One Small Change Has A Massive Effect

There is theory that if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, the minute disturbance that it causes in the air can ripple off and ultimately create a tornado over Moscow. Even the smallest movement, in what one may believe to be a very distant and remote place, has the ability to move huge amounts of energy in other areas. Making a small change in the right direction in even a seemingly insignificant area of one's life can cause enough of a shift in the trend of his day-to-day drudgery to stir up the storm of change requisite to make headway in other more significant areas. Especially in our quest along the road of Elul, we must never underestimate the power of small steps. (Erev Rosh Hashanah, 5767)

First Night Selichos (audio)

We are at the half-way mark of Elul. As scary as it is, I find it quite thrilling and exciting. The Yomim Tovim are rich with mitzvos and opportunities and they always give us the energy we need to make the rest of the year what it needs to be.

In any event, here are recordings of the Rebbe saying Selichos from 5764-5. Anyone who has been in the Rebbe's shul for the first night of selichos recalls the electric feelings of anticipation as the Rebbe begins Ashrei. The ZIP file contains a bunch of small clips, each one either the beginning or end of a paragraph when the Rebbe is most audible. DOWNLOAD

Emek Tefilah on Elul

עמק תפלה פרשת כי תבוא

Are We Willing To Answer Our Prayers?

By the Rebbe Harav Hatzadik Rav Yaakov Yisroel Twerski, zt"l

No matter how old one may be, no matter how many New Years one has already experienced, the coming of Rosh Hashanah is always an exciting and hope-filled event. We look forward to a year in which illness will yield to good health, sadness to happiness, misfortune to mazel and success, and the hope that a general improvement will prevail in all of the hardships which afflict mankind. To those who are sustained by a strong and abiding faith, this is not a vain hope. The all-powerful and bountiful hand of G-d can, within a twinkling, transform our life into one that is filled with every desired blessing and good fortune. It is important, however, that we remember that while we shall pray and ask the Almighty’s blessing for the coming year, a great many of our most painful problems can be removed by our own intervention and efforts. For so much of our unhappiness is not outside of us, but rather is brought about by our own distorted hopes, and our exaggerated demands on life. Our Sages, for example, suggest this, when they state “He is wealthy who is content with his portion in life.” Let us hope that G-d shall fill this coming year with the fulfillment of our most cherished dreams. And let us also hope that we will find the spiritual strength to look inwardly, so that we may bless our own lives with contentment and peace of mind.

(Written by the Rebbe, Harav Michel Twerski, shlit”a)

Enlisting Hashem

Okay. So, we are deep into Elul. It can be overwhelming -- life-altering changes and stuff. Just trying to decide what particularly we want to change is challenging enough. Then we need to worry about making a plan, carrying it out, sticking to it when we are spent, picking ourselves up when we fall, and on and on. We are all surely familiar with that unwelcome voice inside our heads that won't stop telling us, "You can't".

Minhagim: The Month of Elul

1) Many have the custom to recite the order of Yom Kippur Katan on Erev Rosh Chodesh. There are those who don't normally say it except on Erev Rosh Chodesh Nisan and/or Elul. The minhag of the Rebbe is not to say it even then.

Daven That Others Do Teshuvah

I came across a wonderful mareh makom quoted in Nitei Gavriel. There he brings from the Sefer Tehilah L'Dovid who says in the name of the Arizal that throughout the month of Elul, one should have kavanah in the beracha of Hashiveinu and daven for those who strayed from Hashem and those who were "taken captive as children" and grew up not knowing about the Torah. "For these days are propitious to bring them back to teshuvah and Hashem's right hand is open to accept those who return."

How convenient is it that in the Radviller siddur there is a little addition to daven for exactly that. In the berachah of Hashiveinu in Shemoneh Esrei, before one concludes with "Baruch Atah" etc., one may add the following: "May it be your will Hashem, my G-d and the G-d of my fathers, that you carve out an opening beneath the Throne of Your Glory to bring back all of the sinners of Israel with complete teshuvah, and amongst them myself (ploni ben plonis) (and/or ploni ben plonis), for Your right hand, Hashem, is open to receive returners."

The note indicates (in the name of the Turei Zahav) that such additional prayers should not be said on a constant basis as a part of Shemoneh Esrei because while one is permitted to always add there own personal prayers, we don't want to add a specific, set prayer that Chazal did not include.
One who needs something, it is said by Chazal, should pray for someone else who requires the same thing. This is considered a very worthy and effective method of both having his own prayers answered, as well as helping another. During these days of Elul we all need help doing teshuvah.

While it is surely in our own hands and our own responsibility to return to Hashem, we desperately need Divine assistance in order that our teshuvah be meaningful and effective. All the more so those who have no idea that they should be doing teshuvah, and those whose hearts have become closed. In more than one way, davening for them is davening for ourselves.

The Whole Point...

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

Tomorrows

The following article was written by the Rebbe, shlit"a, a number of years ago for aish.com.

During a recent excursion, I was surprised to find myself surrounded by a sea of "tomorrows." No, I was not visiting a maternity ward or a nursery school classroom where the bright potential of young children gives off a tangible sense of "tomorrow", i.e. the future, vital and promising. While it is true that I always experience the elation of "tomorrow" when I am with little ones, the sensation I am describing came from the opposite end of the spectrum -- a cemetery.

My official duties as a community rabbi take me, more often than I might prefer, to the quiet fields where the generations before us have come to rest. If one looks about and listens carefully to the stillness, there is a stifling awareness of a multitude of (for want of a better word) "tomorrows" -- a profusion of things that might have been, could have been, should have been, and would have been... but for "tomorrow."

