Yemei HaRachamim VehaSelichos: Learning from the Aron in Ashdod

Topics

• Perek Hei: The Aron in Ashdod
• The Plague of Mice
• The Lesson of the Perek
• A Lesson for the Yemei Elul
• The Meaning of Derech Achzarius
• A Mashal from Reb Yeruchim
• The Achzarius Is Toward Oneself
• Derech Rachmanus in Difficulty
• Yonah and the Kikayon
• Yemei HaRachamim VehaSelichos
• Teshuvah and the Days of Rachamim
• Yemei HaRachamim and the Meaning of Rachamim
• Rachmanis and Attachment
• Yemei Harachamim V’Haselichos
• Elul, the Fish, and Where a Person Is Holding
• A Story About Shabbos Fish
• Seeing the World from Where You Are Holding
• The Torah Source and the Question of Yom Noraim
• Memel and What Rosh Hashanah Is About
• Yemei HaRachamim and the Inner Feeling of Elul

Transcript

# Perek Hei: The Aron in Ashdod

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This week we learned Perek Dalet and Shmuel. We are now holding in Perek Hei. We learned that the Aron was captured by the Plishtim. In Perek Hei, we learn what the Plishtim did with the Aron.

The pasuk says: *“Vayikchu Plishtim es Aron HaElokim, vayeviu miEven Ezer Ashdodah.”* The Plishtim took the Aron HaElokim and brought it to Beis Dagon. They placed it next to the avodah zarah. So it was in Ashdod, in the house of avodah zarah of Dagon, and that is where they put the Aron Hashem.

*“Vayashkimu Ashdodim mimacharas,”* the pasuk says. They woke up in the morning, and *“hineh Dagon nofel lefanav artzah.”* Dagon had fallen to the ground. Miraculously, it was a ma’aseh Hashem, something chiddush, but it fell to the ground.

*“Vayikchu es Dagon veyashivu oso kamo.”* They were not fazed. The pasuk says they put Dagon back in its place. Instead of learning from this that something strange had happened, something that should have moved them, it did not move them.

The next morning, *“vayashkimu baboker mimacharas, v’hineh Dagon nofel lefanav artzah.”* This time, when it fell, *“v’resh Dagon u’shtei kapos yadav kerusos el hamiftan.”* It was smashed: the head and the hands of the avodah zarah were smashed on the miftan, on the doorstep. *“Rak Dagon nish’ar alav.”* To this day, there is a custom not to walk on the miftan, on the threshold, because their avodah zarah fell. Since their avodah zarah fell there, it became a bad omen to walk on the miftan.

Instead of taking some kind of lesson from this, they did not. They were not going to walk on the threshold, but they did not say, perhaps something is wrong here, perhaps we are doing something wrong. No, they continued in their ways of rav bit.

# The Plague of Mice

Now the Rabbeinu Sholeilam begins to punish them. He showed them simanim, and they did not take the sign, so now they are punished. *“Vayishameim”*—Rashi says it is a lashon of shmamah; in the Midrashim it says mice. They were infested with mice. I guess an infestation of mice is a tremendous tragedy. From here we see it is a tremendous plague.

All right, everyone is smiling. We have all lived in yeshiva apartments at one point in our lives, and we know what an infestation of mice is. In any case, it still did not help. They saw that this was happening, that the tide was turning, that bad things were happening to them, and still they remained strong in their ways.

So they decided, because of the mice, to send it. Instead of returning it to Klal Yisrael, they were going to keep it in a different location. The Ribbono Shel Olam says: you are still not learning your lesson, so I will punish you even more. They relocated it, and the Ribbono Shel Olam says: I am going to punish you even more.

# The Lesson of the Perek

מֵהֻמָה גְּדוֹלָה מְאֹד, וַיְהִי שַׁחַת שְׁעִיר מִקָּטֹן עַד גָּדוֹל. אַפֵּלִים כְּרִית חַיִּים. וְקִצֵּר, they decided to send it to Ekron.

