle and return to our Father in Heaven through repentance, good deeds, and much Torah. Because "I created the evil inclination," God makes it clear that He instilled in man the negative traits, but "I created for him the Torah as a spice!" I have given each and every one the strength to deal with their negative traits and choose blessing.
Wishing you a happy new month and good writing and signing.
• Part of the column is based on the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The author is the owner of "My Choice", an event host, lecturer and radio broadcaster: [email protected]
