The month of Elul - All you need to know to take advantage of this month - Part 2

The thing is that when a person has a loan doesn't have a lot A he takes his own a fish and puts it into the clip out. I have a nice little Kia have a godly spark in my name a fish and I now go into the clip out. I take a piece of a sham with me into the clip out. That's why it says galoot a dome they went out to go loot to exile the went with them. Each one of us has a godly spark in our neshama. So if I I now go to a club I take a sham with me to this If I go now to this direction I take a sham with me to to this direction. Now I think we talked about it in one of the show of the concept how Each letter of a sham in a sham's name you okay Bobby K has has a meaning and when a person has been shown doesn't have a lot he takes the letter hey the last hey and he takes it and puts it into the clip out and when a person does what is it mean to have to show up And then hey you take the hey out of the clip out and you bring it back to you Combine the letters back again. So when a person doesn't have a lot basically what he does he breaks a sham's name into pieces as you have hey when a person doesn't have a lot depending on the severity of the you can separate all the letters. So you basically doing a separation in the higher realm of Russia. So when you reverse it you put it all back together. Now In a spiritual matter when you do a lot what you do is you take this Letters of a sham and you put it in a low place What's called to put it into the clip out into the spiritual dirt. Now when you want to do you have to elevate it. So you have that's how the explains it. The explains it that you have you can serve a sham with love and you can serve a sham with fear. So serving a sham with love is the actual sugar. No. Wait the way the explains it is that Serving a sham with love is one wing serving a sham with fear is another wing. If you take now any bird And you cut one wing it cannot fly. It will flip one wing it cannot take off. It needs both both wings to take off. So you must serve a sham with fear and with love. The calls it two wings. And if you don't have if you only have one wing the says it cannot fly to above. You need both wings to go to elevate yourself. So if you have the fear and you have the love You serve a sham with fear you serve a sham with love you elevate To Take off. So in order for you to reverse the situation of the you need to elevate the the the the situation from where it was. If you don't need to do it with one wing with the love it's not going to come out. If you're doing it only with fear it's not going to come out. You need both wings so you serve a sham with fear and with love then you're able to elevate this godly spark this letter of hey of a sham out from the clip out to above. Now most people they serve a sham with So they the letter hey is still in the clip out. It's still in the the to my. Now you want to reverse it. Of course we're talking here about severe sins. I'm not talking about that by mistake you you did something small. When you want to reverse it you need the other wing. You need the love to take it to take it out to to elevate it. So if you stuck in the level of fear You did but you didn't you can't reverse the situation. You're still in that level of the blemish. You want to reverse the situation person did a lot of Shabbat And he did a lot of be out of the sword forbidden relations whatever You have to reverse it. The only way to reverse it is you need both. Now it doesn't mean that one you serve one year with fear and then you get promoted and you serve with love. It's constantly. They need to to accommodate each other but only when you have both how do you reverse the situation? You have to picture it in a more spiritual way. Imagine you take a piece of a sham And you put it now right now in the toilet or a sham. And you need to reverse it. You need both ways of serving a sham to take it out. The regular from fear will not reverse the situation. It will prevent you from getting punished. It will prevent you from having judgment. It would prevent you from getting the gap even bigger. Yeah that's what that is. That's why the says in it says when a person doesn't have a lot or such a lot to have a lot to have a lot means it put the puts a sin on hold. There's no judgment. There's nothing against you right now. You don't have a lot. You have to wait till you don't have a lot. The puts the sin on hold. So you're not going to have any judgment against you and you're not going to get punished for that a lot. Then comes you don't have a lot and you don't have a lot of a lot. But this only works for basic a lot of a lot. For all the lot It fall under the category of a lot. A lot Then when you do a lot so it says a lot and you don't have a lot to lay very soon a lot which means that you do a lot you come to you don't have a lot you don't have a lot still puts a lot on hold And then a person has to go through you soon and you soon and you mean all the suffering they they wash off the blemish. Now In order to imagine again you're taking a piece of a sham and you're putting it in the most lowest level in the universe in the spiritual matter. You want to reverse it the lower level just fear you you're working with one wing. Doesn't matter what you're going to do you can't you don't have a lot you cannot take off. And if you want to take this hey and give it back to a sham to combine again the letters you need Both of a sham both in love and both in fear. That's how you're able to reverse it. Now it doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep Shabbat And by me doing I'm reversing the blemish. When I do a lot like this degrading Shabbat We don't know how the blemish looks in in the spiritual level. It's not that now I didn't do and now I have to do twice. That's not how it works. When I do a lot I create Some type of a blemish in the spiritual level. The the the way the explains it that I take the letter hey of a sham and I take it away and I put it into into exile into the clip out. So the way to reverse it is to reverse my behavior. So if I reverse my behavior I do a lot and from this point on I keep Shabbat and I eat kosher and I fast on people and I'm only with with my wife and all the things that I do By just reversing the situation by just stopping it then at least I'm not making it worse. Now I have to start fixing the blemish and the way to fix the blemish is to serve a sham to elevate myself that I'm serving a sham in a higher level. So the the lot Is not really specifically for the same It's just my serving a sham But it's no but it's for everything cuz you don't have a lot is is For everything for the that means it but it's not that For example if if a person tries to grab something And he did a lot So that's the the lower level and then To get it into you don't have a lot he needs to do something additional specific only for that. Exactly. A lot corresponds to every little department. So let's say for example a person said a lot a lot is very severe. So the person did oh wow I can't believe how much I'm talking now from now on that's it I'm not talking a lot anymore. Assuming that the person succeeded Then he shut his mouth that's it. He's no more not saying a lot anymore. But the damage the spiritual damage that was done is still there. In order to wipe