Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
As we approach the Yomim Noraim, we have the month of Elul to prepare for that auspicious season. We look for ways to help us connect to the work of that month. The three best known acronyms for אלול/ Elul [אני לדודי ודודי לי; איש לרעהו ומתנות לאביונים; ומל את לבבך ואת לבב זרעך]. [Upon examining these three acronyms, we will note that the first is about our relationship with God, the second is about our relationship with others, and the third is about our relationship with ourselves.] We can also reach some insights from examining how each of the twelve tribes of Bnei Yisroel is associated with a different month of the year, as the Shvilei Pinchas cites the Beis Yissaschar. For our discussion, we will focus on Shevet Gad, the tribe associated with the month of Elul.
The Shvilei Pinchas begins with the name Leah gave to this son, born to the family through her maidservant Zilpah. Naming him Gad, she proclaims,”בא גד/luck has come to me,” noting that this child was born circumcised. However, Leah’s proclamation is written in the Torah as one word, בגד, a word that translates as rebellion. Could Leah have sinned by offering her maidservant to Yaakov as a wife when she herself already had children?
Yet, Gad had a special place and mission in Bnei Yisroel. As Yaakov Avinu says in his final blessings to his sons, “Gad will recruit a regiment… [when he will go at the forefront of his brothers to capture the land under Yehoshua’s leadership].”
Yet Gad is a symbol for us in the month of Elul. As Rabbi Rothberg writes, that Gad was born circumcised indicates an elevated status, of one who has already separated himself from total involvement in physical indulgence and is orienting himself to the world of spirituality. Indeed, this is the work of the Month of Elul, to do teshuvah, work on returning our soul to the pristine state as when it first descended into our bodies. Circumcision involves the removal of the physical barrier, the orlah, that represents pure physical indulgence. One who is born without the foreskin is already on a higher level, explains Rabbi Adler in Parsha Illuminations.
However, there seems to be a disconnect between the ideal of minimizing materialism and Gad’s request for land on the other side of the River, land with plentiful pasture for their flocks. But Rav Rothberg in Moda Labina provides us with the hidden motivation for Gad’s request. Gad knew that they were fortunate to be wealthy with so much sheep, and they feared that they would be corrupted by such wealth. They also knew that Moshe Rabbenu was buried in this area. They hoped that the spiritual energy of Moshe’s final resting place would protect them from the negative influence of their wealth.
Borrowing from Mesillas Yeshorim, Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz urges us to maintain clarity of purpose. While our focus must be on olam habo, we must maintain that focus even while involved in this physical, material world. Can we use our physical and material assets to further our spirituality, or, chas veshalom, do we take even the spiritual and contaminate it with physical purpose? As the Ohel Moshe asks: People travel across the ocean for a business opportunity; would you do the same for the opportunity to do a mitzvah? The more energy we expend on the physical and material, adds Rabbi Reisman, the less energy do we have for the spiritual.
Rabbi Schwadron zt”l brings us a lesson from an image in the allegorical Shir Hashirim. My Beloved knocks on the door. “Open the door for Me, My sister., My dove.” At first I am reluctant to get out of bed, but I get up/קמתי אני and פתחתי אני לדודי/I opened the door for my Beloved, but He had turned and left. Why did my Beloved, Hashem, leave, asks Rabbi Schwadron? If we read the words carefully, we will note that אני, said twice, is repetitious both times, for the form of the verb already included “I”. This was the problem, writes Rabbi Schwadron, for the focus was on myself, on my agenda, and not on my Beloved. If we are to make a true connection, we must focus on the other, not on ourselves,
This is the exact point Rachel Miller makes for simcha in marriage. When we do every action, no matter how small, to benefit our spouse and our family, we bring harmony into the household. This is the same mindset we are to have when we observe mitzvoth, that we want to bring joy to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. When we focus on the spiritual joy we can bring to Hashem, He enters our homes, bringing sanctity and harmony.
Moda Labinah shows how the logo on Gad’s flag furthers this idea. Just as the colors on their flag was a mixture of black and white, so are good and evil mixed within each of us, and our mission, as theirs, is to integrate the two into spirituality, so that both serve Hashem.
This is the idea behind Moshe Rabbenu’s blessing for Gad, “…Tearing off arm and even [together with] head.” Although this literally refers to Gad’s prowess in war, its significance is much deeper. Often there is a disconnect between the actions of the arm and the thoughts in the head. These must be aligned and forms the basis for the law that one who speaks between donning the Tefillin of his head and of his arm has committed a grievous sin. Because Gad lived a life of total integration, of thought and action dedicated to God, he never fears as a warrior.
