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A collection of classes to prepare us for the new year -Rosh Hashanah. Rav Shlomo takes on a journey to connect deeper with the avodah of Rosh Hashanah through various texts from Rav Kook, the Aish Kodesh, Rav Tzadok HaKohen, Rebbe Nachman, and more.
Good morning brothers. Good morning everybody. You okay? Okay, let's sing. Okay, בוקר טוב לחיים יוסף תודה ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו אמן אשרינו שזכינו יהי רצון מלפניך ה' אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו שיהיה כל לימודינו לשם שמים להגדיל תורה ולהאדירה בשם כל ישראל אמן.
Needless to say, I missed everyone. I missed our learning, I missed being here, I missed this room. And Hashem should, we're asking you Hashem, please open our hearts to fly, to go stronger, deeper, more than ever before. And it should give us chiyus us and our families and in good health for many more years beezrat Hashem.
The month of Elul is sponsored by the Silver family לעילוי נשמת בתיה פייגא בת ישראל and the Vizels for the refuah sheleimah for עטל שרה בת חנה, יעקב שלמה בן ביילא, zivug hagun for Esther bat Rachel. And in memory of also our dear friend David Magerman lost his mother a few weeks ago. I was zocheh to be by the shiva in Philly. So this is לעילוי נשמת שרה בת אברהם חיים שילה מאגרמן.
The week is sponsored by Diana Rosenfelder for the refuah sheleimah of Gavriel ben Toiba. And today is sponsored anonymously for the refuah of מלך שאול בן טשרנא. Also, this is a little bit hard. I just just received a message from Rav Weinberger.
His mother was just nifter about two hours ago. I remember that we're davening for the mother's name. We're davening for the mother. I don't remember I don't know the Rebbe's mother's father's name.
Her her name was Pearl.
לעילוי נשמת פערל בת אברהם. So it should be for the ilui nishmatah as well. That actually connects to what we're going to be learning today, beezrat Hashem, because over the summer, one of the days up there in Guilford, New York, which is like where we were was like hours after where anyone else is, besides Yeshuam, who's there a little bit with me over the summer.
So this like when you come out of camp there, there's no, there's only some Amish chevre. They're the, they're gevaldig. This Amish chevre. You saw them a little bit? These chevre, all I want to do was hang with them and chill with them and understand what's, they're going with their wagons and just I don't know, people I'd want to hang out with, you know.
But when you go, when you drive, I'm bechlal not from the city. This was all new to me. When you drive like back down to where the rest of, it seemed like Yidden were, right? So you go out of any, one of these bungalow colonies or camps, it's packed with Yidden, rows, rows down the road waiting to get into Dougie's or to other areas up there in Woodbourne, New York and all these places. Was that what it's called? Woodbourne? Midbourne? Burn.
So I would one, I would drive down often down towards closer to where that chevre was sometimes for different inyanim, for food or or to see someone. So Rav Weinberger was there over the summer, he has a place in one of the bungalow colonies there, and I spent an afternoon with him, and he said to me that he, at this shlav in life, all he, seder of his day is one of the things he does, he can't go a day without a little bit of the Ba'al Shem Tov. So he opens up one of the seforim and just learns a little bit of the Ba'al Shem Tov every single day. And it struck in me something so strong, like, yeah, let's go back to roots a little bit, let's go back to the roots.
Let's go back to how it all started mishom, you know, up there, at the top of the line, and then trickle down again. So to get into our learning of Elul right now, we'll learn a piece, it's really from Rav Kluger, but it's a mashal of the Ba'al Shem Hakadosh, that I think fits very strongly into where we're probably most at right now, that listen, it's, what's today's Chof, right? Chof Elul. Chof Elul. Chof Elul.
Rosh Hashanah is in ten days. Chof Elul. We've already passed the Chai Elul, right? And game is on, whether we like it or not. Game on, you know.