off this damage what the refers to in it's talking about the do not they that you're able to reverse the sin into merit. This is only with a lot. So okay I don't think a lot anymore. That's it from this day on that's it. How severe is very severe. I don't I don't understand It's a very severe. Nothing it's just like I don't even know that I don't even know The funniest thing is that the most one of all the severe sins they look to us very not severe. One of the most severe sins is eating on Pesach. You tell a pair person that is secular To eat a piece of not to eat a piece of it's like it's a piece of this is a sin. In our mind doesn't make sense. Or eating on people or all sorts of I understand I don't understand That that actually makes more sense than eating on people or eating on Pesach. When I wasn't religious And I got to gossip about my best friend Even according to nature is not a nice thing. But to eat a roll on Pesach What's what's the big deal? What would be like considered gossip if you like oh I want to make like fun of this person or something but Making fun that's a different thing. Gossiping is another thing. I don't know tell my parents about a good friend or somebody Then then you Then you have to learn all the of so you know what to say what not to say. What is what is not is also the concept of what's called it's not really but it has a little bit of A lot in it. But yeah is a very severe sin. Because the thing is that most people don't even know why. Yeah. Why is not keeping severe? No I'm saying The reason why is so bad is because our mouth is so powerful. A sham made us in such a way that our mouth is extremely extremely powerful. That's why when we say a we say a blessing we can actually change something in your in the universe. On the other hand, if I say a good life, I say a curse, I affect the universe in the same way. So, when I say now uh uh uh lashon hara, the damage that I'm making with my mouth is so severe that it it affects the entire universe, not only the person that I'm talking about to. It actually affects the universe. Now, when you realize how powerful your mouth is, the thing is that most people don't realize how powerful their mouth So, they say a bracha shalom shalom they you know You know, they they they if if a person internalizes what is this tool that I have dibbur, what am I creating with my mouth? It all depends on the level what a person understand what his mouth is. If you understand get to the level that you understand how powerful your mouth is, you don't want to waste one word on on nothing. You don't want to say one little small lie. You don't want to say one little thing that it will create a negative force in the world. Like so much and you feel like you need to share it with somebody. Then there's ways to share different things. There's also this lashon hara is for example, if shalom a kid gets molested in school and he has to go now to his parents to tell him that's not lashon hara. That's telling the the reality. Does that's why one if if one really wants to know about lashon hara, he goes and learns all the halachot what is lashon hara, how you say it, how you don't say it, what is considered lashon hara, when you're allowed to say thing, when you're not allowed to say thing. In the same way that I decided to eat kosher, then I opened the book and I said, "Okay, this is animal is not kosher. This This is kosher. Doing this is not kosher." You learn because you want to do. So, same thing with lashon hara. If one person gets to the understanding how bad lashon hara is, he opens the book, learns the halachot. There's so many books about lashon hara and you learn how to control yourself. universe lashon hara Yeah. So, going back to your question, Which means it's ben adam l'chavero technically, so I would have to like Well, you can do also lashon hara b'rashut. whoever I spoke to and ask them individually Yeah, there's ways to do everything. Don't worry. When a person is ready to do the teshuvah, there's tools and ways to do everything. But, there's ways to to reverse lashon hara. And you how you what you asked before, I'm sorry, I'm sidetracking for that. Maybe later we can go into the more of the ways, but the thing is when a person did the avera of lashon hara, okay, so he stopped saying lashon hara. Okay, so he did the teshuvah tata'ah, the lower level. That's it, he's refraining, he's not doing it anymore. But, he still has to clean the blemish that he created. And the way to to clean the blemish, to reverse it, he has to climb climb to a higher level of teshuvah. Now, there's so many ways how he does climb to this this level because not saying lashon hara every day is teshuvah for all the lashon hara that you say cuz every time you're like, "Uh you want to say something and you you stop yourself." That's it, you reversed another you you fixed another one of the blemishes. Cuz most people the the desire to do the avera comes back to them many times. Many many times. If it's lashon hara, if it's anything, if it's a looking at the wrong place, if it's doing the wrong act, if it's doing anything, most people they don't just decide I'm not doing it ever again and they never have the yetzer hara about it. Usually a person has the same yetzer hara over and over and over in the same thing where he usually is most failing. So, every time a person refrains, he's doing another piece of teshuvah, another teshuvah ila'ah. Now, at some point, if he's removing it from doing it from love versus from fear, then he starts reversing the more deeper blemish. refraining from from lashon hara because of love of Hashem and not because of Yeah. Yeah. So, you can't climb to the 20th floor. You can't jump to the 20th floor. You have to go first floor, second floor, third floor. So, usually one starts from refraining and serving Hashem from fear cuz he's afraid of the consequences and he afraid because in the books it says that there's going to be punishment and I heard when I leave the body malachim angel comes and they beat me up and I don't want to be beaten up by these malachim. Well, a person in the beginning, you know, most of the sifrei mussar they kind of scare you. They they they instill this fear, but you need this fear. But, when you climb up in the level of teshuvah, at some point, a person if his teshuvah is real, he will naturally start going into the teshuvah ila'ah because he's not afraid anymore because he built this relationship with Hashem knowing that, "Okay, it's not a monster in shamayim waiting to beat me up." And then you hold yourself from lashon hara saying lashon hara not because you're afraid of the damage, rather you're like, "I don't want to disappoint Hashem. I don't want to do it. Hashem gives me so much. I feel bad." You know, when I first became religious in you know, in my early stages, at some point, you know, in the beginning I was just afraid because I I had a good reason to be afraid. So, most of my refraining was fear. I was like, "Okay, if I'm doing this right now, I know exactly what's going to happen." But, at some point I started slowly slowly seeing when I saw how Hashem really was at at my side, how many times he saved me, how many times he gave me, how many times there was miracles that not even normal to understand and I knew it's all the hand of Hashem. At some point, I started feeling bad if I would do