Growing up in Milwaukee, and having served for some 40 years in the rabbinate, I am able to look around, no matter which cemetery I may be visiting, and recognize many familiar names, people whom I remember from my childhood years and thereafter. Many lived lives of great distinction. The rest, as a rule, were upstanding individuals, devoted to their families and community, Jews who left a heritage of industry and integrity. It is about this latter group that I am so saddened. Because I not only remember who they were, but who they might have been, had they not squandered their "todays" for their "tomorrows."

Of course, we all do it; procrastination is as old as mankind itself. Yet the sheer deluge of what the past put off for "tomorrow" rose like a heavy mist above the field, casting a long and heavy shadow upon the ground.

My reflections took me back to the present, to family, my friends, and myself. Each of us has many things we cherish and hope to accomplish during our lifetimes. Invariably they are achievements of substance, the stuff of which enduring legacies are made. What do we do about these aspirations? Put them off for "tomorrow", of course! Today is just too busy, too cluttered, and too demanding. With unfailing constancy tomorrow becomes yet another today, full and hectic with characteristically unforgiving demands which brazenly refuse to be postponed. Pathetically, the eternal verities of life, the ones that should clamor for our attention and insist upon recognition, wait silently and patiently in the wings of our consciousness to be converted at long last into the living tissue of life. Altogether too many tombstones tell the story of tomorrows which never came, and altogether too many of us are etching similar epitaphs for ourselves.

The beginning of a New Year represents a unique opportunity to make our "tomorrows" into "todays," by making a serious commitment to the goals we hold sacred. Putting "first-things-first" will enable us to feel the energy of coming alive and experiencing the liberation of our potential.

On my personal list for the coming year, "today" is uppermost on the roster. I would respectfully urge that everyone reflect on the many blessings that would be forthcoming if we had the tenacity and the determination to transform our "tomorrows" into "todays."

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Elul Reflections (4 audio shiurim)

In the Reflections of Rabbi Michel Twerski tape series, there are four entire shiurim devoted to the avodah of Elul. Here they are in MP3 format for your downloading and listening pleasure (hopefully for more then just pleasure):

1. Courtship 

DOWNLOAD or PLAY

2. Jewish Love 

DOWNLOAD or PLAY

3. Mirror Mirror On the Wall 

DOWNLOAD or PLAY

4. Ascending the Mountain

  DOWNLOAD or PLAY

To purchase the entire tape series, other tapes and music, visit the shul's website.

Elul is Do-It-Yourself Month

Last week's Drops of Rain was very apropos for Elul. The piece revolved around the necessity to know if one is for real or not. The only way to know for sure is to be tested. While the whole piece is very important, available in its entirety here, it is specifically the last paragraph that spoke directly to the avodah of Elul:

"The month of Elul is upon us; in the blink of an eye we will be standing before the King of Kings on Rosh Hashanah. We never ask Hashem for nisyonos; we would much rather our faith and commitment not be tested. But we need not wait to be up against a wall to find out if we really mean it. We can and must ask ourselves if we are for real. If we were to be tested, how far would our current convictions take us, and how can we recommit to the values and creed of authentic Jewish living? Would that we could stand in front the Master of the World over the upcoming Days of Awe and be able to say with absolute assurance, to ourselves, our loved ones and the Almighty, 'I am for real.'"

In conjunction with the above idea, we bring to your attention something that the Rebbe said a number of years ago. Integrity means what the Gemara refers to as tocho k'varo, that one's inside should be like his outside. In other words, what he portrays outwardly, in his actions and behavior, must reflect where is at on the inside. The holy texts (Maor Einayim and Pele Yoetz among them) are replete with the idea that when we daven, we must "connect" our hearts and our lips, that the words that we speak should be coming from our authentic selves and not just "from the lips out". There are many such instances when our pnimiyus might not be in line with our chitzoniyus.

Divrei Elokim Chaim: Maamer From the Rebbe For the Month of Elul

Since there is no Medrash Shiur today, here is a maamer written (in loshon hakodesh) by the Rebbe, shlit"a, in 5765 (2005) about the avodah of the month of Elul. It was typed from the k'sav yad by the Rebbe's son, Reb Yaakov Moshe Twerski, shyichyeh. An exclusive opportunity for readers of Doleh Umashkeh as this is the first time such a maamer has been made available. Enjoy!

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Elul Emails: Introduction

Sounding the Shofar by Elena Flerova

By request of Rabbi Bentzion Twerski, shlit"a, and with the encouragement of the Rebbe, shlit"a, we will be sending out a daily email during the month of Elul with a short d'var Torah, halacha or story about the most awesome days that are upon us. We often talk about the need to begin prepare for a Yom Tov thirty days prior to the Yom Tov, and this way one can have a constant (well, at least daily) reminder of the responsibility and the z'chus (merit) that we have been given. Just mentioning the myriad of mitzvos and experiences that fill Elul and Tishrei to the brim is enough to elicit a full scale of emotions: nostalgia, trepidation, excitement, yearning, joy, sadness, the list is endless. Here are some of the powerful tasks and opportunities that we have been given by the Master of the Universe over the next two months:

The Road of Elul

In 5768, the Rebbe, shlit"a, spoke to the chaburah in Yerushalayim by telephone and said a truly awesome vort regarding the preparation for Elul. It is one of my personal all-time favorites, and when I repeated it to the Rebbe this past Shabbos (of course, he claimed to have no recollection of ever saying it, as usual), he was duly impressed and said that it was "an excellent vort".

15th of Av - A Time to Start Building

This morning after davening the Rebbe, shlit"a, spoke about the 15th of Av, one of the happiest days in the year. The Mishna (Taanis 26b) tells how the young girls of Yerushalayim would go out to the vineyards and eligible young men would meet them there in hopes of finding prospective brides. The girls would say, “Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself. Do not set your eyes on beauty but set your eyes on [good] family. ‘Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised'.