Rosh Chodesh Elul (20-21 August 2009) The month of Elul
Melekh BA-HA SADE '
(The King in the field)
Rav Alberto Sermoneta
Text written in 2008
The month of Elul is the last month of the Jewish calendar, the month before the big day of Rosh Hashanah.
For this reason it is known as the rabbinic tradition has chodesh selichot ve Rachamim, namely the month of prayers and mercy.
There is an exchange between ourselves and Gd, to which we rivolgiamole our prayers and He acts towards us with mercy.
Rachamim The term is translated as mercy, but it wants to mean something much deeper and that only we Jews, we were able to interpret, because our tradition has always aimed to understand the roads deep within our hearts.
Rachamim when analyzed grammatically, can be defined as the plural of the word which means rechem uterus, womb, a feature common to all women who have given birth to children, is to understand their inner feelings and even help them and understand them even when they are wrong, and most of the time, forgive them.
This is also the characteristic of God because God is able to understand the work of its "children" and to forgive even at times when they are wrong, because he loves the forgiveness and not punishment.
The month of Elul has the power to make God, through the prayers which we will turn, can forgive our sins and our past, which occurred during the year, and of which we are truly repented, not only in words but through deeds.
"He has ikkar midrash hu she ma'asè", "not the most important thing is the talk but the fact" we warn the Masters of the Mishnah! That is not the promise in words, what we do when we are at critical moments of our lives, but what we keep is the main thing!
Tell a midrash that when the king decides to get a place to meet his subjects, to listen to their needs and see what they do for him in the golf business, every subject and every worker, tries to grab the closest point to the path that the king will do, so ask them what are their needs and be more likely to be heard .
's so that we do we Jews during the month of Elul, the month when the Lord is closer to his people, to see his work and listening to those who are its demands, and that is why we must take advantage of this opportunity given to us once a year.
Throughout the month of Elul, is the use of getting up very early in the morning, while it is still dark (many use it in the middle of the night) and perform a series of prayers and supplications SELICHOT calls, where in addition to apologize to God for everything that is not good we did during the year that is about to conclude, even those that are our needs to live a good life and dignity and that could put us in a position to serve Him alone and no other, let alone our fellow humans. The characteristic of these
selichot is precisely the time in which they are recited and that the bottom of the night, as if to underline the fact that at that time, most people use to sleep and almost symbolize the Lord, less intent on business, and so has more time to listen to the prayers of the people of Israel is particularly dear to him.
looks like a picture that describes a love romance in which two lovers meet in secret, not so much to keep it hidden from others but not to create reactions of jealousy from other nations.
A famous teacher of the last century, commented on the period of selichot and then the month of Elul, saying that like any disease of the human body needs a longer or shorter period of care to ensure that the body can resume its forces and re-addressing the everyday life, so too the soul needs care, to recover from his illness and return to live healthy.
One of the worst diseases Lashon HA RA is the soul 'that is speaking ill of others; it is not only the gossip but also the allusion to something negative or even the suggestion of a bad behavior of others, referred to a third person.
It is considered among the worst categories of the fault of the people which can stain and is not punished with sudden death, but with diseases that lead to a high degree of suffering, so long as the person who is guilty of that sin can realize the damage it has caused her "brother."
If you think the story of Miriam, Moses' sister who had only just crept into something true against his brother, is shot from this terrible disease that does not just harm the physical, but also moral and psychological level.
This treatment period coincides with the month of Elul, the selichot and all other actions that every jew has a duty to do and that are no less important than the latter.
Our instructors encourage us as well as to implement other selichot mizvot fundamental to our healing, which are: The
teshuva, repentance, but not the return, or return to the road that has given us the Torah and that we can not take risks of making a mistake or transgression. The
zedakà, not alms but the work of justice that has every jew has a duty to observe anyone can ask. Every jew, so long as rich as the poor man's duty to make zedakà so that there are differences within the people of Israel's behavior toward the Lord God. The
tefillà, not just prayer, but the will to know how to refer to divine justice, accepting the consequences of their behavior.
Only under these conditions we can deal with that great and terrible day is Rosh Hashanah, known as the Masters of Israel's Jom Din - Judgement Day - in which each of us will have to give justification for their actions before the one who is there Chaj Kajama (live in eternity) and using that created all the creatures of the pass in front to be analyzed and used to take no corruption or bias.
So we take the teaching of that teacher who said that like any disease of the body, even the soul need to be cared for and take advantage of treatment when the King and 'in the field and more willing to listen our needs.
To all of you a warm Chodesh tov and good start to teshuva.
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