something. If I would think something bad, if I have an example? Yeah, or like let's say like something that like saved you or something. Oh, I can give you now a 15 days of of uh of uh lectures how Hashem saved me. One I the way I how I live my life, I see that every second that I'm alive, Hashem is saving me. But, I went through some serious things that I saw how literally how Hashem changed maneuvered the entire world changed the entire world to save me. Now, the thing is that a lot of people everybody has miracles. It's all depends if you see it, if you recognize it, and if you're thankful about it. If you have a hakarat hatov. And once you realize once you get into the private VIP club of Hashem and you start seeing how Hashem is so great, by default you start saying, "Wow, he's such a great master. How can I now do this avera? How can I now do it? It's It's the hefech ratzon Hashem. It's the opposite of his will. Why would I do it?" That's teshuvah ila'ah when you start to serve Hashem cuz you love Hashem. Not because you're thinking of the punishment or not because of you're thinking of the reward. Teshuvah tata'ah is also the wall. I'm going to put tefillin on because I heard that I'm going to be in gan eden. That's That's also very low level of teshuvah. But, when you reach the level of now I'm going to put tefillin on cuz what happens when I put tefillin on, I basically bring a gap I create a gap in the universe and with my gap this chalal a godly light or eloki is being sucked into this to the to this gap and I'm able to mamshich or en sof atzmut into this world. When you internalize what I'm doing, I'm not doing this tefillin on because I'm afraid to mevatel the mitzvah and I'm not putting the tefillin on because I'm going to get my sachar in gan eden. I'm doing it because I'm a screw in the entire system. The midrash says, "Lama bara Hakadosh Baruch Hu et ha'olam?" Why did Hashem create the world? What does he need us for? Ratzah Hakadosh Baruch Hu nit'aveh lo liyot l'Hakadosh Baruch Hu dirah batachtonim. Hashem wanted to have a dwelling place in this in this lower world. So, in order Hashem cannot dwell in this world, so we are the tools where Hashem gets dressed in. "V'asitem li mikdash v'shachanti b'tocham." The Torah says, "V'asitem li mikdash." You should build me a mikdash, a sanctuary. Uh uh uh uh uh little uh temple. "V'shachanti b'tocham." It doesn't say "V'shachanti b'tocho." I would dwell in him. "V'shachanti b'tocham" meaning plural. So, each person that makes himself a mikdash, a temple, then Hashem dwells in you. So, if I'm now making myself my body a mikdash, I know Hashem is now getting dressed in me and he's acting in this world through me. So, when you elevate yourself to this level and you're saying, "I'm not putting the tefillin on now cuz I'm afraid to mevatel mitzvat asei." And I'm not putting the tefillin on now because I'm going to get amazing rewards in gan eden. I'm putting now tefillin on because that's the ratzon Hashem. That's what Hashem wants and I'm fulfilling the godly the divine will by me putting this mitzvah on. I'm totally mevatel et atzmi. I'm annulling myself. I'm nothing. "Ani afar v'efer." This is what Avraham Avinu says. "Ani afar v'efer." I'm nothing. I'm dust. I'm just doing what you want. This is the level of teshuvah that you start really washing off the severe damages. Now, when you reach to this level, which kind of circles back to what we said before, when a person is very particular about the big things, "I'm never going to go into this unkosher restaurant and I'm never going to miss tefillin and I'm never going to chill shabbat." Back in the mind, it's coming more from the fear. But, when you are very particular all the little things how I talked about before, why am I particular about these things? Why do I need to really wash the the leaf with a magnifying glass and a 5,000 W light to see if there's a bug? Why do I have to be so particular with kosher that my my dairy spoon cannot go into the the fleishig into the meat dishwasher and I'm fanatically about these things? When I'm very particular about these little things, not because I want to be fanatic, because that's how I elevate myself to a higher level when I'm becoming the vessel, the kli, to start serving Hashem with love, not because I'm scared, because I'm a more of a pure vessel. So, when I refine myself with the little things, not to looking at the right the wrong places, being very particular with kosher, being very particular with the little things, that's exactly what Rashi says on the mitzvot The Mishnah says The Mishnah literally tells us No, you have to be as particular with mitzvah kalah keva chamurah because you don't know the you don't know the weight of the mitzvah. One person can say, "Oh, t'fillin is very very big, but doing this little thing, who cares? It's nothing." So, the Mishnah comes and tells you you No, no, no, no. Don't think that you figured it out. Maybe these little things that for you it looks very simple, maybe these are the big things. So, when a person is very particular with the little things, Chassidus explains that everything that we do, there's the concept of subduing the yetzer. I have now a ta'avah, I have a a lust to do something, which means that a godly spark got dressed in a very horrible wrap wrapping, and it came to tempt me. Now, why am I tempted? I'm not tempted to eat this not kosher meat, and I'm not tempted to go after this woman, and I'm not tempted in the good from the physical, rather because what's hidden in this ta'avah, in this temptation, is a godly spark, and my neshama sees it. I was like, "Wait a minute, I want it." Now, there's two levels here. My neshama in a very high and spiritual level is seeing this godly spark, and it wants to go to it. On a lower level, my nefesh habehemit, my animal soul, sees the actual ta'anug, this ta'avah, this this ta'avah gashmit, and it's like an animal wants to go and eat it. Now, the thing is when I get pulled to this ta'avah, then I have the opportunity of of breaking this shell, this cover, by holding myself. Now, I have now a ta'avah to go and do this aveirah. I see it, it's right in front of my eyes, it looks beautiful, the sin always tastes best. I have this ta'avah to do this aveirah right now. If I do it, then I failed. I basically took myself into the domain of the sitra achra, of the other side of holiness. But, if I refrain, you know what I did now? Zohar calls it itkafya. I was able to take this ta'avah and subdue it. Like, you know, like a wrestler that you put the guy in the headlock, that's it, it can't move. You have control now. So, when you refrain yourself, the lashon that Zohar uses is itkafya. Itkafya means like off, to like to subdue something. Then I'm in control. I'm holding right now this ta'avah. Now, what's going to be the result? I can break this ta'avah, I take off this horrible wrapping, and I take this beautiful godly spark, this diamond, out of it, and I elevate it to kedusha. The Zohar calls it You're taking the darkness and you're transforming it into light. And the Zohar continue and it says By refraining from doing the going falling to the ta'avah. The The bigger the spark is, the more the ta'avah will be bigger. So, when you see something that is the most tempting you, whatever. Yeah, so it means if the tumah if the level of the tumah is