Basically, what you are reading in this pasuk is that the Ribono Shel Olam is trying to reach out to them, so to speak, to teach them, to be me'orer them: do not keep the avodas Hashem. Step by step, they ignore all the simanim, and it gets worse and worse for them.

The Kli Yakar, as quoted in Ma'am Le'ya, says that there is a lesson in this perek. If you notice, the perek is very detailed, and that is what the Kli Yakar is being me'orer about. It is not enough to say simply that they did not return, and therefore they were punished. One has to know that it started with the avodah zarah, and they still did not listen. Then they got vayashimeim and v'yachayisim b'tchayrim, and then they decided to keep it anyway, and again it got worse. So there is a lesson, says the Kli Yakar.

What is the lesson? And I quote, because it is a me'orer of the Kli Yakar. Says the Kli Yakar: here the pasuk is showing us, trying to teach us, that the Ribbono Shel Olam has mercy even when the Jews do not want it. People who stole the aron, who captured the aron, brought it into the beis avodah zarah. Could you get anything worse, anything bigger? And what does He do? He does not even punish them מיד. First He gives them a sign; He knocks down their avodah zarah. Take the lesson? No. He does not say very terrible things. Hashem started to press them, push them, and they still do not take the lesson.

So then the Ribbono Shel Olam, after that, begins by taking out the aron. And they did not learn; they did not take the sign, they did not take the remez. So what happened? They decided they are not going to walk on the threshold. Instead of taking the lesson? No. Dagon is right, and therefore Dagon was insulted, so to speak. So we are not going to walk on the threshold of Dagon. Why do you not realize Dagon is a joke and send back to our Hashem? No, no, oh no, not that. So then Hashem gets angry and He pushes. And still that did not help. So the Ribono Shel Olam has to go all out, so to speak, plague them and punish them.

## A Lesson for the Yemei Elul

I believe that there is a tremendous lesson to be taken from this, and I think it is very applicable to the yemei Elul. It is very important to bring out this point.

You know, the Rambam speaks really the halachah of this perek, and that is in Ta'anis, perek aleph, halachah gimel. The Rambam tells us that if a tzarah comes on a person, or a group of people, or a nation, and they do not take the lesson that is learned from it, then what happens is it gets worse. The Ribbono Shel Olam sends more tzaros. The Rambam is that in case a tzarah comes, it happens. Which is what these people did, right? They said, oh, a tzarah, and it fell; oh, it is a bad omen. Okay, we will take the lesson. No. And you say that tzarah is just a happening that happened? This is the path of achzarius, the opposite of rachmanus. It causes them to do bad continuously, to continue to do bad. And this is...

# The Meaning of *Derech Achzarius*

To the tzara. Instead of the tzara going away, it just continues. Now what does the Rambam mean by *arei ze derech achzarius*? If a person does not learn the lesson from the tzara, this is a form of *achzarius*.

It is a big shailah in the mefarshim. We have spoken about this in the past. Many learn that it is *achzarius* toward oneself: he is being an *achzar* because, instead of having rachmanus on himself and learning his lesson, he is only causing himself much worse problems, more problems, and vital problems. You cannot run from a problem. If the Eibershter sends something, as the Chazon Ish said, someone once came to the Chazon Ish and said that he had problems wherever he went, in business or whatever it was, so he moved to another country, to another place. I guess he was relying on the Chazal, *mishaneh makom, mishaneh mazal*.

The Chazon Ish told him that every *yissur* is like an arrow with an address. The address is your name, not where you live, so it will follow you. I guess this was before the days of heat-seeking missiles. But that is really what the Chazon Ish was saying: the heat-seeking missile latches on to the person who deserves it and is supposed to get it, and he will get it. So the fact that you run and run is not going to help, because eventually you are going to get it. And from the Rambam, you are going to get it even worse. So you might as well be smart and take it earlier.

