There is no month of the Jewish year more laden with hints than Elul. Like all of the names of the months, it came back with the Jews from Babylon. But the fact that it is not Hebrew has not deterred many Sages from finding reference to it all over Tanach.
I want to point to a reason for this explosion of hints, and then speak about a few of the most prominent ones.
By the Rambam’s reckoning of Mitzvot in the Torah, there are 72 Mitzvot in this week’s Parasha. It is the most Mitzva-rich Parasha in the Torah, although there are several Parashiot which are close. It is more than 10% of all of the Mitzvot in the Torah.
It seems like a large number, just as 613 seems large. But there aren’t really that many that apply today. The Chofetz Chaim at one point produced a...Read more...
The Sforno points out that this is the Parasha of leadership. Four different figures of leadership come up: the judge, the king, the Kohen and the prophet. They each have a different role to play in Klal Yisrael but these sections describing them do more than introduce them. They lay out limits. In all four instances, the point is to set down limits on the leader.
We start to blow the Shofar tomorrow. It’s an attempt to get our attention. But really it’s a way to start the month with an emphasis on hearing.
Back in Bereisheet, the births of the tribes begin in an order that echoes the natural world. First, there was sight and then there was hearing -- Reuven and then Shimon. That’s the natural way, as we all know that we see lightning well before we hear the crack...Read more...
