ELUL STOCKTAKE
The month of Elul is the month when we look back at the previous year and we see how we can improve in the upcoming.
ELUL STOCKTAKE
The soul account must take into consideration every possible Avoda (Divine service.)
TESHUVAH / RETURN
Even a Tzaddik has to do to Teshuvah, for Teshuvah really means, returning to your source.
TESHUVAH BENEFIT
The reason the mishnah first says “Teshuvah and” then “good deeds are the purpose of existence,” is because only through Teshuvah / the return, knowing that in essence you are Divine, you’re soul was sent into a physical body in the physical world, and longing for your essence and connecting to your essence – as when you do good it is the manifestation of God, then you have the powerful motivation to do so!
SOULS MISSION
Furthermore, the very Descent of the Soul into the body is obviously – for all Investments must return greater dividends – an incomparably greater ascent.
SOULS MISSION
Of-course the whole point of this exercise is that man below should independently discover and passionately serve his Creator.
TESHUVAH BENEFIT
When a person independently and passionately wishes to fulfill the will of another they do so in the best way.
TESHUVAH BENEFIT
In fact, through doing Teshuvah we place our soul, on a level infinitely Beyond where it came.
TESHUVAH BENEFIT
Hence through Teshuvah our Mitzvos / Good Deeds are incomparably better.
BEYOND TESHUVAH
Though Teshuvah is so great, nonetheless, because it is associated with a negative, namely, the souls descent – an even greater level is achieving the level where descent isn’t feasible.
PERFECT JEW
The Perfection of Avoda (Divine service) is when a Jew achieves a level, where it’s not feasible for him to do anything other than the will of God.
PERFECT JEW
This is the essence of the Messianic era, namely, after, through God’s help we conquer our Yetzer Hara/evil, we are not in a level of disobedience.
This is also as we stand at the threshold of redemption currently achievable.
The mechanism to achieve this is through understanding that as your soul is in essence God, and just as even an animal would protect itself – it would never jump into fire, so too, to step outside of the desire of your soul, namely God, would be to step outside – into personal spiritual Everlasting annihilation.
Good Vs. Evil
In other words, the choice of Good and Evil stems from the body but not the soul.
ULTIMATE CHOICE
Although we mentioned before how the purpose of The Descent of the Soul into the body was in order from man to choose, so seemingly understanding that “I am my soul” is beyond choice, but that is in fact the ultimate choice.
Once we make the choice to be our soul this permeates every other detail of life.
In fact when we make this choice we go beyond our very Soul into its Essence, God himself.
In fact, we know the soul is essentially a part, as the Alter Rebbe, says in the second chapter of Tanya, “literally” a part of God.
BECOMING GOD
Through what we’ve done in an our exile, namely, tenaciously fulfilling the will of God, in Redemption we actually so become.
GRATITUDE
Whenever we serve God it must be done with the profound gratitude, for can there be a more fortunate person.
permanent joy
By minimizing the desires of the body and maximizing the desire of the Soul, we Elevate ourselves Beyond depression, into permanent Joy.
ULTIMATE JOY
The ultimate joy, is when we take the infinite reality and cause it to become ours.
INFINITE JOY
The infinite Joy becomes when a person, going beyond the limitations, vicissitudes, fears, inhibitions, fear of criticism, and knowing with complete internal knowledge the will and the Fulfillment of the will!- hence becoming one’s truest self.
This higher self not only will permeate every person, but every being, as we know when Moshiach comes, even the Fig about to be plucked absent-mindedly on Shabbos will tell the person, “today it is Shabbos.”
MOSHIACH ERA
As there will be no evil when Moshiach comes, our entire mission and life will be upgrading good.
TRUE TESHUVAH
The Practical lesson is being in the month of Elul, we need to get Beyond fixing the past to a place where it is literally unfeasible to go against the Divine will.
Furthermore not only must we attain this level but we must help others.
SAVE THE WORLD
Every person must undertake at least one extra project which develops, sustains, maintains, Humanity.
THE BENEFIT OF TORAH EDUCATION
This need not be a difficult thing to undertake, for example, when one undertakes to strengthen education, which morally affects the positive thought, speech and deed of the pupil, so one is affecting literally not only this individual, but everyone that this individual will encounter for the rest of their lives.
Being we are in the beginning of the school year, everyone should undertake to do all in their power, obviously in a nice way, but “gentle pressure relentlessly applied,” that parents should send their children to kosher Torah schools.
We can explain to parents that just as we seek the physical benefit of our children, and we are willing to go to doctors even before the child is born, and we wish to go to the best! so too when it comes to education, and there is no substitute to the primary education, namely moral guidance! which will establish the individual and his family for future Generations, the only expert on this, as all of history has proven, is the Torah.
This becomes all the more important when we recognize that the Main education today happens in schools.
ALL THE BLESSINGS
When Moshiach comes, we will marry both infinite Tranquility with infinite growth.