# A Mashal from Reb Yeruchim

I have mentioned to you many times that my zeidel used to say over that Reb Yeruchim in the Mir gave a beautiful mussar. He said he never found it in the sefarim of Reb Yeruchim. I guess they did not feel that the mussar was on par with the rest of Reb Yeruchim to print, but the mussar nevertheless is brilliant. Zeidel said that Reb Yeruchim gave a mussar in the Mir: a person, when he does not take the lessons that are given to him, is just prolonging the inevitable, and it is only going to be worse and worse for him.

He brought a mashal: a person walks into a restaurant and orders meat. The meat was a little off—in English they say it has seen better days. So he calls the waiter and tells him. The waiter probably knows already how many chasunos this piece has been to; as they say, if the chasunahs that pulchuch and get on stuff, he already knows how many weddings this thigh has danced at. He tells him: let me give you good advice, it is כדאי for you to eat it tonight. Because if you do not eat it tonight as the meat, you are going to get it tomorrow in the blintzes. If you do not eat it tomorrow in the blintzes, you are going to get this meat in three days in the kreplach. Eventually you are going to end up eating this meat anyway. You might as well get it over and done with earlier, rather than prolong it a few days and end up eating the same meat anyway.

Reb Yeruchim brought out this Rambam: you are just prolonging the inevitable and making it worse for yourself.

# The *Achzarius* Is Toward Oneself

So that is *arei ze derech achzarius*. What is the *achzarius*? The *achzarius* is toward the person himself. You are being an *achzar*. I have raayos to this. I do not want to be marich now, but I understood the Rambam to mean that you are faulting the Eibershter as an *achzar*. When bad things happen and you do not think to yourself that it is in order that I should fix myself, that it is for my benefit, that it is in order to teach me something, then you are saying that the One who does this is an *achzar*. He just does bad things. *Harei ze derech achzarius*: you are faulting everything in the world as an *achzarius* of the *achzar*.

The pasuk tells us, *v’imenu lo yeitzei hara ki im tov*. Rabbi Yishmael says, *ki tov*. He means good. His intention for every person, as difficult as He makes it, is for his good and his benefit.

# Derech Rachmanus in Difficulty

And I believe the Rambam is telling us that this is part of the chiyuv of accepting and facing difficulty in life. When a tzara happens, one must realize that it is not derech achzarius; it is derech rachmanus.

Again, the Rambam is saying: harei zeh achzarius. The person is cruel to himself, because he is not taking the lesson, and that prolongs the inevitable and makes it worse. Or, harei zeh achzarius—meaning he is living in a world in which everything is achzarius. He looks at everything and says, ah, shreklich, look at this, so mean; the world is mean, life is mean, everything is mean. That is if one learns that events happen without a cheshbon. But if one feels that there is a cheshbon, then what is it? Derech rachmanus.

# Yonah and the Kikayon

Yonah was taught this lesson at the end of Yonah. We all know that after Ninveh, he wanted to run away; he did not want to be part of the teshuvah of Ninveh. The pasuk says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu brought a kikayon, and Yonah took it away. Yonah was upset about the tree, about the shade. HaKadosh Baruch Hu told him that the Navi was being taught, to teach Klal Yisrael, that everything HaKadosh Baruch Hu does is with chesed, everything HaKadosh Baruch Hu does is with rachmanus.

This is what the Kli Yakar is explaining throughout the entire perek hei. Perek hei is teaching us that HaKadosh Baruch Hu does everything with rachmanus. Even the Plishtim, even ovdei avodah zarah, and people who stole the Aron Bris Hashem and brought it into the Beis Avodah Zarah—still, everything has to do with rachmanus.

Okay, rabosai, this is the Navi haKadosh. I explained to you that perek hei goes into detail to teach us that we should learn from who stole the Aron Bris Hashem, and foolishly they were still busy, that Dagon fell, and therefore—why does this inspire me in this perek?