So this, but but let's get our game on with the sweetness and the love of רב ישראל בעל שם, and I think that'll be a way, hope at least I know for myself to be me'orer, to awaken something inside, and hopefully bring, even though it's a shtikel cold in here right now, bring warmth into our, you're the only one here that's really suffering, but all of us, all the chevre are fine, we're just rocking with it. But this is a, it's a mashal from the Ba'al Shem Tov that'll bring us inside, beezrat Hashem. So this is from the sefer, Rav Kluger's sefer on Rosh Hashanah, and it's a beautiful short piece on the mahut of the day. What page is it? Kof Vav? Thank you.
Okay. Kof Vav. Yofi. Bisyata Dishmaya, chevre.
Should be strong. Don't be shy. Don't be shy. Speak up.
עבודת התשובה ובקשת הסליחה בתמימות והכנעה. The avodah of doing teshuvah and asking for forgiveness with tmimus and hachna'ah.
עומדים אנו בימי הרחמים והסליחות. That's where we're at right now.
Game is on.
כל אחד משפר את מעשיו ורוצה לחזור ולהתקרב להשם יתברך. Everyone wants to do better. Everyone wants to come back and be close to Hashem.
ונבא לעסוק בסייעתא דשמיא בעבודת הימים הבאים לקראתנו לאור המשל שהובא בספר אהבת שלום בשם הבעל שם טוב הקדוש. So we're going to do, we're going to try to be better. We're going to try to be better in a certain way through a mashal that's brought in the sefer Ohav Shalom in the name of the בעל שם טוב הקדוש, vezeh leshono. This is the mashal the בעל שם טוב הקדוש says.
משל שהובא בשם הבעל שם טוב נשמתו בגנזי מרומים שאמר להמתוקים ולבעלי תפילה שפעם אחת יסעו משפחה אחת.
מרדו בארי מלכם ויקצוף המלך מאוד וחמתו בערה בו והיו החיות מבקשים עצות ותחבולות לפייסו. What did the Baal Shem Tov do? It happened one time and he told the tokim, those that were blowing the shofar and the chazzanim on the yamim noraim, that it happened one time that in the animal kingdom, the animals rebelled against the lion, their king, right? The Lion King. And the king got very angry and he was burning in rage and the hayos, the animals that rebelled against the king, wanted to figure out a way how to lefaeso, piyus, how to appease, how to make shalom, how to calm down the rage.
V'amad hashu'al, what's a shu'al? Fox. Hapikeach shebechayos, and it's amazing that in the sefarim they then in other places, a lot of the sefarim that try to understand this mashal of the Baal Shem Tov go on a whole long stream of consciousness of understanding the pnimiyus of dafka a shu'al. Why is a fox dafka the pikeach, the wisest of the chayos? We're not going to go into that right now but when you learn the mashal of the Baal Shem Tov, every single detail is Torah. It's not stam another detail in a story, every single detail is יש לו מה להגיד.
So what happens? The fox, the hapikeach shebechayos, gets up v'amar lahem lachayos. He told the animals come with me, לכו עמי אל המלך. Why?
ואני יודע שלוש מאות משלים הממשיכים את הלב אולי אוכל לפייסו בהם. I know three hundred different parables that draw the heart, perhaps through the parables that I know, I can appease the lion, I can appease the king.
V'halchu imo, so they went with him, all the animals.
ויהי הם עודם הולכים עמו, while they're walking with him, ועדיין היו רחוקים מחצר המלך, they're still far from where the king was at, ענה השועל ואמר להם אל נא ירע לבבכם, don't freak out, but היות שעצתי היה לפייס המלך על ידי המשלים היפים, my intention was to come and pull out every mashal that I knew to appease the king, veata shachachti ketzasam, but I kind of forgot some of them right now while we're on the way.
ויאמרו אליו אולי יתפייס המלך בעבור המשלים הנותרים בזכרונך. So they said to him, well, maybe whatever you have left in the storage will be enough to appease the king.
You got, basically they're saying, you got anything left? Like, yeah, I got a little left. So okay, listen, maybe exactly that which you have left, the parables that you want to, that you know can draw down the heart of the king, maybe that'd be enough in order to lefaes hamelech. You got something left in the storage? Yes. Okay, so then hopefully that'll be enough.
