The month of Elul is
a prime time for cultivating and strengthening our relationship with God. The Chiddushei HaRim notes that a hint to
this is embedded in the very word Elul.
He learns it from the following pasuk in Tehillim (100:3), "דעו כי ה' הוא א-להים הוא עשנו
כתיב ולא קרי ולו אנחנו עמו וצאן מרעיתו/Know that God is the Lord; He made us and
we are His, His people and the sheep of His pasture." There are many words in the Torah which are
traditionally read differently from the way they are spelled. In this pasuk, the word ולא/and not, is read ולו/and His.
The translation above is according to the traditional reading. According to the spelling, the pasuk states
that God made us, we did not make ourselves.
The Chiddushei HaRim
points out that the two words, לא and לו together, spell אלול. He
explains the significance of these words in the context of the pasuk. To the extent that we are לא אנחנו/not for ourselves, לו אנחנו/we
are His. When we suppress our own
desires in favor of God's, we become His people, His flock. Significantly, the first day of Elul is the
new year for tithing domestic animals[1]. Elul is the time to become subservient to God
the way sheep and beasts of burden are subservient to their owners.
According to the
Chiddushei HaRim, we first subjugate ourselves to God. The result is that God accepts us as His people. However, the Sfas Emes explains that the
opposite order is also true. We can
first use our intellect to come to the conclusion that it makes sense to be
subservient to God. As a result, we
suppress our own desires in favor of God's.
In fact, this is exactly how Chazal[2]
understand the pasuk, "... אדם ובהמה תושיע ה'/… You, God, save man and beast." (Tehillim
36:7) Chazal understand that both "man" and "beast" in
this pasuk refer to man. God saves one
who is clever like man, but makes himself subservient like a beast.
"Man" as a
concept, refers to one who is close to God since this is the purpose of man's
existence. It is reached by totally
subordinating ourselves to God. This
understanding is the reason that Chazal understand this pasuk as referring only
to the nation of Israel . We have the innate ability to subordinate
ourselves to God. Therefore, Chazal[3] say
that we are called, "man" since we come close to God through
subordination to Him. Chazal[4]
understand this from the following pasuk as well, "כי אתם המעט מכל העמים/For you are the smallest of all the nations." (Devarim
7:7) Chazal understand this to mean
that we make ourselves small before God.
Therefore God loves us.
We can also
understand the following pasuk in this manner, "ואתן צאני צאן מרעיתי אדם אתם .../You are my sheep, sheep of my pasture, you
are man …" (Yechezkeil 34:31)
God declares that we are His sheep – we have subjugated ourselves to
Him. This is a sign that we must have
first used our intellect to reach the conclusion that this pays – we were first
"men".
This pasuk can also
be understood according to the order of the Chiddushei HaRim. God praises us by noting first that we are
His flock – we have subjugated ourselves.
Because of this we come close to God and become "man".
From our perspective,
we say first that He has made us His nation – we are close to Him and are
therefore "men". Because of
this we subjugate ourselves to Him like sheep.
This is why the order of the pasuk in Tehillim which is written from our
perspective is, "עמו
וצאן מרעיתו/His nation and the
sheep of His pasture," – first "His nation" and then afterwards,
"the sheep of His pasture."
May we merit taking
advantage of Elul to subjugate ourselves totally to God so that we can come
close to Him and merit redemption.
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