# Yemei HaRachamim VehaSelichos

You know, rabosai, Elul and the Yamim Nora’im are named Yemei HaRachamim VehaSelichos, a famous term. I have tried to research where it comes from, and I do not have the answer. I always thought it was Rosh Hashanah and Rosh Chodesh, but I am not clear. I do know that everybody uses it, and I know that every sefer calls Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and Elul, Yemei HaRachamim.

Now, the roshan heilik, I know where that comes from. It comes from the Torah. The Torah says the yemei roshan—the forty days are yemei roshan. But I did find in the car for the Yemei HaRachamim. I would like to look into the Yemei HaRachamim, to understand it, to explain it, and to apply it to us. How does it apply to us? What are we supposed to understand? Elul is Yemei HaRachamim. It means that the Ribono Shel Olam has rachmanus on us.

So it is very difficult, because it is not really the word rachamim here. You could say on Rosh Hashanah it is Yemei HaRachamim, right? In case we are not ready to have a good judgment, it is rachamim. It means it is a rachamim. But before Rosh Hashanah, there is a rachamim. Unless maybe it means that the Ribono Shel Olam accepts our...

# Teshuvah and the Days of Rachamim

Tshuva, even though we don’t deserve it—that is the lashon of the Mishnah Berurah. *Ani l’dodi v’dodi li*, and *v’oz dodi karav li l’kabel teshuvasi me’ahavah*. The Mishnah Berurah adds one word: *me’ahavah*.

Maybe *me’ahavah* just means *me’rachamim*. He loves us so much, therefore He has rachmanus on us, and therefore He is mekabel our teshuvah. Rabbeis, what are the days of rachamim? Is it that the Ribbono Shel Olam has rachmanus on us? Unless perhaps the Ribbono Shel Olam is rachmanus and is forgiving us these days.

Rabbeis, these are days in which the Ribbono Shel Olam is connecting with us mercifully, which means that even if we do not deserve it, we receive it. All the *me’rachamim* means that these days were given to us al yedei rachamim, that the Ribbono Shel Olam is rachmanus, so He gave us these days, like the lashon of Rabbeinu Yonah, that He gave us teshuvah.

Rabbeis, which of the two peshatim do you think it is? Is it the *me’rachamim* that the Ribbono Shel Olam has rachmanus on us, and therefore He is mekabel our teshuvah? Or is it the *me’rachamim* that the days themselves are merciful, that He gave us these days? The Ribbono Shel Olam was kind; He gave us days that we could clean ourselves.

He asked me, “I don’t believe it’s any of the above. I believe it’s a whole different meaning of *yemei rachamim*.” Rabbeis, please come with me into the olam of ha’avodah. I invite you to come with me. *Vos me’tavodah shalom?* First let me tell you where the mekor is. I found the mekor; it’s in the Arizal.

The Arizal says there are thirteen. And I’ll try my best, Rabbeis, just because it’s *hecher yonim*, to make it simple. There is a simple pshat; you can walk away. There is a Zohar that says there are Yud-Gimmel Middos HaRachamim. The Yud-Gimmel Middos HaRachamim are *niftach*—they open up.

The Arizal continues: what is a *sheishanah*? We all know roses. The Arizal says a rose has thirteen petals, and he brings a medrash. I’m not a florist, Rabbeis, but I believe that if the Arizal brings a medrash, it must be true. It is in the Arizal. If you look at the passage, there are thirteen words. You look at the passage—Yud-Gimmel, thirteen. And that is the mekor of teshuvah.

And that is why it says, *Ani l’dodi v’dodi li*, which is Elul, *ha’ro’eh*, and the *sheishanim*. At least I found the mekor. I searched for it, Rabbeis, for years. I couldn’t figure it out: where did the term Yud-Gimmel Middos HaRachamim come from? And the teretz is that there are days when the Ribbono Shel Olam opens up the Yud-Gimmel Middos HaRachamim.