והנה בהגיעם לחצר המלך ממש, so now they come to the courtyard of the king, ענה השועל ואמר להם, he turns back to the rest of the animals and he says, okay chevre, don't trip out, but אל נא ירע לבבכם עלי היות שנשכחו כולם ממני. I actually forgot everything.
אך אף על פי כן לכו עמי, but still come with me, still walk in with me.
אולי יתן השם יתברך לנו רחמים וחנינה לפניו.
Maybe Hashem will just, maybe Hashem will give us rachamim and chanina before the ari, before the lion, ויתרצה לשמוע בקול צעקתנו כי מה לנו עוד צדקה כי אם לצעוק אל המלך, because what else can we do besides, you know, roar before the king? V'hinei and here they're already there, right? They're already there. He hear what he says.
והנה כשמעם הדברים האלה וישמעו לו וילכו עמו ויבאו אל המלך.
ויפלו על פניהם ארצה.
They fall on their faces and the fox begins to darshen.
ויען השועל ויאמר אדוננו המלך יהיו נא אמרינו לרצון לפניך, may our words that we're saying right now be of wanting before you.
היות שמתחילה בושנו וגם נכלמנו להרים פנינו אליך, we were really embarrassed to lift up our heads before you because we knew that we rebelled against you and we knew you weren't so happy with us.
אך מצד שהייתי בקי בדברי משל ומליצה ממשיכים הלב, but since I had this bekiyus, I knew, I had this thorough knowledge of how to say parables that draw the heart, lizeh mashachti bidvarim.
That's how I got all this posse, this whole chevre to join me, all this chevre that's behind me, they knew that I knew how to talk, they knew that I... I had the words. I had the language. I had the meshalim in my heart and in my mind.
ואמרו אלי אחריך נרוצה and all the chevra came after me. They said, "We're running after you. We're running with you." אולי תוכל לפייס את המלך בדבריך ומשליך נעימים and they said to me, "Maybe you could appease the king with your sweet words." וכעת מה אעשה שנשכחו ממני? But what am I going to do now? I'm standing before you, I got this whole chevra behind me, and I actually have nothing to say before you. I forgot it all.
הנה אנחנו כחומר ביד היוצר ויש בידך להמית ולהחיות ואנחנו מבקשים את פניך בבכי ובצעקה. You, the king, the lion, you run this whole kingdom here. You, whoever you want to remain alive, you choose to keep them alive. And anyone that you don't want to stay alive, it's in your bechira to not keep them alive.
But we're asking with crying and screaming, ויחמרו רחמיך עלינו ואל תשחיתנו. We're begging to have rachmanus on us and don't wipe us out.
ועשה עמנו חסד חינם, chesed chinam, an undeserved gift. V'ki chein derachecha.
These are your ways. Your ways, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, sorry, and we're still in the mashal. Your way, lion king, we know about you that you have this way of giving chesed chinam.
והנה כשמוע המלך צעקתם ושברון ליבם, so as the king hears this scream and the breaking of their heart, נתרצה להם ומחל להם.
So of course he forgave them, and then vehanimshal muvan. We don't have to, we don't have to explain. What does this, what does this have to do with Elul, right? Mah kesher? That's not, we don't have that problem, right? It's a very clear mashal. It's not, sometimes the Baal Shem had meshalim that you really, you really have to, you know, you need big tzaddikim to begin to darshan even the beginning of pshat.
This is one of the meshalim, one of the parables that it's, it's straightforward. It's right there. But the way that we're going to say it is in a way that, you know, a tzaddik like Rav Kluger who, I need help this year because I realized last few years I had so many ideas while we're learning, I said, "Oh, we got to do this. We got to go see that person." I need help with the chevra from someone to take charge and remind and keep me to my word but by helping make happen some of the ideas that come down.
So I want us very, we haven't, we went to Rav Kluger, it was barely anyone that's in this room because it was years ago. I don't know if anyone was even from this room. Were you there, Dovid? Yeah. You remember how special it was and his, it was so special.