so big, must be that inside is hidden a very big piece of kedusha. Why? I don't know how to explain you why, but there's there's The concept Let me explain to you why it's that you understand why it's possible. Kabbalah explains that ma ban mimma'ala nofel matta matta. And I gave this example so many times. Imagine a wall, a brick wall, and you push the brick wall. The The bricks that are on the top will fall all the way down, and the bricks that are on the bottom will just move a little bit. So, when you go to a club, the the sea of the tumah, the sea of the impurity, means that it came from so high up, something in there that went so far down that in this world it's translated to the biggest tumah. Must be that there's some type of a godly spark in it that comes from a very holy place. Yeah. Yeah, now the thing is that the title of going to the club is a very general title. Because one might say, "Okay, I'm going to the club. I'm not doing anything bad here. I'm just standing I'm just standing here and enjoying the music and I'm minding my own business." But, usually people who go to clubs, it will some the place is so impure that it would lead to the person to do an act that is very impure, whether it's going with a a man or a woman, whether it's going to up to a to a direction of drugs or alcohol that you completely lose your mind. It can go to so many different places, so much more so that usually clubs are in the weekends so already mechallel Shabbos. And on the And the clubs I don't want to get in too much into it, but walking into the club, one might say, "I'm so holy. The club will not affect me. I'm just sitting and drinking this kosher wine. I'll say borei pri hagafen, and I'm on the bar. I don't care that this lady is half naked, and I don't care that these two guys are together. I'm so holy here. I'm enjoying my holy wine, and the music is amazing, and the band that's up there, if it's a band even, you you you know, whatever it is. The thing is that the the wrapping of the entire thing includes in it all the the the worst things that you can go. So, obviously there's one can say, "Oh, you know, this I don't see anything bad here." But, if one thing would lead you to another, I There's not a lot of clubs that they run on Tuesday. Most of the clubs are on the weekend, and most of the clubs they they people don't go just to sit on the bar and to enjoy. They go to to hook up. They go to do so many different other things that eventually would lead you to do the biggest aveirah. Now, if you refrained from going to the club, then you know how many kedusha you were able to break? Cuz you don't know where the nitzotz was. Maybe the nitzotz was in that thing, maybe the nitzotz was was in here. But, when you gave one example with the club, it can be with many other things. A man can have a very big very big desire to look at this beautiful woman right now in the street. And what happens when he looks at her, in his mind, "I'm not doing any sin. I'm just looking at a beautiful creation that God created, this beautiful woman. I'm marveling the godly Yeah, I'm marveling the godly art." Okay, let's say we Let's say you convinced me that you're marveling the beautiful godly art in this beautiful lady. But, any man that would look at the lady, the mind starts thinking, and usually how it works is that the eye sees something, and then the heart chomed, the heart starts wanting it. And the mind starts thinking, "Okay, how am I getting it?" So, if it's with the lady, then the mind will take the man to approach to the to the act, and one thing would lead to the other, and you know, maybe 80% of the time it won't end in an in a sin, but in most cases it does end in a sin. So, if the man sees no problem in looking at this lady that time same time, he's fooling himself. Because yes, at one thing maybe he's not going to fail here, so in a week he'll fail there. Exactly. Now, the thing is that the stronger the ta'avah is, the stronger this pull is, means that this magnetic force that is pulling this ta'avah means that the godly spark is very powerful. So, for a man to walk in the street and to see a half naked woman is so beautiful, and right away he moves his eyes with one little a split second of a move, he did itkafya, he's like, "I'm not looking. I'm not looking. I'm not looking. I'm not looking." I'm going He's walking for 10 seconds. I'm not looking. I'm not walking. Dangerous passed. In our eyes means like, "Ah, you know, the guy is stupid." But, in a more of a high spiritual level, you know what type of a itkafya he did, how he held himself, and this is where he breaks this ta'avah. And this is the highest level of of avodas Hashem. Break it He can break it 50 times a day. Every time Hashem gives you another present, you have to break it again. Now, I'm giving an example with a guy and a beautiful girl. It can be a person with food, eating it in a very gluttonous way, or eating not kosher, and it can be so many things. The thing is that anything that will move you away from holiness, from kedusha, means that it's taking you to the other side of kedusha. So, I can give you a 50 other examples where it can work. You said a club, another person will say going to the beach. One person will go saying, "I'm just going to walk up and down Fifth Avenue and look at the beautiful shops." Yeah, but you're not doing anything with it, and all you do is you you you're creating all these fake uh dreams in your mind, and people get into all these illusions and all sorts of shtuyot, and almost in any any little thing that has no avodas Hashem in it, there's no bottom line how you're serving Hashem in it, it takes you to the other side of Hashem. And it depends, each thing comes in a different severity. Some things are not so severe. Some things are more severe. It also depends on the person. Each person has a specialty. He has a talent. This person has to fight this It's yetzer hara. This person has to fight this yetzer hara. So, one person is very easy for him to walk in Manhattan, doesn't get excited by anything. One person, every little thing that moves, he gets all aroused. Each person has a weakness. Where you are most weak, that's where you have the most avodah to do. This is your department. So, I don't know even how we sidetracked to that. But the thing is that the Zohar explains that when a person holds himself, refrains himself from doing the aveira, he's holding just from the ta'avah, he breaks this this klippah, and he's able to elevate the godly spark back to Hashem. Now, this is already kind of on the border of teshuvah ila'ah. Cuz I already did teshuvah. I did teshuvah 15 years ago. You know many times this yetzer hara came back to me? And every time I hold myself, I I wash off a little bit more of the of this blemish that I did. So, if I had a yetzer hara, I'll give an example again with with with looking at the wrong places with women. So, the first time I held it, okay, I did I did it the first 100 times cuz I was afraid to from failing in the sin. After 10 years, a person There's no such a thing that a person doesn't have the yetzer hara anymore. David Hamelech was able to kill his yetzer hara. But most people, they not kill the yetzer hara. I know people that all their life doesn't matter how religious they are, they still have the yetzer hara. And why? It's good for us. The yetzer hara is