English translation — ראה-אלול

Talk a<pg>89</pg>

A.

The positive commandment of giving charity is explicit in our portion¹

"If there will be a poor person among you etc. do not harden your heart etc. you shall surely open etc."

(as the Rambam says²

and the Chinuch³).

And according to the known⁴

that all the portions in the Torah have a connection with the time in which they are read,

it is understood,

that there is a special connection between the commandment of charity and the month of Elul — for always they read the portion of Re'eh in proximity to Rosh Chodesh⁵

Elul

(on the Shabbat when they bless the month of Elul,

or — according to the determination of this year

(5748)

— on Rosh Chodesh Elul),

that is,

that in the month of Elul one should increase in the commandment of charity more than on the rest of the days of the year.

And one can find a source for this from the precise language of the Rambam in the Laws of Repentance⁶

— regarding the matter of the Ten Days of Repentance — and his language is:

"Although the shofar blast on Rosh Hashanah is a decree of the Scripture, there is a hint in it<sup>7</sup>

That is, awaken sleepers etc. and improve your ways etc. Every person must see himself etc. half righteous etc. He performed one mitzvah, he has tipped the scale for himself and for the entire world to the side of merit and brought about for them and for themselves salvation and deliverance etc. And because of this matter, all the house of Israel have the custom to increase in charity and in good deeds and to occupy themselves with mitzvos from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur more than all the year.

And all of them have the custom to arise at night during these ten days and to pray in synagogues with words of supplications and with afflictions until the day dawns."

And from this that the Rambam extracted the custom "to increase in charity" from the general category of "good deeds and to occupy oneself with mitzvos",

And furthermore,

that he gave it precedence over the other matters,

it is proven,

that although during these days there must be strengthening in all matters of Torah and mitzvos,

nevertheless, first and foremost one needs "to increase in charity".

And from this there is to learn something similar regarding the matter of the month of Elul,

since it is similar to the Ten Days of Repentance in several matters:

(a)

Elul is the month of repentance⁸,

similar to the Ten Days of Repentance,

(b)

Just as these ten days are preparation for the "sealing" of Yom Kippur

(as explained in the commentaries⁹,

that this is the reason that they increase in charity etc. during these days,

because "the intermediate¹⁰

is suspended until Yom Kippur; if he repents, he is sealed for life")

— so too the entire<pg>90</pg>

month of Elul is preparation for the "inscription"

(the beginning of the judgment)

of Rosh Hashanah.

(c)

And beyond this: All forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul until after Yom Kippur are a continuum and one entity of days of repentance,

as explained in the Bach¹¹

"The verse¹²

I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine, the initials are Elul and the final letters equal forty, corresponding to the forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur, for in these forty days of

[day]

repentance is accepted etc. His beloved is near to accept repentance out of love",

From this it is understood,

that just as during the Ten Days of Repentance there is a special matter "to increase in charity",

so too in the month of Elul,

the beginning of the strengthening in matters of Torah and mitzvos that is in this month must be in the matter of charity,

"to increase in charity".

And it can be said that this is also hinted at in that the permutation of the Name Havayah that shines in the month of Elul comes out¹³

from the end-letters of "and charity¹⁴

will be for us because".

And one must understand: In what way is the commandment of charity different from all other matters of Torah and mitzvos,

that therefore the strengthening in the month of Elul

(and the Ten Days of Repentance)

is specifically in the matter of charity?

2.

Seemingly one could say — that this is because the giving of charity atones for sin,

and as it is written¹⁵

and your sin with charity redeem,

and as the Alter Rebbe elaborated in Igeret HaTeshuvah¹⁶.

And based on this one can explain the precision of the language "to increase in charity",

for seemingly according to law in charity there is a measure¹⁷

: the equal obligation — a tenth,

a fifth for the optimal mitzvah,

but not more than this,

and as the Rambam wrote¹⁸

"Whoever scatters etc. should not scatter more than a fifth",

except that here, since it refers to charity which is for the redemption of the soul,

then "there is no concern for 'he should not waste more than a fifth' for it is not considered waste in such a case since he does so to redeem his soul etc."¹⁹,

and this is what the Rambam precisely states "to increase in charity" and did not set a measure for this charity — because in this charity there is no measure²⁰.

But at first glance it is forced to explain thus,

since the Rambam details the custom "to increase" — "in charity and good deeds and to engage in mitzvos",

and it does not appear to say that there are here two different matters: increase of charity as a part of the act of repentance,

and increase of good deeds and mitzvos in order to tip the scales of judgment to the side of merit,

and it stands to reason that he does not explain here except about tipping the scales of judgment to the side of merit&lt;sup&gt;21&lt;/sup&gt;.

