Deep in the forest, dozens of children and their parents are happily spending their time playing clever board games. The noise and shouts of joy frolicked and amused themselves in the passing autumn wind. It was a joyous and terrifying time. And suddenly, from the depths of the forest, a heart-rending and terrifying roar of a lion. Everyone fled and howled in tears, seeking a temporary hiding place and praying to be saved from the jaws of the infidel. But only a small boy remained in his place, his joy on his face not afraid or anxious. "Mother," a tender child turns to his mother, "Why is the boy not afraid?" And the mother strokes Hinoka's head and explains, "My son, the boy is deaf. He did not hear the roar of the lion and therefore he is not 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.
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And as the Rosh Yeshiva Shlita used to shout: "Elul is not September! Elul is El-L-U-L!!""
So simple, so real. The atmosphere of the days really adds to the feeling of personal purity and the penetration of the 'horrors' 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 are only concerned with calculating dates. "Three weeks before Rosh Hashanah" "Two weeks" "Last week of the year". Wait, and Elul itself? Does it exist?
The sacred concept of 'Terrible Days' is perceived by many as a paraphrase of 'the days among the Egyptians', God forbid. Many good people feel and even sense that in these "terrible" days, our lives are not life. We do not internalize that 'Terrible Days' are interpreted as their name: 'Days of Majesty and Sublimity'. When we praise our Creator in the whisper prayer and sing His name "The Great, the Mighty, the Terrible," what is this 'terribleness'? Is there fear in it? Is there terror in it? 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 magnificent.
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 of all blaming ourselves for our 'escape' to a hiding place of garbage and filth, as if the Day of Judgment is not near and will not come. God forbid.
If we know and internalize that whoever is not afraid and does not fear is not because of his apparent 'bravery' but rather because of his 'deafness' and inability to hear the terrible roar that terrifies every heart, "a trumpet 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 injured ear of the boy from the forest, then we will be wise and know our true situation and enter into true fear.
But not fear of the unknown, not terror of an uncertain future, God forbid. Quite the opposite - terror of the Creator of the world and fear of the known and realistic Day of Judgment. If we do not shed a tear of repentance, of purity, of holiness now, God forbid we will be forced to shed a heavy and salty tear of a man caught naked.
And to this end, one of the moralists told his parable: The group of people who wanted to smuggle their treasures to a foreign country. They counted and ended up burying their money and jewelry in a coffin to carry on their backs and cross the borders of the country. And when they arrived at 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 buried there and his will was to be buried in the neighboring country.
The border guard, who was vigilant, forced 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 in anguish at the impending battle. The guard turned to them and said, "You fools! If you had cried at first with the coffin on your shoulders and the curse of the scorner removed from your face, then you wouldn't be crying now.".