here to to keep us on our feet. If you're not going to have a yetzer hara, you know, what are we going to do in this world? Our whole thing is to constantly fight the darkness. So, the thing is that when you're already fighting your ta'avah over and over and over, and you're already mastering how to to to win it over, you're already already climbing to the level of of of teshuvah ila'ah because you're already fighting this inclination over and over, and over, and every time you win. And if Hashem the person falls, then again, starts over, does teshuvah. That's why we read on on on Yom on Friday, "Lecha Dodi itna'ari me'afar kumi." Nothing happened. You fell to the dirt, get up, brush the the dust off, "Itna'ari me'afar kumi and livshi bigdei tifartech ami." Put your your your holy garments back on and continue walking. And the thing is that the way it is explained in in Chassidus, that when a person falls, he fails, it's not a bad thing. It's actually a good thing cuz Hashem pushed him on a diamond. So, he fell on the floor. He seems to him that he failed, and he fell on something dirty, but he actually fell on a diamond, and he just wake up. Wow, look, I fell on a diamond. I can't believe it. Just brush off the diamond, and you continue going. So, when a person falls, it's actually a good thing cuz Hashem is kind of telling him, "Look, you know, there's a diamond on the floor." Cuz we really usually we don't look down looking for the diamonds. So, to kind of sum up to where we where we we even started from, is that during Elul, you have the opportunity of doing it all in the most easiest way. You don't have to climb to this high level of teshuvah ila'ah. During the the Elul is like the the sales, 90% off this month. Whatever you want, the king is in the field. You just go out there. Now, a lot of people think, "Oh, so I have to really pray real good, and when it comes to slichot, I'm going to sing the loudest, and I'm going to, you know, do all the all the show." This is the time that you really can sit with yourself, or if you're in the middle of praying, put the tallit over your head, or you're a woman, you put yourself in a corner, and you start talking to Hashem. "Hashem, I I know I wasn't perfect the whole year, and I know that on last Yom Kippur, I promised that I'm not going to do this anymore, and I still failed." And you talk to Hashem. Now, Hashem is listening. Rosh Hashanah, Hashem, that's it. The door's closed. Hashem doesn't really doesn't really hear so much. Comes the Rosh Hashanah, the king is already back in his palace, and and and that's it. You can't reverse much of the situation. Doing the month of Elul is when you talk to Hashem face to face, and you tell him, "You know, I really want to be better this year, and this I really want to take on myself, and this I'm going to do much greater this year, and all all that." This is the time of Elul. That every day in Elul, you have the opportunity, it's 90% discount. You don't have to work so hard. Every little thing that you do, you have access to it. More than that, that if Hashem sees that you really put a lot of effort in Elul, he kind of ignores the rest of the 11 months. He says, "Okay, you know what? Like your audition. This is going to be your audition right now. I'm willing to give a off." I'm not saying that a person now should say, "Oh, so next year, I can actually be real bad from Tishrei till Av, and then comes Elul, and I'm going to be the biggest tzaddik." That doesn't doesn't work like that. Obviously, you have to do the entire year work. But since you're not perfect, and when I start thinking of what I did the entire year, "Oh, how many times did I miss a minyan? Oh, how many times somebody gave his hand out, and I couldn't give a quarter just to give a little bit of tzedakah? And how many times I looked here, and how many times I said this?" But we're human. But if now you put all the effort in this month, and you say, "Okay, now I'm I'm I'm catching the express train." You know, the other day, somebody was coming to me from from Somebody was coming from me from the Bronx. So, I told him, "Why? I think it's like 2 hours on the train." He's like, "No, I take the express train, and it only has like eight stops till your house in Brooklyn." So, Elul is the express train. You can now go, grab the month, and fly what you would be doing the entire year, you can reverse in Elul. So, we see that in many different little things that we do during Elul that are very particular. So, we say we say "L'David Hashem Ori." We we blow the shofar every day. One thing that that the Baal Shem Tov taught, he said the Baal Shem Tov says that he learned it from his rebbe, that we say every day on the month of Elul till Yom Kippur, we say we say three perakim, three chapters of Tehillim. So, Aleph Elul, we say Aleph, Bet, Gimel. Bet Elul, Dalet, Hey, Vav, and so forth. And then comes uh Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur, and before Kol Nidre, we say nine. After Neilah, we say another nine. Before after Musaf, we say another nine. And after Neilah on Motzei Yom Kippur, we say another nine. So, we basically say 150 the the entire book of Tehillim. And why we do that? Because on Yom Kippur, it's known that it's good to read an entire book of Tehillim. And if you don't do that or ever did that, you should do whatever you can that on Yom Kippur, you finish at least one book of Tehillim. Now, what's the reason of doing the three chapters every three perakim every day? So, by the time of Yom Kippur, you read a whole entire book on Yom Kippur, and you read an entire book during the 40 days of Elul and Aseret Yemei Teshuvah. So, you have two books of Tehillim. Two books of Tehillim is 150 perakim from each book. It's 300 perakim, chapters. The gematria of the word "kaper" is 300. So, when you read 300 pirkei Tehillim, you you elevate yourself to the level of when it comes to lechaper, to kaper, you already have a few extra points. This is the Baal Shem Tov, what he taught to say these three extra chapters every day. Three little thing, takes literally another 3 minutes every day, and look what a savings account you're coming to to to Yom Kippur with with how many with how many mitzvot. And the point is on Yom Kippur and on on Elul to to to not to think of what I didn't do the entire year, rather say, "Now I have a whole month to to to pack up as many as mitzvot as I can, so when it comes for Hashem to really give the judgment, he says, "Oh, wow, you know what? He took the advantage of of Elul to do teshuvah. He didn't come the last day of Erev Rosh Hashanah and why why why why can't believe another another the whole month passed." A person smart doesn't wait till Rosh Hashanah to do teshuvah and then Yom Kippur and all this. You know, was asking before, what's the point of the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah? Everything is already decided before that. Rosh Hashanah is when everything is decided. So, if I want to get favor in the eyes of the boss, when am I going to convince him? 2 hours before Rosh Hashanah, or during the 48 hours of Rosh Hashanah by putting a nice suit on and and buying the ptichat ha'eichal for $1,000? That's not going to convince Hashem. What will convince Hashem is showing him a whole month, "Okay, I I know what I did wrong. This is where I'm trying to get better." When you