Elul, Tzedakah, and Ma'avirin Es Ro'a HaGezeirah

Topics

• Elul as Preparation for Rosh Hashanah
• Other Remazim in the Mattei Ephraim
• “Ish l’re’ehu u’matanos la’evyonim”
• Tzedakah in Elul and Mevarer Es Ha-Gezeirah
• Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Vidui
• Ta’amei Vayikra and the Malitzei Yosher
• Tzedakah, Chesed, and Yisra Yagzerah
• L’cha Hashem Hatzedakah
• The Meaning of “Achalti”
• Teshuvah Means Taking Responsibility
• Selichos and Tzedakah
• Lev Eliahu and the Days of Elul
• Chesed, Tzedakah, and Asking for the Ribbono Shel Olam’s Chesed
• Teshuvah and the Rambam
• Hisdabekus and Teshuvah
• Chesed, Tzedakah, and Being in the Mechitzah of the Kadosh Baruch Hu
• Rav Shepshech’s Zog on Tzlichas
• The Mashal of the Chafetz Chaim
• Rabbeinu Yonah and the Search for Emes
• Emes and the Middos of the Ribbono Shel Olam
• Rosh Hashanah on Erev Shabbos
• Rav Yisrael Salanter’s Kol Nidre
• A story from Maaseh Ish
• Yom Kippur Night and Ne’ilah

Transcript

# Elul as Preparation for Rosh Hashanah

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Elul, as we know, is a chiddush, a preparation for Rosh Hashanah, the Yom HaDin, and it is a great avodah. Elul is a month in which people do teshuvah, and in which people take stock of themselves and accept things upon themselves l’kavod Hashem. The sefarim ha-kedoshim already speak to us and tell us different things that we have to work on during Elul.

Today I would like to choose one of those inyanim that the sefarim discuss, based on the Mattei Ephraim, Mattei Ephraim in Alef, Lamed, Tzadi, Tov, Kuf, Pei, Alef. This alef brings us the remazim of Elul. The Mishnah Berurah quotes two of them, the two famous ones: Elul is “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li,” and “Umal Hashem Elokecha es levavcha v’es levav zar’echa.”

# Other Remazim in the Mattei Ephraim

Interestingly, the Mattei Ephraim actually brings two other remazim. In the past I have mentioned to you that I asked many gedolim, including Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, why the Mishnah Berurah chose the two that he brings and does not make mention of the other two that the Mattei Ephraim brings. It is interesting, because the Mattei Ephraim is not only quoting the Arizal; he is actually quoting the Al Yarehu, which quotes an earlier rishon. So it is interesting that the Mishnah Berurah does not quote it, but instead brings the other two.

One of the other remazim we have spoken about in the past is “V’Elokim inah li yadei v’samti l’cha makom,” aray miklat. Elul becomes an aray miklat. From a whole year, a person finds himself lost, misya’eish because of his cheit, and he finds a place b’tzel kanfei chayah, an aray miklat, where he can run, and that is Elul: “V’Elokim inah li yadei v’samti l’cha makom.”

# “Ish l’re’ehu u’matanos la’evyonim”

The fourth one that the Mattei Ephraim brings, and as I told you, it is from the Al Yarehu, which quotes the Amek Rach, a rishon, is “Ish l’re’ehu u’matanos la’evyonim” — alef-lamed, vav-lamed. In Elul there is an inyan of “Ish l’re’ehu u’matanos la’evyonim.”

What is the avodah of “Ish l’re’ehu u’matanos la’evyonim”? פשוט. He says clearly that it is tzedakah, u’matanos la’evyonim — one has to give tzedakah, to be marbeh with tzedakah in the month of Elul. And the Mattei Ephraim explains that it is based on the inyan of teshuvah, tefillah, tzedakah, ma’avirin es ro’a ha-gezeirah. He says that these are actually all the remazim. It is not just that each one is a remez for itself, but rather, in combination of all the remazim, you have the inyan of teshuvah, tefillah, tzedakah, ma’avirin es ro’a ha-gezeirah.

He says this very simply: teshuvah is “Umal Hashem Elokecha es levavcha v’es levav zar’echa.” That is teshuvah. “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li” is tefillah. Interesting — you see that the way to be mekayem and to bring to completion “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li” is through tefillah. That is how the Mattei Ephraim is learning the remez of “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li”: it is an inyan of tefillah. That is how a person connects to the Ribono Shel Olam through tefillah.

Then you have tzedakah, and that is matanos la’evyonim. Matanos la’evyonim is tzedakah, פשוט, to give money to the poor.