This, Rabbeis, leads me to understand that rachamim is not a verb. It is not an act. It is an emotion. I want you to pay attention, Rabbeis. You know, when you look deep into Yiddishkeit,

# Yemei HaRachamim and the Meaning of Rachamim

Try to understand what the Torah, what Yiddishkeit, wants of you. What Yiddishkeit is trying to ask is that you should search, search deeply. What are you expressing? What are you saying?

Last week we spoke that the Yid’s neshama is screaming, “I want to see Hashem’s face.” We mentioned this last week. We’ll get back to it a little later, maybe in a schmooze or two, in a week or two.

What is Yemei HaRachamim? What does it mean? Yemei HaRachamim, Rabbi Yisrael, does not mean that the Rabbeinu Sholelam acts with us in rachmanus. It is not an action. It is an emotion that the Rabbeinu Sholelam has. It is an emotion that we have for the Eibershter, and that the Eibershter has for us.

“L’rachem amri bi’yom din.” “L’fo’el rachamov ba’din.” These are two different things, Rabbi Yisrael. “L’rachem amri bi’yom din,” and then we say two stanzas before that, “L’ein l’keil rabbi yom din, l’fo’el rachamov.” “L’fo’el” means to act, to trigger an action of rachamim. It is not the same thing as “l’rachem amri.” “L’rachem” is a certain love that you have. “L’rachem amri” means that the Rabbeinu Sholelam has a regesh of rachamim toward Klal Yisrael.

You want to know where I understood this from? It is in the first Sfas Emes on this, Rabbi Yisrael. Now pay attention, because we began to show you how the Rabbeinu Sholelam has rachmanus even for the Plishtim. But that is a different rachmanus, Rabbi Yisrael. You know what that is? That is rachmanus of action. The Rabbeinu Sholelam acts in a way of rachmanus. Instead of din, He acts with rachmanus. It is not the same thing by Klal Yisrael. By Klal Yisrael, it is not how He acts, but how He feels. It is the emotion that He has. It is the kesher that He has.

Let me quote you a Sfas Emes, and then you will understand what I am saying. The Sfas Emes in many places discusses this. In one place, at length, we say in Ashrei every day, “Tov Hashem lakol, virachamov al kol ma’asov.” So there are two things: Hashem is good, and Hashem has rachmanus. What are the two things? “Tov,” “virachamov al kol ma’asov.” Says the Sfas Emes in Tovus Taf Reish Samech Aleph, a pele’dige thing: Hashem is good to everyone, because Hashem is native; He does good to people, not bad. Hashem behaves, acts, reacts with chesed. And “virachamim” is something else. “Virachamim” is dveikus v’hiskashrus. It is a connection; it is an emotion. Chesed is an act, and virachamim is an emotion.

And he says a pele’dige thing: you have rachmanus on someone when you hear his pain. So you are connecting with him through understanding his pain. “Shemaitzeh b’libo virachmanus mitzarah d’Hashem iz baineh mitza’aro.” This is only by Klal Yisrael. By Klal Yisrael, the Rabbeinu Sholelam connects by understanding the person, understanding Klal Yisrael.

I would like to bring you the pasuk. He speaks at length, but I want to make it as simple as possible: “Kimidei dabri boi, rachem arachamenu.” The Rabbeinu Sholelam lovingly speaks about Ephraim, and we say it in davening. “Kimidei dabri boi, rachem arachamenu.” When I speak of him, boi.

# Rachmanis and Attachment

Let’s say even a person, when I speak about who it is—Klal Yisrael, Ephraim—I automatically have rachmanis. Any quote from Gemara, this is a pillar. The Gemara says that if someone says about a bird, “Yagur rachamecha,” that is a bad thing. You are not supposed to say that. Why? Because it is all gezeiras v’leirachame. Why not? You are taking the bird, you are sending it away. Why is that not rachmanis? Why not?