come already to Rosh Hashanah, you're already like all clean. You know, there's one thing that most people don't understand. Rosh Hashanah is called Yom Hadin. You know, judgment day. So, one would think that Rosh Hashanah, we have to like come to shul like all trembling. Wow, it's judgment day. On the other hand, we come with beautiful clothes. We make a beautiful meal. We barely the the the prayer on Yom on Rosh Hashanah is very short prayer. It's not like a long prayer. And we celebrate the day like with with nice meals and all that all that. One would say, "This is judgment day. You have to be like sitting in in the beis knesset all day long, you know, trembling." So, he says, "No, you know what? I already did all this during the month of Elul. The entire month of Elul, I did exactly what Hashem wants. That now on Rosh Hashanah, I'm convinced. I know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will will seal me for a good year. So, I'm already wearing my bigdei Yom Tov, and I'm doing the seudah. I already did my work on on on Elul. And when I was during Elul? That's already from the the the the the kedusha of the day. That has nothing to do. Obviously, you know, the Yom Not only the last minute people. The thing is that What does it mean, for example, I'm going to skip 10 days forward to Yom Kippur cuz it will explain about Rosh Hashanah. What is Yom Kippur? Yom Kippur it says "Lifnei titaharu." What is the lifnei? Lifnei can be in front of me. Why is Yom Kippur such a special day? Why is it a day that literally this day washes off our sins? You know that Yom Kippur you you fast, you do most of the sins, it washes off, most of it. Why davka Yom Kippur? Why not Purim? Why not Hanukkah? This day, for whatever reason, Hashem elevates all the world to such a high level that Hashem basically picks us up to his level. Lifnei titaharu. It's almost like a little kid, you're standing, you're 6 ft tall, you're looking at a little baby standing and crying, you're like 5 ft bigger than the kid, but if you want to kind of relate with the kid, you bend over to the kid and you pick up the kid to your level. Then you're eye to eye with the kid. This is what happens on Yom Kippur. Hashem picks us up. Hashem literally elevates us to such a high level that just the level of kedusha already washes all the sin. It's a level that the sin cannot even exist. The sin can exist in this world. And the sin can exist in maybe a few madregot, a few levels of a spiritual world. But it's almost like Hashem pulls us up out of this universe to a level that the sin doesn't have existence even. And that's why it's able to "Lifnei titaharu." So, the kedusha of the day does the job. The fact of the fasting and not eating and all this, this is just the tools to elevate myself to this level. So, if I don't do that, I can't grab the elevator and get elevated into this level. But that's just the kedushat hayom is already mekhaper on on rov avonot. So, the same thing with Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is when Hashem says, you know, this is the day when we're appointing Hashem to be our king. So, we we do the tekios shofar and we do all the seder malkhuyot. We're appointing Hashem to be our king. How is that corresponding to this is such a special day of Yom Hadin? Because in order for Hashem to be my to to to give me a judgment, he needs to be my king. If he is not my king, why would he give any give me anything? So, the point is that Hashem doesn't want us to come the 2 hours before Rosh Hashanah and do teshuvah. No, teshuvah you do on Elul. Rosh Hashanah is when you crown Hashem with with to be your king. It's not the time to do teshuvah. You're kind of missing out the opportunity cuz Hashem is sitting on his throne on Yom on Rosh Hashanah. And what happens is that they open all the books. And now now they start saying, "Oh, he did this, he did this, he did that." And then starts coming all the the cheshbons. Now, if you cover it up in the month of Elul, it's literally like a a contractor that you give him a certain amount of money to redo your house or build your house. And the entire 9 months you you did you don't visit the the the site. Cuz the entire 9 months he doesn't do anything. They're sitting there drinking beers and not doing anything. But a month before they all get their act together. They're they're they're really working hard to make everything look good. So, the entire year they didn't do nothing, but the impression is like, "Wow, look how hard they worked the whole month." You don't see what they didn't do the the entire year. So, Elul is kind of kind of like the cover up. Now, not that we can cover something from Hashem. We can't lay to to hide something from Hashem. But when Hashem sees your effort in the last month by saying, "Okay, you know what? Fine. I I I I understand. I was really not the best Jew, but I'm now going to give my effort." That's the time when Hashem says, "Oh, I see his effort." And usually when you do a lot of effort, it will you you know, you will you naturally elevate yourself. More than that, that during the time of Elul, we have we have Hashem is outside. Hashem is in the the the melech basadeh. The king is in the field. Meaning that that I don't need to blow a shofar. I don't need to fast. I need to talk to Hashem face to face and tell Hashem like my my my father, "I'm sorry. You know, it was hard for me. I had a lot of pressure. I had a lot of bills to pay. I I know I could have studied another hour of Torah, but I had so much pressure I had to go and work. And I'm sorry I did this and I'm sorry I did that." That's what Hashem wants. Hashem doesn't want you, you know, torturing yourself. You know, exactly like a father. Yes, but much less. If you If you If you attach yourself to the holiness of the month, you'll have much less issues. Obviously, if you you on the beach all day long and go to the clubs on Friday, and you of course you're going to have your yetzer hara. But if you're saying, "Okay, I have a free pass right now. I have now a whole month. It's almost like me coming and telling you the entire year this boutique that you buy your clothes is the most expensive boutique in Manhattan. And now you have a whole month that everything is 9 90% off sale. Wouldn't you take advantage of that?" So, when you take advantage, you're saying, "Right now I have a whole month of close this to Hashem. So, yeah, I'm going to arouse myself." Now, the thing is that the way Hashem works, Hashem is, you know, works in a very smart way. The word Elul, the abbreviation of the word Elul, aleph lamed vav lamed, is the abbreviation of the of the pasuk "Ani ledodi vedodili." Now, we find this pasuk in Shir Hashirim. And we know that all the Psalms, all the Shirim are very holy, very kedoshim, but Shir Hashirim is the kodesh hakodashim. It's shir shel kol hashirim. And we know that there's a lot of maalot in Shir Hashirim, a lot of secrets in Shir Hashirim. But the verse is taken from Shir Hashirim. "Ani ledodi vedodili." What does it mean? I'm for my beloved and my beloved is for me. But there's also a pasuk in Shir Hashirim that says "Dodili veani lo." It's a matter like why why davka Elul is ani first. So, Hashem says "Ani ledodi." First you do. "Ani ledodi" means I'm I'm going to do now for Hashem. Or in the lashon of Hasidut is what's called itaruta diltata, an awakening