The connection goes even deeper. This total integration will come at the time of Moshiach, whose harbinger will be Eliyahu Hanavi, a descendant of Gad.
All year long, Hashem is our beloved Benefactor, our doting Uncle, writes Rabbi Rabinowitz. During the month of Elul, he makes a point of coming “to visit,” to spend time with us. Do we make time for Him, or are we too busy to engage? Do we ignore our דוד, our loving Uncle until, feeling ignored, He leaves? It will then be difficult and painful to search for Him in the streets and in the marketplaces, places where we may easily be attacked by thugs and criminals.
Back to the name of Gad. As Leah herself declared, Gad means a good mazal, a good astrological sign, meant to be under a good sign. This meaning is encapsulated in the letters of his name, gimmel and daled, words that can be translated to benefacting [doing good] for the poor writes the Oshorover Rebbe zt”l in Be’er Moshe. Since the world itself was created through Hashem’s acts of kindness and continues existing through acts of kindness, is it any wonder that the tribe that personifies this attribute in its very name should be blessed?
We are meant to emulate Hashem, and in particular, His kindness and care for others. This was the characteristic of Gad, and is the character trait we should focus on most closely in the month of Elul, Gad’s month. As we prepare for our judgment on Rosh Hashanah, we must remember that tzedakah and caring for others can protect us even from death. And we are instructed not to give only once, but to be in a constant state of giving.
But giving while frowning or making the recipient feel beholden is not fulfilling the mitzvah. How can one fulfill the mitzvah properly? Rabbi Goldwasser urges us to encourage the recipient, to make him feel welcome so that he will approach you again, allowing you to give to him another time. And perhaps the “inconvenient time” you are being approached is specifically because you yourself are now in need of Hashem’s chesed.
Giving tzedakah is not so much giving money as it is giving of ourselves, whether it is actually our hard earned money or something else he may need. How can we help in whatever situation he may need, even if he will not or cannot articulate that need, writes Rabbi Schorr.
In fact, we ourselves come before Hashem in the month of Elul as lowly beggars, penitents, asking for Hashem’s forgiveness. We have come as בגד, as rebels against Hashem, and are awaiting בא גד, a good, propitious sign that Hashem has been benevolent to us and forgiven our sin, writes the Shvilei Pinchas. In fact, the astrological sign of Elul is Virgo, a virtuous woman, for one who has found a wife, a virtuous woman, finds favor in the eyes of Hashem.
The Shvilei Pinchas then makes a connection that ties Gad’s birth to the month of Elul and to his being born circumcised. In Parshat Nitzavim, after the declaration of the Blessings and the curses that Hashem will bring on Bnei Yisroel according to their behavior, the Torah talks about Bnei Yisroel doing teshuvah, and Hashem drawing us back to Him. How? ומל יקוק את לבבך ואת לבב זרעך / And Hashem will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your children…” Again, circumcision, teshuvah, and Gad are all united in the theme and acronym of Elul.
Hashem is waiting for us, knocking on our door, both with tragedies and with miracles. Let us wake up and answer the door. Let us let Him in, for even in the times that seem tragic, He has been our support, and the evil we suffer is a result of our wrongdoing. We think He is hiding His face, but He is really supporting us, writes Rabbi Dovid Hofstedter in explaining Psalm 27, LeDovid Hashem Ori. If we do not recognize that our suffering is actually a sign of Hashem’s love for us, we will miss out on the intended benefit as well as on the call to teshuvah.
With this mindset, continues Rabbi Hofstedter, we can understand why in Eichah. The Book of Lamentations, Tisha B’Av is referred to as a Moed, a festival. For if we view our suffering as a sign of Hashem’s love, we realize that, in spite of my sins, Hashem has not given up on me. And this realization is the essence of teshuvah.
We must therefore take an honest look at ourselves and examine what we need to repair to bring us closer to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, and the month of Elul is extending us that invitation, writes Rabbi Berkowitz. An ideal time for this introspection, advises the Maharil, is every time you begin to sit down to a meal. That will begin the process of channeling your physicality toward spiritual goals. We will realize that we are the poor and needy before Hashem, and He is גומל דלים in His relationship to us. Elul is our opportunity to emulate Him and the tribe that symbolizes this attribute through our own acts of gemilat chasadim.
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