There is a lot of discussion about this. The Rishonim say it is a peleh de’gezach, a tremendous wonder. You cannot have rachmanis on a bird. It is impossible. You cannot connect to a bird. You can perhaps do a ma’aseh chesed, but rachmanis? How could you have rachmanis? It is a peleh de’gezim, a meireh d’gedeher. Rachmanis means there is love. You know the world has a famous saying: a person sits and eats chicken and says he loves chicken. So what do they tell him? You do not love chicken, because if you loved chicken, you would not eat it, right? You would not kill it and eat it. You love yourself. Everyone is smiling, but you have no idea how deep this word is.

The same way you cannot love chicken, you cannot have rachmanis on chicken. No. Maybe you are a good person, so you are toiveh. But the word l’rachim is an emotion of attachment, where a person feels love, compassion. But the shoresh of it is that he is connected. This is “tov Hashem lakol, v’rachamav al kol ma’asav.” He discusses two pshatim in “al kol ma’asav.” We all know “ma’asav” is the mishnah. It says clearly it is a Chazal. But I do not want to be ma’arich so much on the point; I want to bring out this nekudah.

# Yemei Harachamim V’Haselichos

What does it mean, “yemei harachamim v’haselichos”? Yemei harachamim is not that the Ribono Shel Olam has rachmanis on us. That is officially my job with the shiur, but thank you. Yemei harachamim, rabosai—you know what yemei harachamim means? Love, compassion. That is what it means. It is days where the Ribono Shel Olam looks at us and He says, “Rachem arachem.” It is “l’racham amri.” It does not mean the act of having mercy, that we need to come onto mercy.

Do you know that it is shayach to have rachmanis on a child even if he does not need you to do anything for him? When you have compassion for your child, it means that he needs you to go and get him something, or the emotion of compassion is there regardless. It has nothing to do with him being in trouble and therefore you forgive him. It is a deep regesh of attachment that you have, compassion. It is a feeling. Yemei harachamim v’haselichos—these are days where the regesh, the feeling, the emotion, where we feel the Ribono Shel Olam’s compassion toward us.

And this is where I am just going to repeat a minute of what we spoke yesterday. I want you to hear it. I want you to walk away, because this is week after week until we understand what we want here and now. I asked you a question last week.

# Elul, the Fish, and Where a Person Is Holding

Everyone asks again: Elul, and again Elul. It is very hard to keep on. Rabbi Yankiv, I did not take to what you said last week in the car. I was thinking about it, but I want you to hear it properly. There is an interesting thing. Yom HaNora’im is not mentioned in the Torah, and Elul is not mentioned anywhere in Shas.

I was thinking: could you imagine Elul? It is such a big thing—Elul, Shas, HaZad, Tras, Elul. It was an aveidah that everybody, the fish—I mean, the fish are scared from Elul. So what did they learn? Gemara? How did the fish get there?

My uncle says, I made a Gemara about the fish. My uncle asked the question: the fish, do you really think the fish know about Elul? Let us talk realistically. I know they recently talked about fish that spoke in Monsey; I cannot get involved in that. That is above my level. The only thing my fish tell me is, thank your wife after you finish eating it. That is the only thing my fish talked to me. My fish tell me, you better thank her after every bite.

# A Story About Shabbos Fish

I will tell you a story. My zayde, a chayim livrachah, is smiling. My zayde was never apart from my bubby on Shabbos; it never happened. There is one Shabbos that I remember: my aunt, Rebbetzin Kellemer, had a baby in Boston and she needed help. My bubby went there for Shabbos, and in place of my bubby was my mother. We lived next door. My mother cooked the whole Shabbos, but since it was last minute, she bought fish from a jar. I do not even have it anymore—mother’s matzah. In my days, she was a little ashamed that she did not make the fish for Shabbos, because it was last minute, so she bought it from the store.

