The Whole Point...

What exactly is the point, the focus, of Elul and Tishrei?

The Baal Hatanya once said:

The whole point of blowing the shofar the month of Elul, and all the Selichos, Rosh Hashana, the Ten Days of Repentance, the fasting and teshuvah of Yom Kippur, sitting in the Sukkah, the Four Species, and Hoshana Rabbah, with all of their particular mitzvos, is all in order to come to attain a real understanding of the pasuk we say on Simchas Torah night: Atah hareisa ladaas...אתה הראת לדעת כי ה' הוא האלוקים אין עוד מלבדו..."You [Klal Yisroel] saw to know that Hashem is G-d, there is none other than He!"

The goal we are trying to achieve with all of the avodah of Elul and Tishrei is to be able to see clearly and know that there is none other than Hashem. The climax of two months of preparation is the realization that "ain od milvado", there is nothing but Hashem. May we be zocheh to reach that moment accompanied by a full and actualized two months, make that realization our own and integrate it into our every day lives.

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