He's here in Beit Shemesh. I remember, I knew because of his, the way that he speaks, that he's very down to earth, very real. He likes real, real talk. He's Judah Michel's Rebbe.
And I turned to him while we were sitting there and I said, אבא תודה שכולם פה יודעים שהם דפוקים. Everyone here knows that they're messed up, right? And he turned to me without beating, without missing a beat, he says, "V'ani avi avos." And he wasn't trying to impress me, sound cool. He said, "V'ani avi avos," meaning, I'm the king of knowing that I'm screwed up. I just remembered right now when we flew out from Eretz Yisrael to chutz la'aretz in Motzei Tisha B'av.
So it was a lot of, we're on a lot of shpilkas, a bunch of kids. We broke our fast on the way to the airport and it was a whole chagiga at Ben Gurion, of course, because everyone that was waited not to travel the nine days, so they went out Motzei Tisha B'av. And I get on the plane, I get on the plane, ah, I see Rav Motta Frank. He was sitting a few rows in front of us and we started shmoozing.
It was great and I was sending him, I was texting him the whole flight Reb Shlomo's peirush on Likutey Moharan. He kept on writing me back. We had this great back and forth throughout the flight. Ishai Fleisher is sitting two rows behind him, right? And then there was this, there was this beautiful Chassidishe Yid kept on walking to the front of the plane and back and he kept on passing by me and looking at me, looking at me a little strangely till finally like an hour before the flight's over, he came by.
He's like, "It happens because of whatever, because of social media, so the faces get around." So he says, "Who? I, I know you." He said, I told him my name. It didn't mean anything to him. I said, "Who are you?" He says, "Oh," it's like when they ask, when they... when Eliezer introduces himself to Beis Lavan, what does he say? What's the, how does he explain who he is? What does the Torah say? Eved Avraham Anochi.
That's the lashon. It's like I don't have any kiyum mitzidi. Who am I? I'm Avraham Avinu's servant. So I asked this person, who are you? He says, I don't even think he said to me his name.
He said, ah, I'm the gabbai of Rav Kluger. He's sitting in the, he's sitting a few rows ahead over here. So it was a very intense flight. It was a lot of weight.
There's a lot, there's a lot going on on that plane. Rav Kluger was on his way to New York as well. So I really want us to go see him and you'll understand why by now learning this next piece over here because he's going to explain the pnimiyus of this mashal. Not the pshat, but the pnimiyus of this mashal.
Hamichuvan bamashal hazeh. Turn the page. What this mashal is telling us is as follows: שקודם ראש השנה יש לאדם הרבה תוכניות. We have a lot of plans, oh, a lot a lot of plans, right? Before Rosh Hashanah.
כבר בחמישה עשר באב, already on Tu B'Av, ומתחיל לתכנן כיצד האלול של השנה לא יהיה כמו האלול של השנה מקדמוניות. We already start planning this Elul, oh, this Elul is going to be for real. It's not going to be like previous years. This Elul I'm going to get my act together and all the things that I set myself up to do, this Elul it's going to happen.
ומכין תוכניות מפורטות כיצד לנצל השנה את ימי הרחמים והרצון. And he starts planning all these plans how, how to make sure the days of Rachamim and Ratzon will be used. Choshev machshavos, he already starts cheshboning out כיצד יספיק לקרוא את כל תיקוני הזוהר בימי אלו, right? Like all of us. Right.
Like he already plans out how, how we're, how we're going to do all our Tikkunei Zohar in these days, בנסי ויתקדש ויתעלה מאוד בתורה ועבודה. And whatever, now joking aside, everyone has from the moment you hear Rosh Chodesh Elul, right? More or less, probably from then. It already is like, oh, okay, so now I know that this year it's going to be like this. Now because we unfortunately are still scheduled by the non-Jewish calendar, Elul doesn't start in Elul.
When does Elul start for many people? September 1st. Yeah. So in years like we have now, that it's September, what is it today? September 2nd, it's Chaf Elul. It's very, it's very hard, especially the kids, those of us that are still dealing in the, you know, Baruch Hashem in that parsha.
