Deep in the forest, dozens of Hemad's children and their parents spent their time in pleasant and intelligent board games. The hustle and bustle of noise and shouts of joy blended and mesmerized with the passing autumn wind and the mighty shadows of the trees. Everything was calm and peaceful.
And suddenly, from the depths of the forest, a lion's roar breaks the heart and instills terror. Everyone fled in panic and began howling and crying, seeking a casual hiding place and praying to be saved from the jaws of the infidel. But only a small boy remained in his place and his joy on his face was not afraid or anxious. "Mother," a tender child turns to his mother, "Why isn't the boy afraid and doesn't he hurry and run?" And the mother strokes Hinoka's head and explains: "My son, the boy is deaf. He didn't hear the lion's roar and therefore he isn't afraid.".
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Thousands of yeshiva students and avrechim returned to their educational institutions this week. And in effect began the "time of Elul." Not a date or a period, not a month or a season - "Elul." So simple, so real.
The atmosphere of the days also adds to the feeling of personal purity and the penetration of the 'horror' of the days ahead. But do we understand, do we live 'Elul'? Do we have the correct and true information about the power of these days?
It seems that in the heat of the seasons and times, we have momentarily abandoned the essence of the days, and we are only concerned with calculating dates: "three weeks before Rosh Hashanah" - "two weeks" - "last week of the year" and so on. But does Elul itself exist?
The sacred concept of 'Holy Days' is perceived by many as a paraphrase of 'the days between Egypt' - God forbid. Many good people feel and even sense that in these days, the 'Holy Days', their lives are not alive. They do not internalize that 'Holy Days' are interpreted as their name suggests: 'days of majesty and sublimity'.
When we praise our Creator in the whisper prayer and sing His name, "The Great, the Heroic, the Terrible," what is this 'terribleness'? - Is there fear in it? Is there terror in it? No, no. The opposite is true: the 'terribleness' of the Blessed One is in His sublimity and glory. And even these days, in contrast, are terrible days. Sublime and glorious.
Our escape from reality is not helpful and even harmful. We are remarkably similar to that criminal who flees and hides, pretending not to believe in the coming judgment. And until we wonder about this fugitive, we are first and foremost concerned with ourselves, with our 'escape' to a hiding place of garbage and filth, as if the Day of Judgment is not near and is not coming - and it is coming.
If we know and internalize that he who is not afraid and does not fear, it is not because of his imaginary 'bravery' but because of his 'deafness' and not hearing the terrible roar that terrifies every heart - as the late Rabbis said: "A shofar will be blown in the city and the people will not be afraid - if we know all this, and compare our uncircumcised hearts to the wounded ear of the boy from the forest, then we will be wise and become aware of our true situation, and we will enter into powerful fear. Not fear of the unknown, not fear of an uncertain future, God forbid. But exactly the opposite - fear of the Creator of the world, and fear of the known and real Day of Judgment.
If we do not shed a tear of repentance of purity and holiness in this month, God forbid we will be forced to shed a heavy and salty tear of a person caught in his nakedness. As in the parable of one of the moralists, about the group of people who sought to smuggle their treasures to a foreign country. They counted and ended up burying their money and jewelry in a coffin, carrying it on their backs and crossing the borders of the country. And now, when they reached the border checkpoint, they did not pay attention to the guard standing at the entrance, and with a smile on their lips, they asked him to allow them to pass with their coffin, because a dead person was lying there and his will was to be buried in a neighboring country. The border guard, who was vigilant, asked them to open the coffin and found before his eyes treasures and jewelry, most of which the punishment for those caught smuggling them would be unbearable. The members of the group began to cry and wail, anxious for the approaching enemy. The guard turned to them and said: "You fools, if you had cried at the beginning, with the coffin on your shoulders, and the laughing stock removed from your face, then you wouldn't be crying now.".
So true, maybe it sounds a bit exaggerated, and even somewhat pretentious, to talk about crying and tears, when the last days of vacation are still lingering behind us, and the approaching Day of Judgment seems like a distant future that doesn't even appear on the calendar.
But one thing must always be remembered. The days, the month, and the period are defined in all senses and meanings as days of grace and mercy, as days of repentance and remorse. And even if we are still somewhere in August in body and soul, the Jewish world is on other days. We should, therefore, catch up and stick to the Hebrew calendar.
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