So what is “Ish l’re’ehu,” though? How do we explain the beginning, “Ish l’re’ehu u’matanos la’evyonim”? It is actually part of it. It is not just tzedakah la’aniyim; it has to be “Ish l’re’ehu” as well, and it is put together with tzedakah. So there are a few inyanim. It is not just teshuvah, tefillah, tzedakah, ma’avirin es ro’a ha-gezeirah, but in tzedakah there is more than that.

# Tzedakah in Elul and Mevarer Es Ha-Gezeirah

There is some expression of being ishaler yehu in the inyan of Elul. So we would like to discuss the inyan of tzedakah. Why is it so important? Why is it mevarer es ha-gezeirah? And see how it extends to ishaler yehu. There must be some form, some expression, some inyan of tzedakah that gives itself to ishaler yehu as well.

So let us begin with the inyan of tzedakah, that it is mevarer es ha-gezeirah. Why? Why is tzedakah mevarer es ha-gezeirah?

Teshuvah is pashut, as the Rambam says: I am not that person who did the chet in the first place, and you can come and say, I am not even that person who deserves that gezeirah. We spoke the lashon of the Rambam: I am not that person. A person is able to take the gezeirah and say the gezeirah was on that person; I am not that person, another person.

# Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Vidui

Tefillah: we can daven to the Ribono Shel Olam. I admit, Hashem, we will speak more be’arichus about it. The inyan of vidui, people do not realize, is not just vidui because we say in vidui, “Al Hashem, chatasi, avisi, pashati.” What is “Al Hashem”? The Tosafos Yeshanim on the Gemara in Yoma 86 says “Al Hashem” is a loshon of tefillah. You daven to the Ribono Shel Olam.

Hashem willing, closer to Yom Kippur we will speak about the inyan of vidui, how vidui is an inyan of tefillah. You see that there is an inyan of davening to the Ribono Shel Olam for tefillah on the aveiros. And of course it has to do with ani l’dodi, either kiva or the Ribono Shel Olam.

The Rambam writes clearly that the person was esmol meruchak, hayom hu karov. The distance is rachok. If you notice, the Rambam even says esmol his tefillah was not ne’eneh; his tefillah was not answered. V’hayom, today, he is karov and his tefillah is answered. For sure, according to the Rambam, who has teshuvah, yesterday the person was a meruchak. His tefillos were taken and ripped up in front of him. Hashem came today; he is karov to the Ribono Shel Olam, says the Rambam, and his tefillah, in the kabbalas, becomes accepted.

So you see the inyan of teshuvah close to the Ribono Shel Olam, tefillah, ani l’dodi, nivadti, ili, the kasher. We can give a whole shiur just on this point as well.

But, like I said, I am really stressing only the last nekudah: the inyan of tzedakah, the avodah of tzedakah in Elul, and more specifically why it is mevarer es ha-gezeirah.

# Ta’amei Vayikra and the Malitzei Yosher

There is an interesting sefer, Ta’amei Vayikra, by the way. The sefer Ta’amei Vayikra, the yesod of it is to try to emulate the Ribono Shel Olam. That is the holy yesod of the sefer Ta’amei Vayikra. It is a beautiful sefer, and of course from the middos of the Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam loves chesed.

And he says an interesting thing. He says it is yadua that there is something called Heichal HaYadua, a heichal in Shamayim that is known. It is, as it were, the place where the malachim hang out. You know, it is a shiur for lunch and lunch. I will give you a little expression: I would call it the coffee room in Heaven. In Shamayim there is a coffee room, and who is in this coffee room? Malachim. They sit and talk together. And what are they waiting for? Which news? Chesed.

If they hear about pe’ulas chesed, they come out of this room, this makom, and they come as melitzei yosher for the person who did the chesed, to be mevarer es ha-gezeirah, to take away the gezeirah. So the inyan of tzedakah is pashut mevarer es ha-gezeirah, because the malachim, the melitzei yosher, come out. Why? Because of chesed. They say, bring the pashut, and because he is a ba’al chesed, so they bring him, and this appeases the malach, and the malach takes away the gezeirah. This says two things. This is l’chaim.

# Tzedakah, Chesed, and Yisra Yagzerah

The kipshutai, the simple reading, is that tzedakah helps because it is mevarer and yisra yagzerah, since the Ribbono Shel Olam is a Chafetz Chesed. Chesed, so to speak, is like a shechitah; the Ribbono Shel Olam of chesed. That is how it has to be learned at the time of the Torah. The Ribbono Shel Olam does not take shechitah, and the Gemara actually speaks about this. The Ribbono Shel Olam takes shechitah by Klal Yisrael; it is a special din by Klal Yisrael. We can speak about the Gemara another time.