from below. So, Hashem says, "You want me to give you a great year? You want me to influence you this amazing abundance of blessing? You want me to to bless you this year with success and health and and everything? You have to do first your arousal. I'm not going to come to you. Not dodili. Vani lo. Ani ledodi. I have to do I have to awake myself. When I awake myself, when I arouse myself, this orerut, then I'm awakening this itaruta from above. The Hasidut calls it itaruta diltata and itaruta dilela. An awakening from below and awakening from above. It's different because itaruta dilela it means that Hashem one day decided to give you a little smack like this from above and he suddenly woke you up. So, the awakening came from above. So, the effect is much less powerful. But if a person drifted away to very far and went to the very very far place and found himself in real bad spot and he suddenly is like, "Wow, what did I do? Look where I am now. How am I even going to get out of this mess? Look where I am. I went so far away. How am I going to get out?" And the person Yeah. No, if the person feels No, if a person feels inside of him Now, it says in Shir Hamalot "Mimamakim karaticha Hashem." From the depths I call you. Sometimes a person goes so far away that he feels so detached from Hashem, the neshama feels this void, this emptiness, this some I'm I'm samach nafshi. I I The neshama screaming pitom. And then the person starts waking up. "Why? How far away I went from Hashem? Wow, where am I now? How am I going to find my way back even?" Then when that person gets this this awakening, this itaruta, this is itaruta itaruta diltata. You get the awakening. And what happens when you do that? You have the yearn to start doing mitzvot. You have the yearn to start not doing aveirot. You have the yearn to keep Shabbat, eat kosher, this, that. It's coming from you. So, what the effect is, the itaruta diltata, the the lower level awakening, you're awakening the hashpa'a from above. So, what you do, the effect is itaruta dilela. You're awakening Hashem. And then you're able to get the the the more I don't know the the word. When the itaruta dilela comes first, the the it doesn't sustain itself for a long time. Hashem gives you a little kafa, a little smack. You wake up one day you're like, "Wow, today I'm not going to I'm going to keep Shabbat." And then, you know, it's It's really a keep Shabbat. You just got this awakening. Comes the next week, ah, there's such a good party, I'm not going to miss it. Ah, it's not really worth it. So, the effect is very, very subtle and very little. But, when you do it because you found yourself, you brought yourself so far that you miss home and you have to start now working hard because when you have wake up, it's not that you pick up the phone and everything's fine. You suddenly realize, wow, I'm so far. How far it will take me now to start climbing back? But, when you do that, you arouse the the influence from above. You You are awakening Hashem. This This is in the law. So, Hashem tells you, you want my blessing, you do the first you wake up you grab yourself. I'm willing to ignore 11 months. You wake up, you do the you do the effort. You wake up early in the morning, you do the in your mind that this month I'm going to learn 3 hours every day and I'm going to not miss one minion. And every time I eat, I say a and every time I finish eating right away, I say the I'm going to be like the most particular here. Why? A, because I'm a rousing myself. More than that, when I'm doing a lot, I'm doing such a commotion in the heavens that I'm awakening the exact thing, awakening towards me. And this is what's called the same way that you will put your head in front of a river, you'll get the reflection. What do you will be? The reflection of yourself. You'll smile, the reflection will smile back at you. You frown, you'll get a frowning to you. So, if I'm now awakening myself in the month of I have a free pass. It's literally a free pass. If I'm awakening myself and I'm being particular and I'm saying I have a free month a whole a whole month now. I'm awakening the exact same from above. So, comes the new year, Hashem doesn't look at what I did half an hour half a year ago. Hashem is already aroused from what I did from from alone. So, I'm able to arouse this this desire in Hashem. This year, I'm going to give him amazing and and the is going to come easy, not hard. And this year, I'm going to make sure he meets his and this year, I'm going to take away this and this year, I'm going to do this cuz you are allowed. It's almost like little kids. Sometimes, you know, one of my kids is very messy. He never wants to clean it up and the other one doesn't never do the mess, but he always cleans it up. But, sometimes when the messy one suddenly gets all into it and he fixes the room and, you know, obviously he comes and asks at the end he wants a treat or reward. But, just did I see how he gets all excited and he comes out, look what I did. I put all the toys here and I did he gets all excited by himself. I didn't say anything. I didn't tell him go clean your room. But, it's not his nature. He's his nature is not to do anything. But, when I see him get all excited and into it, you know, it arouses in me this excitement and when he comes and says something, I'm like, yeah, I'm going to give you now a big reward. I'm going to buy you a big surprise now or I'm going to do this with you. Cuz I see the excitement that he's I didn't tell him to do anything. He did it. So, the same thing with Hashem. So, when Hashem sees me running around, wow, I'm not missing one minion and I'm not this this and everything I'm like the book, then Hashem says, wow, oh, you know what? I'm going to give him a a great year this year. But, you can only do it on on on the new year. Hashem is already in his chamber, he's waiting to be crowned. There's the whole ceremony. All the are around him. Which crown are we going to put on him? We're waiting for the new year, so we'll know how we're crowning Hashem. You think Hashem is now going to listen to your I'm so sorry, I was so bad the whole year. He's busy now. He'll tell you, lady, I was now 30 days you could have cut the deal. So, the the the point is is to take advantage of not to let another day pass and another week pass and say, you know, most people wake up it's it's still 2 days before why I didn't even buy a a new suit for what did you do the whole month? You know, now is the month to say, yeah, where am I adding? Where am I tapping in? Everything in is you tap in. How you asked before with the with time frame. You're tapping into something. It's like an opportunity. There's opportunity out there, you can grab it you cannot grab it. That's why I gave the example with the ice cream truck. The ice cream truck is right now is out. If you don't run out, you're not going to get the ice cream. You're going to have to wait till he comes back again. So, Hashem throws out opportunities. So, for example, with the there's a certain time frame a day, there's an opportunity to grab. You know, you grab it, you you you you get pulled up with it or you pull something. But, it's almost like, you know, the easiest way to compare it is like that's how I explain it to my kids is look at the you know, the video games. Video games as stupid as they are and and as time