But everyone still has like some kind of a plan of like this year no matter how many days I have of Elul to be fully in, everyone has some kind of chashiva. I'm going to stop this by then, or I'm going to take this on by, by Elul or whatever it is. Everyone has it somewhere. And those are all good things, they're beautiful thoughts.
We're not trying to discourage. Those are good important things to have these types of machshavos. Five lines from the bottom of this first paragraph: ומקווה שעל ידי ריבוי העסק בתשובה ומעשים טובים יתקרב להשם יתברך. And he hopes that by a lot of the good teshuva that he's taking on, good things he's doing, he'll come close to Hashem Yisborach, ויזכה לסליחה ומחילה וגם יכתב לשנה טובה ומבורכת שהרי הרבה הרבה והכביר בזכויות וסגולות.
And he's banking, he or she are banking on the fact that I took on a lot of things, I did the best I could, Hashem sees it and I'll have a slicha mechila and I'll also be written in a book of life and it'll be a good year. A lot of us go in with that type of machshava. Excuse me.
אולם באמצע חודש אלול הוא רואה שמה שהיה הוא שיהיה ומה שנעשה הוא שנעשה.
But at a certain point already in the middle of Chodesh Elul he says whatever was was, whatever will be will be.
ולא נשאר בידו מאומה מכל מה שחשב ותכנן. Anyone ever have this? One year I, it's etched in me, one year I was in, I was in Moshe and Aliza's wedding, Moshe and Aliza Cohen's wedding, they got married Gimmel Elul or Beis or Gimmel Elul right around Rav Kook's Yahrzeit and I was in New York and I found an empty beis medrash Rosh Chodesh Elul in Passaic, New Jersey because I was staying there and I brought with me every sefer I had since my Bar Mitzvah to, to start Chodesh Elul of course, and kamuvan that I didn't get through kimat, kimat anything and it, it stayed so bad in me that the next year I said to myself I'm not even going to try. Right? And that's not a way either.
That's also not a way. The way of taking on kabbalos of starting things, Rebbe Kluger has another maamar of saying it's an avodah to know what to choose. That's also a deep thing. But to say I don't want to I don't want to be disappointed, so I'm not going to take on anything, that's not a chochma either.
That's not our way. To know how to choose, that's already a chochma. That's a that's a smart thing. But we have all these off moments in life like what he's explaining right here, what's left with what I took upon myself, right? Again, אולם באמצע חודש אלול הוא רואה שמה שהיה הוא שיהיה ומה שנעשה הוא שיעשה ולא נשאר בידו מאומה מכל מה שחשב ותיכנן.
ואז הוא מחליט בדעתו שהנה תכף הולכים לומר סליחות. So at least he says, ah, chof Elul. You know what? Okay, it's true. I didn't get I didn't 20 days, 20 days have have already taken place since chodesh Elul.
So what are we banking on now? It'll start Motzei Shabbos for for, sorry, Yosef, it'll start Motzei Shabbos when we start saying selichos. That'll start. You're with him in the selichos in the morning? Mamash no. You're Ashkenazi in Elul? My Elul has identified as other so far.
Nice. So you could relate to the following, you could relate to the following. That's great. It's good, Gaffen.
Let it out. Let it out. Let it out. What? What? Let it out.
What you could identify with the following as well, it'll start when? Selichos. Motzei Shabbos.
ואז בודאי יתפוס את עצמו. Then for sure I'm going to grab myself.
Then I'll get my act together.
אך בראש השנה בבוקר, comes Rosh Hashanah morning, this year'll be Shabbos morning, וראה שלא הצליח להגיע לכל מה שרצה. Selichos passed, I didn't get to anything.
ומחליט שכעת זה הזמן לקבל על עצמו קבלות טובות.
So when is he start doing kabbalos tovos? On the way to shul Shabbos morning, Yom Tov morning.