So the Ribbono Shel Olam, it is a type of shechitah, that the Ribbono Shel Olam is a Chafetz Chesed. Then the malachim come out and say, Ribbono Shel Olam, look, look, it is a chesed. I think we have to go a little deeper into this to understand how and why tzedakah is mevarer and yisra yagzerah.

There is something called the way a person behaves: the person is noheg, that is how they are noheg with him. If you do tzedakah, then the Ribbono Shel Olam does tzedakah with you. Yisra yagzerah says that the first pshat we are saying is that if a person does chesed and tzedakah, mevarer and yisra yagzerah, the Ribbono Shel Olam overlooks.

Yisra yagzerah is learning that this is the way to go b’din. So b’din, this is not a freebie they give you. No, it is tzedakah b’din. It is b’din, it is b’din against b’din. Yisra yagzerah says this is the mesush of yisra yagzerah. It is not that the Ribbono Shel Olam is doing you a special favor; it is chesed b’din, b’dinu. Yisra yagzerah says this might be the ikar of what we come b’din with.

# L’cha Hashem Hatzedakah

Now selichos begins. What does it mean, l’cha Hashem hatzedakah? So many mefarshim, acharonim, sefarim, explain that a person recognizes that the Ribbono Shel Olam is right and you are wrong. One of the biggest yesodos of teshuvah is to first admit you are wrong: modeh, modeh u’mizvadeh. Vidui is to say, modeh, I tell the truth, I come clean. So by coming clean I am saying, l’cha Hashem hatzedakah: Ribbono Shel Olam, You are right and I am wrong.

Very many people, even when they want to apologize, have a hard time saying two things: either that they are wrong or that the other person is right. You have to get the two together. It is very easy to say, “You’re right.” Are you wrong? “No, I’m not wrong.” Or a person can come and say he is wrong, but has a very hard time saying that the other person is right. And the yesod of vidui is modeh, v’azev, Yerucham.

You know, we spoke many times that the first person to do a chet avad was Adam HaRishon. When the Ribbono Shel Olam came to him, the Ribbono Shel Olam asked him, “Tell Me...”

# The Meaning of “Achalti”

What did he say? “Achalti” — I ate. The Midrash says that “achalti” has many different connotations. “Achalti” can mean that I ate in the past. It can mean in the present. It can also mean that I will still eat it in the future.

The Midrash says clearly that “achalti” means, I ate in the past. But the word can also imply the future — I’ll do it again.

So Chazal tell us that he was telling the Ribbono Shel Olam, “Achalti, achalti — I did it, and I’ll do it again.” He did not say, “I am still eating”; he said, “I ate.” “Achalti, achalti — I did it, and I’ll do it again.” The Ribbono Shel Olam cries out to him: did you eat? Even if a person does not say it explicitly, “I’ll do it again,” even if he plans on doing it again, the Ribbono Shel Olam shrieks at him.

# Teshuvah Means Taking Responsibility

The baalei mussar say, and Chazal, the Midrash, the famous vort says, that “achalti” meant to say: I ate in the past. But the word itself also implies that he will do it again. His kavanah was not to say directly, “I’ll do it again,” but once he blamed the other person, he was no longer admitting that he had done something wrong. That means: “Achalti, achalti — I’ll do it again.”

Teshuvah means that one has to say clearly: I was wrong, I did it, it was my fault, and not your fault.

Whom did he blame? He blamed her — “ha’ishah.” The Gemara even says that he blamed her: “It was you. It was your fault. You gave me this isha.” You know what that means? It means, “I’ll do it again.” Because teshuvah means, “L’cha Hashem ha-tzedakah, v’lanu boshes ha-panim” — You are right, and we are wrong, and we accept that.

# Selichos and Tzedakah

Others learn “L’cha Hashem ha-tzedakah” differently, because the yesod of selichos is tzedakah. We ask the Ribbono Shel Olam for tzedakah. How many times do we speak about “kedalim ukerashim, dafaklu”? We are looking for tzedakah, plain and simple. We are knocking on the door: I need tzedakah. “Kedalim ukerashim,” like poor people knocking on the door, because we are looking for nothing more than tzedakah.

How do we end selichos? “L’cha Hashem ha-tzedakah, v’lanu boshes ha-panim.”

