Create your year one minute of Elul at a time...

hey guys,

Rosh Chodesh Elul is over but I just wanted to give over an idea that I heard from Rabbi Kelemen...

Rav Yerucham zt'l has an entire essay on the importance of beginnings and introductions. (which i think i briefly mentioned in a previous blog post)

Rabbi Kelemen always begins this idea with a moshul- 2 years before a product hits the shelves IBM has already completed every piece of research possibly- they know exactly what the public will need, how to package it and market it, how many will sell etc... once the product hits the market it is too late for them to try "really hard"- they already needed to have done their homework. It is the same for a student who has a math test. If the student studies really really hard in the months leading up to the test so that the student could do the math problems in his head then when he walks into the test what he does is a product of all of his studying- he will do well. If he hasn't studied at all then he can't just try really hard- he needed prepare and so he won't do well. What happens when the product hits the market or when the student walks into the test is determined not at that moment but before the event takes place.

On Rosh Hashana we are judged as to what will be in our upcoming year. Money, health, livelihood, family etc- it is all determined in a split moment on RH. RH is the test- but we can't just walk in without preparing anymore then a student could expect to pass a test without preparation.

This is what the 30 days of Elul are for. From Rosh Chodesh Elul until the start of RH there is a special siyata d'shmaya in the world- if we try to succeed Hashem will help us. The treasury is open and we can grab whatever we want but we have to run for 30 days- it's 30 days of hard work but in the end we can walk away with whatever we have run with.

R'Wolbe z'l explained that if someone does something consistently from RC Elul until RH even if it is very very hard for him then that thing will become natural to him by the next RH. If you want to work on something- something small- something that is feasible to truly do consistently for 30 days then that thing will be given as a gift from Hashem before the next RH.

But what if you do it 29 days and not 30? The special siyata d'shmaya won't be there but you have just created an amazing year for yourself. Why? Your Elul directly correlates to your RH. Every day in Elul is a little bit more than an hour of your RH- what do you do with your time in Elul? This is creating your RH. But more... your RH is determining you year and so in reality your Elul creates you year- each minute of Elul is 12 minutes of your coming year. Are your selfless or selfish in this moment- are you speaking lashon hara or doing chesed? how are you using each of your minutes in elul? This will determine the minutes and days of your years...

If you are hoping to have a year in which you strive closer to your Beloved then make sure to spend Elul as a giver, a lover, someone striving to come closer to the Other...

make every minute count- you are creating your year one minute of Elul at a time....