Elul thinking...

B"SD

I would like to offer three thoughts on Chodesh Elul to help understand the magnitude of this special month:

1. Helping others do Teshuvah

ואשר לא צדה והאלהים אנה לידו ושמתי לך מקום אשר ינוס שמה

Here the pasuk (Shemot 21:13) speaks of the Arei Miklat (as we can see the reishit tavot: Ina L’iado Visamti Lich). As such, we derive that Elul is special for it is established to forgive unintentional averot during the year. Moreover, following each averah, the person must seek "a city of refuge", that is, a proper (spiritual) struture to allow the full contemplation of his transgressions' consequences, the chesbon nefesh followed by teshuvah.

2. Asking Hashem for help

The yetzer hara tells us that our sin is a small thing. It does not allow us to contemplate its implications, including the wedge that sin drives between ourselves and our Heavenly Father, and the darkness that envelops all of the spiritual worlds as its consequence. A person who is oblivious to the reality of the horror of sin dwells in utter confusion. The holy sefarim speak of a state worse than Gehinom. Some people wander through life, oblivious to the requirements of law. They sin without any awareness of its seriousness. They also can for decades without experiencing any Divine retribution! Hashem leaves them in their state of confusion. When they die, they are treated similarly. Even Gehinom is inappropriate for them. They continue to wander without judgment or accounting in the Olam HaTohu, truly an existence of astonishing chaos. To a certain extent, the Olam HaTohu spills over into our world, experienced by people still alive. They glide in and out of the Yamim Nora'im, oblivious to their sanctity and meaning, as if unsure in which world they reside.

2. Serving Hashem with love

Elul is a time to ask Hashem for things you need, for since Ani Ledodi V'Dodi Li is Elul, this a time when the love relationship between G-d and the Jewish people is heightened. And it is vital to raise mayin nukvin during this period. This means a real need to intensify the desire of the "groom" for the "bride". So, asking for a gift for the groom is like saying: "show me your desire and I will be yours for life". Perhaps that is why once the Lubavitcher Rebbe related that there is a Polish jewish costume where the groom and bride receive small pieces of papers from the guests with requests, who perhaps could not attend the ceremony, so the couple under the tremendous kedusha of the celestial gates of the chupah could ask Hashem for these gifts (requests). The Rebbe, it is told, was against this costume, for it could "affect" their humility (as the requests could indeed be answered). Yet, the Rebbe said the guest themselves could ask for what they need during this period, that is, the wedding ceremony (Rebbe on parashat Shoftim 5713, 2 Elul in the Cabalat Panim R' Mordechai Dubinsky's wedding). Right now, Bnei Israel is in very close relationship with Hashem, and each and every yid, the "individual guests" witnessing this great love between Hashem and the Bnei Israel, can ask for gifts that pour out from this intense love.

Chodesh Tov!

Rabbi Avraham

It is forbidden for a Jew to work on Shabbat. What is the esoteric reason for this prohibition?

It is important to understand that working on Shabbat implies on a “decree of death” (Shemot 31:15), chaz v’shalom. The Sod or mystical aspect of this subject is extraordinary, and I shall reveal only a small degree while hiding much more, merely summarizing in a simple form, all based on the Kabbalah of the Ari”zal (Sefer HaLikutim, Parashat Behar, et. al.). Although it is not ideal to reveal such things to such unprepared recipients, here follows my kavanah, may the Heavens witness this, to help those that still have any doubts regarding the prohibitions of work on Shabbat, so they may quickly do teshuvah and receive the kabbalat ol. As the Talmud says, “the person should do teshuvah one day before his death, e since we do not know when is this day, it is vital do be always doing teshuvah” (alluding to Shabbat 153a).

During the regular weekdays, there are spiritual forces that descend to our world’s level of reality in order to allow that tikkunim (“rectifications”) be made into effect through the permitted works to a Jew. In a more specific manner, every permitted work done during the week serves, in a way or another, to raise netzuzin kedoshim (“Divine sparks”) fallen in the physical level when the order of reality was not our current order of rectification, the Olam HaTikkun, but rather, the preceding order of the Olam HaTohu (“World of Chaos”). The order of the Olam HaTohu was broken apart, so to speak, through a deep and fundamental process of the Divine plan for the revelation and  ultimate evolution of Creation, particularly man, as it is taught by the Ari”zal. These spiritual forces that are the vehicle, through which all of these spark-elevations occur, return to their spiritual degree and level on Shabbat. On Shabbat, all is new, signifying that there is no need for spiritually elevate anything that has fallen from the destroyed primordial world of Tohu. Hence, there is no need for tikkunim on Shabbat. All is in order, truly perfect on Shabbat. Not even the work of boreh (“separation of food”) is allowed, for separating that which is not good in the food from the good part in it of itself implies in a removal of a negative element from a positive one, and that does not exist on Shabbat when after all, everything is in the category of the desired and rectified. Now, when the Jew performs a melachah (“forbidden work”) on Shabbat, chaz v’shalom, he elicits these spiritual forces that normally should operate only on weekdays to descend to the physical world in order to make into effect the appropriate spark-elevations.

However, as nothing can be elevated on Shabbat, these forces become as ‘forces in vain’, chaz v’shalom. Through this, the klipot, the negative forces that block the revelation of Divinity in the material world, can steal these spiritual powers, this holy light, and make use of them for its own negative uses, chaz v’shalom. Moreover, the klipot are called the “power of death”, and when the Jew profanes the Shabbat through some forbidden work, he receives the celestial decree of punishment through death, chaz v’shalom, since, worse than not using these forces for the elevation of fallen sparks, is the fact that they may fall under the domain and “clutches” of the klipot. This has the effect of literally nourish the klipot and sitra achra, the person then becoming a “partner of evil”, may Hashem have mercy on his soul. This nourishment has the additional effect of blocking the benefiting purpose of the Or Ayin Sof, thus causing a diminution of spiritual shefa (“flux of blessings”) to the world at large. This has the further effect of causing severe decrees (in the form of afflictions) to befall the person (and those close to him) who performed the transgression, the community, and the whole world, chaz v’shalom.