# Lev Eliahu and the Days of Elul

In Lev Eliahu it is brought down — I made a diyyuk there in Lev Eliahu — it says, “Shamati me-chacham echad.” He once heard from a chacham; that was at the shmuess of the Alter of Slabodka during the days of Elul. He said: “Rabosai, I thought about it, and I came to the conclusion that everything we are saying is not going to help, because the truth is, we cannot come with anything. Whatever we are going to come with is not worth very much. We are not going to come with tzedakah b’din, if it has to work b’din. Ein tzidkascha, v’smichen, matanah garanti, to get away with, so to speak, to be mishtamet from din. Is this in you? ‘Avziku hi rabim, emrachim al ha-briyos’ — they are merciful to creatures.”

Lev Eliahu brings it down, and that is beyond, rabosai. I cannot tell you how much it changed the world of Elul since the days of Rabbi Leib Pion. Anyone who ever listened to the tapes of Rabbi Leib Pion, or listened to the baalei mussar from Eretz Yisrael, what Elul was — and he is saying that this was already in the days of ‘Avziku hi rabim.’ “V’lo b’chesed, v’lo b’maasim, banu lefanecha.”

# Chesed, Tzedakah, and Asking for the Ribbono Shel Olam’s Chesed

We cannot even come with chesed. The Haaltev and the Vardig are telling us that we should come with chesed, but I think we are holding at a madreigah where perhaps we cannot even come with that anymore. And afra pikei, we can ask the Ribbono Shel Olam: give us stock of the chesed. That means even if we do not earn it through chesed, we say, we say...

And that is what? Tell me, does a dal or a rosh ever give stock? No, they are not. The dal and the rosh cannot give anybody anything, and he is still coming and saying, listen, I can never pay You back, I can never come with... but I am a dal and a rosh. A dal and a rosh in the fact that at least stock.

So we have here two mahalchim why chesed and stock are so important: either because this is how you mishachet the Ribbono Shel Olam, or because this is what the Ribbono Shel Olam does for you if you do it.

And now we are learning that we ask the Ribbono Shel Olam for chesed, even though... I want to go one step further.

# Teshuvah and the Rambam

There is an interesting Rambam. The Rambam says: what is a baal teshuvah? That is a good question. The Rambam says: what is a baal teshuvah? Baal teshuvah means only to get. There is something about stock that is connected to teshuvah. What is the peshat? The bottom says, because of... So it has to do with what we said before, which means teshuvah is not so much for the teshuvah, but in order to get. You need these things. You need to come and ask stock.

Shaihi teshuvah brings down that it becomes one of the ikrei teshuvah. The way that goes finally seems to learn the Rambam, because it is an inyan midarkei ha-teshuvah of the baal teshuvah. And the Rabbeinu Yonah is mashma that it is something about teshuvah itself. There is something in teshuvah that requires that a person should be rodef peulos, actions of chesed and emes. What is the peshat?

# Hisdabekus and Teshuvah

So I would say, Rabbi Yisrael, it could be, could be. You know what the chet does to a person? Teshuvah is lifnei Hashem. The Rambam even brings the law. You know what happens when a person is a baal teshuvah? He becomes connected to the Ribbono Shel Olam.

How is a person connected to the Ribbono Shel Olam? The Gemara tells us clearly: can a person connect himself to the Ribbono Shel Olam? And the answer is, he is doveik. So what does teshuvah mean? Teshuvah means that a person becomes medubak to the Ribbono Shel Olam. And how could that be? How does a person do that? I will tell you, we will talk about it at a different time. But one of the ways is through hisdabeik b'drachav, that a person who acts like the Ribbono Shel Olam, who is good to middos, memeila bidyitbak. And teshuvah is...

# Chesed, Tzedakah, and Being in the Mechitzah of the Kadosh Baruch Hu

Like the Rambam says, he was Rachel, and today he is mamash next to the Abishter.

There is an interesting Yerushalmi. The Yerushalmi says, in the Gila Peredim HaAlochevav, “B’tzeil k’nofecha yechsoyun.” What does that mean? “Kalaayis haChesed.” The first Yerushalmi: anyone who does chesed is zocheh to sit in the mechitzah of the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Zocheh to sit in the mechitzah of the Rabbeinu Shel Olam.

What is this Yerushalmi saying? “B’sidbot. B’ruche karayv.” A person can sit b’tzilo; he mamash sits next to the Rabbeinu Shel Olam. “B’tzeil k’nofecha yechsoyun.” Through what? “B’tzeil k’nofecha yechsoyun.” “B’tzeil k’nofecha yechsoyun.” It is grand stoker, Yerushalmi, the first Yerushalmi, because whoever does tzedakah is Yerushalmi b’michitzasa shel Kadosh Baruch Hu.