והפעם בודאי יצליח לעמוד בהם. Yeah, it's Rosh Hashanah, of course. Now I'll be able to I'll uphold that which I'm taking on.
ושוב נזכר בערב יום כיפור. But then this happens again. This happens again when you're doing hataras nedarim or or you know whenever it is you're it's erev Yom Tov, kapparos. And then he adds here ואין צורך להאריך ולפרט ולתאר כיצד הדברים חוזרים על עצמם מדי שנה בשנה.
He's saying we don't have to go over this, why?
לב יודע מרת נפשו. We all know this inside.
ותן לחכם ויחכם עוד. We all know how this works individually.
ולזה בא המשל מהשועל. Now he goes this is why the Baal Shem Tov brought this parable from the fox.
ללמד דעת את האדם, to teach us, אשר בא אל המלך עם הרבה תוכניות ומשלים ורעיונות. Truthfully, I don't really know that many people that show up Rosh Hashanah that actually could say those things that I started Rosh Chodesh Elul, it all I did them.
And now my life is different. And now I'm a different person, now I'm a changed person. Everyone has these rayonos. Everyone's like the fox saying I have a parable, I got this thing working for me, I know how to appease.
ולבסוף רואה שלא נשאר בידו מאומה. chof Elul, chof tes Elul. It's it's it's yud tes Tishrei. What's left? Shemikol makom the Baal Shem Tov is telling us if you start feeling depressed over what we just described, you're missing the whole point.
That's not at all what the point is about.
שמכל מקום לא יפול ברוחו ובדעתו ויתחזק לעמוד לפני המלך. All you have to do, like we say every year, ובכן יבוא אל המלך. That is the avodah.
You follow the fox and whether it's the fox that you see in another person or the fox that's in you and you make sure that whether you remembered all the meshalim or you forgot all of them, yavo el hamelech. I'm going to be I'm going to show up. Uchmo sheheveinu bamashal. Like we brought in the parable, ויפלו על פני ארצה ויען השועל ויאמר אדונינו המלך ינעם אמרינו לרצון לפניך.
Like the fox told the the lion, our master the king, may whatever comes out of our mouth right now be before you for ratzon.
היות שמתחילה בושנו וגם נכלמנו להרים פנינו אליך. This is so deep because what does the mashal telling us that the fox is saying? Basically we're saying, Ribono Shel Olam, when I looked at all the things that I took upon myself and realized I didn't do any of them, or I did very few of them, there was a place of authenticity that told me, don't show up as a fraud, don't go up to the king. Boshnu ve-gam niklamnu, I'm too full of busha.
I'm too full of busha to come before you. And there was really a machshava that sounded like it was holy, it smelled like it was a shtikel holy, that said to me, don't even, don't do this. It's not right. Lo rauy.
Lo rauy, it's not suitable. Lo rauy. There was a machshava like that. But ואנחנו מבקשים את פניך בבכי ובצעקה ויכמרו רחמיך עלינו ואל תשחיתנו ועשה עמנו חסד חנם.
You see chevra, listen closely. Listen really closely. If I come before Hashem based on the avodas that I took upon myself, what may I be coming before Hashem with? What kind of feeling may I be coming before Hashem with? Pride? Megia li. Yeah, megia li.
Megia li. I stopped that. I kicked that bad habit. I may come before Hashem with some kind of sense of...
remember there's a famous story that motzei Yom Kippur, the Rebbe, the Frierdiker Rebbe came into his father, the Rebbe Rashab. There's a famous story and he said to him, okay Tatti, it's motzei Yom Kippur, what's the avoda now? He says, what's the avoda now? Tshuva. It's motzei Yom Kippur. Because the real people understand that this thing of tshuva is constant.
It's constant and it's not based on the scale system, even though it's true that a lot of rishonim use it, but that's just, they use it in order to give us like to mamchish before us Yom HaDin. They mamchish before us Yom HaDin. But to believe be-pnimiyus ha-lev, pnimiyus ha-lev, that that's not really how it works, that's not really the setup. This is a very big yesod in תורת הבעל שם טוב.