And that also in that same type of good deeds and engagement in mitzvos that his intention is to tip the scales to the side of merit there is emphasis and superiority in the increase of charity.

3.

And this will be understood with the preface of the precision of the Rambam there — that he wrote about the custom of increase in prayer and supplications at night in a section by itself

("And they were accustomed&lt;pg&gt;91&lt;/pg&gt;

All of them to get up at night etc.")

— for at first glance it should have said in one clause,

"To increase in charity etc. and to get up at night etc.".

And one can say the explanation of this:

In general, receiving the needs of man from the Holy One, blessed be He, there are two ways,

And as it is brought in the Gemara²²

On the verse²³

"Hear Me, stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness",

"The entire world is sustained through charity, and they are sustained through [strong] arm": a)

"The entire world" receives their needs from the Holy One, blessed be He, only in the manner of charity and kindness of the Lord,

And not by merit that is in their hand,

Because they are not worthy of this from the aspect of their deeds,

b)

Righteous ones "are sustained through [strong] arm,

By merit that is in their hand, and they are called far from His righteousness of the Holy One, blessed be He"²⁴,

Because they are sustained by the merit of their good deeds.

And in the service of the Lord,

These two ways are

(In general)

Corresponding to the distinction between prayer and involvement in Torah and commandments: The matter of prayer is request and supplication,

"The poor speaks supplications"²⁵,

That the Holy One, blessed be He, will have mercy on him and fulfill his requests even though he is not worthy of it,

And in the language of our Sages²⁶

"A gift of grace"; but through involvement in Torah and commandments, man receives his needs

(Not in the manner of charity,

But rather)

According to law,

As we were promised in the Torah²⁷

"If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments etc. I will give your rains in their time etc."²⁸.

And based on this,

when the Holy One, blessed be He, judges the person,

and "they weigh the merits of the person and his transgressions"²⁹,

behold, reason dictates that when they judge him to merit it is not because of mercy and charity,

but according to his situation³⁰.

And therefore I would say,

that during the Ten Days of Repentance the main emphasis should be on increasing in commandments and good deeds in order to be vindicated in judgment,

and there is no place for a request for mercy,

that it should be "with charity",

beyond the line of the law.

[And although regarding the matter of prayer we find that "although the righteous have to rely on their good deeds, they ask from the Omnipresent only a free gift"&lt;sup&gt;31&lt;/sup&gt;

— this applies only regarding prayer and request,

that they do not need to claim from the Holy One, blessed be He, but only to ask from Him, may He be blessed,&lt;sup&gt;32&lt;/sup&gt;,

in the manner of a free gift

(even though they can rely on their good deeds)&lt;sup&gt;33&lt;/sup&gt;.

But not so when the discussion is about judgment,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, weighs the merits of a person etc. and judges him according to his deeds,

there is no place to mix into this a request for mercy and charity etc.&lt;sup&gt;34&lt;/sup&gt;].

&lt;pg&gt;92&lt;/pg&gt;

And the Rambam teaches us,

that in addition to the custom to increase matters of merit

(charity and good deeds and commandments)

Israel also customarily "to rise at night..

and to pray..

with words of supplications..

until the day dawns"&lt;sup&gt;35&lt;/sup&gt;.

And it can be said that this very thing that they merit in judgment according to the strict line of law is in the category of "charity" from above,

because the deeds of human beings

(the created ones)

do not occupy a place before Him, may He be blessed,

(as it is written&lt;sup&gt;36&lt;/sup&gt;

"If you are righteous, what do you give Him etc."),

and furthermore,

that even the doing of good deeds

(by the person)

is through the power of the Holy One, blessed be He,

as it is written&lt;sup&gt;37&lt;/sup&gt;

"Who preceded Me that I should repay etc."&lt;sup&gt;38&lt;/sup&gt;.

And therefore this very thing that the Holy One, blessed be He,

(humbles Himself, as it were, and)

judges the person and considers his good deeds as his merit because of that in judgment,

this is kindness and charity from Him, may He be blessed, and requires for this supplications etc.

And therefore the Rambam divided these customs into two chapters,

because they are two separate matters in the activity of Israel to merit in judgment: the first chapter is the things that the children of Israel do in order to tip the scales,

and the second chapter — prayer and supplications,

because for this very thing that these matters will tip to the scale of merit they need the mercies of the Holy One, blessed be He, as above.

[And one could say,

that this is also the reason for the change of language in the two chapters — in the first chapter "all the house of Israel were accustomed",

and in the second chapter "all were accustomed" — which implies somewhat,

that the second matter, what they were accustomed to arise etc., is a simple practice for all,

more than the first matter³⁹.