She excused herself to the zayde and said, “You know, it was last minute.” So my zayde said, “What are you talking about? It is wonderful. I love it. The best thing, this fish.” Why? Because when my bubby makes the fish, after every bite he has to tell her how good it is and thank her. He cannot even enjoy it. “Yeah, the best stuff,” he says. “It is good, it is delicious.” So this, for the first Shabbos, he is able to eat the fish; there is no problem. He does not have to thank after every bite how delicious it is.

# Seeing the World from Where You Are Holding

So to me, that is the only thing fish talk. Fish say: say thank you to the one who cooked. Fish talkers are shaking—you believe fish are really shaking? It is not that the fish. Every person sees the world around him from where he is holding. And an Elul Yid was in such pachad that he sees in the aquarium fish are shaking, the fish are shaking from Elul. Because the nature of a person is that he sees the world around him from where he is holding. It works in everything in life that way.

He could be in the presence of the United States, he could sit in the White House and ask for basketball. That is all—it is where you are holding. That is a beautiful proof to this. He says he told this vort over to many people, and once he mentioned it to a travel agent. You know what the travel agent said? “That is a great vort. I am going to use that, get a lot of mileage out of that vort.” See, every person is where he is holding. He is a traveler. You do not like the vort? Non-committed. Every person is where he is holding. He sees mileage. He sees a good vort by him; it is mileage.

Okay, so let us go right—only because of the constraint of time. The bottom line is: you made such a tumul about Elul, could you tell me where?

# The Torah Source and the Question of Yom Noraim

It comes from there. The best we have is a Torah that says you have to go blow shofar on Elul. That’s it. That’s the best you’ve got. Then it turns into darshehu shmois, the doedim, the dem, the deremes, the generemes, the demais, the degeshev.

I have an even bigger question for you. Could you explain to me where Yom Noraim is? It would be a nice horror. It would be interesting to find out. The Torah says two things: you have to bring a korban and blow shofar. Done. Can you tell me where the whole Yom Noraim is? With the kittel, with the ganzen. Where, where, vuvuz, then?

# Memel and What Rosh Hashanah Is About

It’s memel. So, Nasi, you’ve been sitting here long enough to understand what I’m trying to bring you. Memel. Did he just say memel? That’s it. You hit it right on the button. Nasi should be the ben shechad dezei elidu shechad.

It’s not easy for me to come here. I come because certain people I know are committed. I’m committed. And I don’t mean committed. Okay. It’s memel. What does that mean? It’s covered. Most of Rosh Hashanah is only for Yidden. I don’t understand. It’s for everybody. Don’t tell anybody. I don’t see the whole world. It’s to get to the whole world.

The teretz is that only a Yid can understand certain things memelach. If their Baal Shem is a Melech, then we have to be the am. It’s a whole avodah. And in kelim they used to hang up this sign: ein melech b’layam. We respond to the fact that the Ribono Shel Olam is. You see, it’s a response. It works both ways. It’s in the meledikefim.

# Yemei HaRachamim and the Inner Feeling of Elul

As we spoke last week, l’cha mar libi bakshu fanai. You should say p’necha. And the answer is that the Ribono Shel Olam is talking through our neshamos: bakshu fanai. This is Yemei HaRachamim. Yemei HaRachamim doesn’t mean that the Eibershter is actively having rachmanus on us because of something we need rachmanus for. That’s not what it is. It’s about the regesh, which explains what it means Yemei HaRachamim.

What is Yemei HaRachamim? Anybody know what the word rachamim is? And the answer is: it’s about what your rachamim is, what you want. It’s days of love, want. There’s no way to explain it. Nobody can come and tell you; it is what you feel. It’s what a Yid feels on Rosh Hashanah. It’s what a Yid feels on Elul. You have to let it come. You have to let it happen. And you’ll see it everywhere. You’ll see Rosh Hashanah. You’ll see the Ribono Shel Olam’s malchus. This is Yemei HaRachamim, Yemei HaSlichos, and Yemei HaRachamim.