Remember there was the Nesivos Shalom brings down, I don't remember in the name of who it is, maybe the Kobriner Rebbe, maybe it's in the Maggid of Mezeritch. He says whoever doesn't believe, whoever thinks, or he doesn't, sorry, whoever doesn't believe that there's an aveira big enough that can completely disconnect you from the Ribono Shel Olam, mashu ka-ze, לא עמד עדיין על מפתן הדלת של תורת החסידות ושל התורה הקדושה. That he hasn't even come, he hasn't even shown up to the doorstep yet, really. He hasn't even shown up to the doorstep.
Meaning what? Let's darshan there. Whoever is under any type of assumption that if I did what I did, it would be suitable for me to stand before you. Whoever still lives in that frame of reference, he hasn't, he hasn't begun anything. He hasn't really beseder, he knows some Reb Nachman, he learns, he walks around with the Chayeinu, but he does daily Tanya.
He doesn't understand the pnimiyus is, it's not that. It's that right now it's kaf Elul. It's Wednesday morning. At this moment game on.
What's game on? I'm coming to you no matter what. I'll try to do everything I could try to do. I'll give it my best shot but I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop no matter what.
לא יפול רוחו ולבו. Doesn't matter. My ruach and my lev, even though in my mind the person I thought I would be by kaf Elul would look a certain way, would think a certain way, would act in a certain way. Nachon, that's what my mind, the big, the big Gvir.
The big Rebbe, my mind has told me. Lo nachon. It's, that's not how it works. Right now it starts.
And right now it starts.
כמו כן יש לו לאדם ליפול ולהשתטח לפני השם יתברך ולבקש מלפניו חסד חנם כי כן דרכו. You come before Hashem and saying מגיע או לא מגיע לי, that's your cheshbon. I'm not banking on megia li or lo megia li.
I'm coming before you Hashem and saying ein od milvado, there is nothing I know that it's you that runs this whole show and I'm with you. As simple as that sounds. And I'm going to continue to lekabel al atzmi then again we have to do another maimar, we'll hopefully do it at some point at Aseres Yemei Tshuva. I really Hashem, I need to work...
better on cheshboning out what are better realistic kabbalos. That's a big avoda. Realistic kabbalos are is a very important thing. And hopefully I'll do a better job figuring out what that is.
But until I figure it out, until I crack that code, אני יודע שאני פה. I could have stopped on the way while I like the fox I forgot mashal after mashal after mashal, אבל הנה אני פה. V'achen, bottom last paragraph, haslichos poschos b'lashon. How do slichos begin?
בשנו וגם נכלמנו להרים ראש.
We're even too embarrassed to lift up our head when we think about it in the terms that we just described here. If we really stopped and thought about it and we got out of the מגיע לי לא מגיע לי and all we thought about was who we what we really are and who we and the distance between who we want to be. That's how slichos starts.
לך ה' הצדקה ולנו בושת הפנים.
Those words we remember we had that whole mashal on Tisha B'av about this seven shekel eighty agorot and a broken heart, the story about the girl with the bracelet such a that Reb Moshe Tzvi shared years ago, we said it again, so important.
זוהי הצורה שיהודי מגיע לפני השם יתברך קודם ראש השנה. This is the shape, this is the form that a Yid comes before Hashem before Rosh Hashana, mitoch shiflus v'hachna'a. Shiflus v'hachna'a we get these words you could say all day long.
And it's the bittul hayesh, this is the kinyan, this is the only way to make a kinyan in anything in pnimiyus and the whole Tanya's based on this and everything in our lives is based on this inyan of shiflus v'hachna'a.
אינו מבטיח שוב ושוב את מה שהבטיח כבר כמה פעמים בשנים הקודמות ולא קיים בשלמות.
מגיע הפעם לפני השם יתברך מתוך שפלות. Now, the way I'm coming before Hashem is really with this humility.
ומבקש מהשם יתברך מתנת חינם. I'm just asking you for matnas chinam.