consuming as they are, they can kind of teach you the of Hashem. And there's one game that all the smart phones they have now that this boy is on a skateboard and he goes over the the trains and he gets the gold coins, right? And every now and then he gets like a like a prize and he can fly real fast and all this. This is exactly This is exactly how we're serving of Hashem. Where you know, there's gold coins everywhere. So, if I maneuver myself real good, I'll grab all these gold coins. But, every now and then comes a prize that if I grab the prize, then I fly like a missile or I get all the points or I can't be killed. So, Hashem throws opportunities, auspicious times that if I grab it, I I'm now I'm being elevated. So, this is grabbing the time. This is grabbing the benching on time. About 1 and 1/2 an hour and a half. That's it. You can't bench anymore, you know? There's auspicious times. You have a few hours. Every time so much more so once in a year a comes, wow, this is a day I'm going to go to the club. This is I have 48 hours. Now, we're lucky here in in America, we have 2 days, not 1 day. This is a time. This is a a bonus. You can grab it and and the reward is not only that you get a in the garden. You You get like a VIP pass, you get you're hugging Hashem and you get pulled out. This is for example. This is Shabbat. When I became religious, they told me in Hebrew whoever doesn't keep Shabbat Shabbat. And I was like is to to go like this with a flute. So, I was like, what kind of I don't understand it. Well, if I'm not keeping Shabbat I am I didn't understand it. Later on, I figured out that what happens on Shabbat, all the all the worlds, they get elevated back to their source. So, all the get elevated. Now, what happens? If I keep Shabbat, I grab the elevator and I get pulled up with all the with all the worlds. But, if I don't keep Shabbat, you know what happens? All the worlds get elevated, the earth stays where it is and becomes a space between the spiritual worlds and the physical world. So, is a space. So, if I don't keep Shabbat, I put myself in this I'm not here and I'm not here. So, I'm stuck in between. So, this is so, I'm putting myself in this this of course comes also from the to desecrate. But, in a more of a a metaphorical way to understand the concept, a person decides not to keep Shabbat, he he's not here and not here. You know, the sometimes the elevator goes up, the the doors open, the shaft is way open. All you need you go in, you fall all the way down. This is Shabbat. The elevator went up, the shaft is open, no doors. Then you just fall down. This is Shabbat. So, every time Hashem throws this opportunity into the universe, you can grab it or you can miss it. And if you're smart, you're grabbing it. So, is this opportunity that you're saying, the king is right in front of me. I can now I can now go and shake my hand. I can now tell him with my words. I don't need to read out of a book. I can tell with my my words, you know, what? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I didn't have my head I want to get better. I want to do this and believe me, I want to study more and I want to do this and I want to do that. And you talk to Hashem and this is the time that you are able to arouse Hashem to give the exact same thing. Today, I spoke with a with a certain individual who told me, you know, doesn't matter. We're not going to get too personal cuz maybe he's going to see the video. But, the thing is that he has all sorts of problems with bites. And it becomes it became very problem I don't know problems and So, I told him, you know, what? First of tonight, you're coming home. You're coming with flowers. And you're telling your wife, come, don't cook. We're going out for the restaurant. And you want to see a movie cuz one of their issue is that he's more religious, she's less religious. I told him, you tell her you want to see a movie, let's go see a movie. Told her, you now lowering yourself down to her. If you're standing here and she's here and you're yelling at her how bad she is, she's so believes that the radio the voice goes above. She doesn't hear you. She just sees you go like So, obviously I'm not saying it in a more than a metaphorical way. But, the thing is that she sees this not guy is yelling at her. So, I told her you I told him, you're going down to her level and you bring her if if her favorite thing is flowers, you bring her flowers. She likes chocolate, you buy her chocolate. You take her to her favorite restaurant. You make you make an effort. Show her that you care. Show her that you love her. Show her that you you want to have some type of a closeness. And you know what's going to happen? You think she's going to scream at you? You're going to arouse the exact same energy. If you coming and you hugging her and you approaching her in a loving way and you do whatever she wants, you lowering yourself the Okay, so you put your ego in the in your pocket for a few minutes and you lower yourself to her. You're not going to get the wrong react You're going to get the exact same reaction. And from here you start climbing back up. So, the same thing with Hashem. If I'm coming to Hashem a minute before Rosh Hashanah I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I was so busy last month, but please forgive me and I want parnassah and I want a lot of parnassah and I want my business to run great and I want my kids and I want this and I want this. Hashem is like Where where where where are you now for 30 days? What did you do? Hashem shalom Hashem is not a Hashem shalom mean, but you able to arouse this influence. So, this is the time of Elul. Every day now in Elul, every minute, every hour, you should think of Okay, during the year it's hard for me to daven every minyan. I'm davening every day now in a minyan. And during the year it's very hard for me to even doubt to pray. I'm going to pray now. And during the year half the times I forget to say baruchot on what I eat. Now I'm going to be very particular. You you look at the general things and not the big things that you failing. Every little thing and you make sure that your entire month you you working on yourself. And this is what's going to guarantee that you're going to be written and inscribed to shanah tovah and everything that you want. That's that's how you arouse it. And this is the time, chodesh Elul, and it's the time that Hashem has has his expectations. Ani le dodi, don't don't come and tell me you do and then I'll do. You prove yourself and if you prove yourself, I'll give you the raise. So, the month of Elul there's many little things one can do, but the main thing is to concentrate that now it's an auspicious month to grab as much as I can and and and and to to to take advantage of all these bonuses. And that's what's going to secure us to have a shanah tovah u'metukah and we should all likatev u'likatem likatem l'shanah tovah u'metukah and we should have a successful year full of abundance of parnassah and happiness and wealth and success and health and then you have health and chatanut whoever needs marriage and nachat from the kids. Everything should be perfect and more than the the the the the most highest wish that we have is that we should have a shanah with Mashiach tzidkeinu should be the last Rosh Hashanah. Should all be in Yerushalayim kvav. B'ezrat Hashem.