And according to the above it is understood,

that the request for mercy pertains to each and every one of Israel,

also those who did not add

(so much)

in commandments and good deeds

(who were not able to add and the like),

and on the other hand also those who added in commandments and good deeds more than all the year are accustomed to add in the request for mercy

("words of supplications"),

because also they need to know and feel that their merit in judgment is in the category of the righteousness of the Holy One, blessed be He,

that they need requests and supplications for this].

And with this we can also explain what the Rambam extracted in the first clause "and to increase in charity" from the general rule,

and he gave it precedence over the other matters — because in the increase of charity it is also emphasized that the person feels that he needs to be vindicated in judgment only because of the righteousness of the Holy One, blessed be He,

therefore he increases in charity so that the Holy One, blessed be He, will also conduct Himself with him in a manner of charity, measure for measure.

That is to say,

this that the person feels that everything he merits from Above is in the category of charity and a free gift must be expressed not only in his prayer,

but also in his deeds whose intention is the tipping of the scales of judgment for the good according to the law,

even in them he must emphasize that this is beyond the line of the law towards Above.

4.

Explanation of the connection of "charity" to the judgment of Rosh Hashanah in greater depth

(And according to the inwardness of the matters)

:

In defining the essence of the service of Rosh Hashanah, our sages, of blessed memory, said⁴⁰

that the Holy One, blessed be He, said "Say before Me<pg>93</pg>

On Rosh Hashanah, [the order of] Kingships, Remembrances, and Shofarot,

Kingships, so that you make Me king over you,

Remembrances, so that your remembrance may rise before Me for good,

And with what? With the shofar."

And according to this it is explained in many places,

that the main service of Rosh Hashanah is crowning the Holy One, blessed be He, as King over Israel

("that you make Me king over you")&lt;sup&gt;41&lt;/sup&gt;,

and through this as King over the entire world.

And this is not a contradiction to what is explicit that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of judgment,

for both are present in it: from the side of the Holy One, blessed be He,

the true content of these days is that they crown Him as King,

a matter that pertains primarily

(so to speak)

to the Holy One, blessed be He,

and as the expression "Say before Me etc. so that you make Me king over you",

that the Holy One, blessed be He, requests this from the Children of Israel,

for this is a matter that pertains to Him; and from the side of the created beings,

and as the Holy One, blessed be He, so to speak, humbled Himself to sit and judge all who come into the world,

they are days of judgment and justice in which a person's merits and sins are weighed.

And according to this, it can be said that this that there needs to be an increase in good deeds etc. is from the aspect of the second matter in these days,

but from the aspect of the Holy One blessed be He Himself,

as He is above being a king over a people,

behold there is no place at all for judgment and justice of the people,

that this is specifically when He sits on His throne of kingship and judges the people.

And in order to effect this matter that the Holy One blessed be He will lower Himself to be a king over a people,

this is through that there is felt among the people their complete self-nullification,

that even when from the aspect of the "accounting" of merits and sins the person is righteous and wins in judgment

(and certainly he did repentance as required),

nevertheless he prays with supplications,

and beyond this,

he increases in charity,

in order to merit the righteousness of the Holy One blessed be He — this brings that "you shall make Me king over you"⁴².

5.

Just as it is with emphasis and in the "palace of the King"⁴³

during the Ten Days of Repentance,

so too it is in microcosm

(in the "field"⁴³)

also in the service of the month of mercy and forgiveness — the month of Elul,

that also in it there are these two matters:

On one hand it is the month of mercy and forgiveness until "there are those who increase saying Selichos and supplications from Rosh Chodesh Elul and onward"⁴⁴

(similar to the words of the Rambam regarding the Ten Days of Repentance),

and on the other hand this pertains to merit in judgment.

And as emphasized in the language of the Tur⁴⁵

"And whoever increases to ask for mercy, merit it is for him",

for seemingly this is two contradictory things,

for the content of asking for mercy is that even though he has no merits he asks that Hashem have mercy on him,

which is the opposite of "merit it is for him".

Rather, the way to merit in these days is by his feeling that he always needs to ask for mercy from Hashem that He give him charity and a free gift.

And likewise on the other hand,

that also in this that they increase in the service of repentance and good deeds

[as explained many times⁴⁶

the hint to this — that in the acronym of "Elul"<pg>94</pg>

All three pillars of Torah, service, and acts of kindness are hinted at,

and also the work of repentance and the matter of the redemption]

— in this itself there must be the preface of increasing charity,

as hinted

(as above sec. 1)

in the combination of the name Havayah of the month of Elul,

which comes out from the acronym "And charity shall be for us because".

And through this conduct,

each one merits to be inscribed and sealed in the book of complete righteous ones,

to the extent that before Rosh Hashanah they know that they will prevail in judgment — for a good and sweet writing and sealing for a good and sweet year in the revealed and manifest good.

(From the talk of 6 Tishrei 5738)