בכוח י"ג מידות של רחמים. What is slichos all about? What are the י"ג מידות רחמים? They're basically saying over and over again give me a matnas chinam.
I'm asking for rachamim. Give me an undeserved gift. That's all I'm asking for, an undeserved gift. You know, from all of you all the figures in Torah, who's the one that you could say maybe could have banked on his zechuyos when asking for something? Moshe Rabbeinu.
And yet when Moshe Rabbeinu he asks for one thing and one thing only, and what does Rashi tell us about the way that he asked to come to Eretz Yisrael? Va'eschanan.
אין ואתחנן אלא לשון מתנת חינם. Even Moshe Rabbeinu is banking on that to have anything granted to him.
בכוח י"ג מידות של רחמים אשר שמורים וגנוזים לאותם שאינם ראויים מצד מעשיהם, ובכך זוכה לסליחה ומחילה.
Through this way of understanding how the game works, slicha u'mechila come to play, וגם לשנה טובה ומתוקה. And not just that. It's not just slicha u'mechila. It's like, it's not just, okay, I'm not going to kill you this year.
It's also it's going to be a great year. It's going to be a good and sweet year also like this Y'gefen. I guess I was I was toying with the when we were going through the mashal the first time, the idea that did the fox know that he didn't have anything really and then like got the chevre together because he was going to ask for matnas chinam me'rosh? Or did he really try and have something? Because it feels like the second option is much more authentic. But to go in knowing that you're asking for matnas chinam, I don't know how to reconcile the yatzi the Right, because it's a it's a very good thing you're pointing out.
What do you guys think? Going in lechatchila asking for a matnas chinam, what would that dissolve you of? Not do any work. Not doing anything. That's why the other maimar which explains the realistic way of taking on kabbalos is a very important yesod. But even after you mastered the art of healthy taking on, even after that, it still boils down to matnas chinam.
So now go back. Did the fox know from the beginning that he had nothing and he just persuaded them to come with him? No. He really thought. Now what's the mashal? I really thought that this Chodesh Elul I'm gonna game on from the beginning.
I really did think that. And it happens that along the way it is what it is, right? So this is this is a very important yesod in avodas Hashem. So it's chof Elul and game on. The game is on, we have what we have, and by the way, you'll have to repeat, meaning, if this speaks to you, you'll have to repeat this again a few more times before Rosh Hashanah, right? Because then I'll be like, oh my God, I thought I was serious on Chaf Elul.
This is how it works, chevra. Al yipol rucha, Rabbeinu amar, רבינו שאג בקול גדול אין שום יאוש בעולם כלל. It's not just a good niggun, it's emes. It's emes.
Or is the fox a real baal teshuvah? I mean, the fox was going to come in and start spinning stories and telling stories in the mashal, but he wasn't going to actually... there was going to be nothing authentic about the way he was going to show up before the melech if he was just using parables, if he was just using parables. And as he gets closer and closer, what, he got amnesia all of a sudden? Or is the fox, as he gets closer and closer, realizes the only way to actually appeal to the king is to just show up. That's a beautiful pshat.
Nafka mina? Show up authentically. Show up authentically with who you are without all the stories that we tell ourselves that you can hide behind the mashal, because you can hide behind the mashal, right? Meaning, had he just used the mashal at the end, there wouldn't have been this hisorerus of א-ל מלך יושב על כסא רחמים מתנהג בחסידות, meaning, it wouldn't have ever come to ה' ה' א-ל רחום וחנון ארך אפים ורב חסד ואמת because why? I know how to fancy. Yeah. Nafka mina: show up, do whatever you could along the way because whatever you show up that's real is something real as opposed to just the parables, the mishalim, and all the cute things you could say.
Emes. Halevai we should be from our cheilek to have the right kabbalos and to show up and to give each other koach to keep on going stronger and stronger, be'ezras Hashem. Amen. Yasher koach, everybody.
אמן קדוש קדוש קדוש ה' צבאות מלא כל הארץ כבודו ברוך כבוד ה' ממקומו ימלוך ה' לעולם אלוקיך ציון לדור ודור הללויה.