# Rav Shepshech’s Zog on Tzlichas

Now I want to show you something interesting, Rabbi. I grew up with a zog. I know Rav Shepshech, zt”l, used to say it all the time: “Mizog tzlichas. Tava tzizog tzlichas.” What did he mean? I’ll tell you what Rav Shepshech, zt”l, meant. I’ve shown this over the years to many talmidei chachamim. It seems to be a shtikl sticha, and it is brought down.

David knew that one day there would not be a Beis HaMikdash, and he said: what will be if there are no korbanos? And when tzaros will come, who will be mechaper? What will be mechaper if there is no Beis HaMikdash? אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא לדוד: He already set up the seder. I told him: “Shosh ha-tzarez b’ez al Yisrael yamdu lefona yachad ba’gudr ha-beysai.” He heard a loshon. Hamerdik ha-chazal: “Yamdu ba’gudr.” Achdus. It is together. Hamerdik ha-chazal.

You know, you sit in a shul and you say tzlichas, and I am angry at this one and that one is angry at that one. I lose for you; I can’t say it in Yiddish. It is a thing of tzlichas. If you want to talk briskly, you talk briskly; if you don’t want to talk briskly, you don’t. It is clear: “Yamdu lefona yachad ba’gudr ha-beysai.” “Yamdu lefona yachad ba’gudr ha-beysai.” You see clearly what it is. Tzlichas are supposed to be said.

So what did Rav Sheps say about tzlichas? What did he mean? I’ll tell you what he meant. There is an interesting Gemara in Rosh Hashanah, because David HaMelech was actually being told that this was already told to whom? It was told to Moshe Rabbeinu. And let us go to the Gemara where Moshe Rabbeinu was told this. It is a Gemara in Rosh Hashanah. No, it is “Yasu lefona k’seder hazeh.” A furoshige Gemara: “Yasu lefona k’seder hazeh.” Not my digra, beysai. Rosh Hashanah already says this digra. If you look in the Rosh Hashanah, Shaar HaNevi’im, perek alef, divrei hamaschil zeh, deal sheichem, parashas Shlach, you see clearly that it is not enough to zogin tzlichas. Yasu. Dafka.

# The Mashal of the Chafetz Chaim

There's a beautiful mashal from the Heilige Chafetz Chaim, brought by Reb Yankiv Naim in the *Darkei Mussar*. He says he heard from the Chafetz Chaim a mashal.

What is the mashal? A person gets a job. He works in a factory, and the baal habayis gives him a note, a list — today we would call it a memo. He gets a memo: do this, this, this, that; sell, close, sit, boxes — a whole list. After a month he comes and finds that the baal habayis did not make any money. He goes into the office to figure out what happened. He goes to the store, to the factory, and sees that nothing was ever taken care of. He goes over to the fellow and says, “I hired you. I gave you a list.”

The fellow says, “What are you talking about? I’m a good employee. I read the list every day, three times a day. I read it, and I read it over and over again.”

He says to the baal habayis, “You think I gave you the list to read? I gave you the list to do. What’s wrong with you?”

He says to the Heilige Chafetz Chaim: that’s the same thing. What do you think? The Yud-Gimel Middos are a list of what I told you to read? The Yud-Gimel Middos are a list of what I told you to do. Which is really a re’ias Chachmah — I’m quoting the re’ias Chachmah.

The problem is, for those who are sitting and learning, I think you should really work on this. What do you do with the first three? How are you supposed to do? It’s a good hard question. What do you do? Not all the Yud-Gimel Middos — how do you do?

# Rabbeinu Yonah and the Search for Emes

I do want to point out something interesting. What becomes? That’s really the puzzle. Rabbeinu Yonah’s lashon was that he should search out... Think about that. I thought about it many years ago. I don’t understand what Rabbeinu Yonah is talking about. He doesn’t explain it in Shaar Aleph. What are you looking for? You should look for chesed — okay, that I hear. But what are we looking for when we’re looking for emes? What does it mean?

So if you learn through *Shaarei Teshuvah*, you get your answer. And that is, if you learn all the way toward the end of *Shaarei Teshuvah*, Rabbeinu Yonah himself says what the pshat is. Says Rabbeinu Yonah: a person has to do teshuvah. How does he do teshuvah? You have to take the antidote to the head — the antidote. Rabbeinu Yonah’s pshat. Tell me, you go to a doctor: how does he cure you? He cures you because he needs the opposite that’s going to attack the virus. Rabbeinu Yonah’s pshat. Teshuvah is that. And therefore you need to take a special prescription, and that is chesed and emes. Chesed and emes.

And he explains. He’s asked a kashya. You’re not going to get it; you have to wait all the way to the end of Rabbeinu Yonah. He says, but what do you do with the word emes? That’s what I understand. But what’s emes? He’s got to search for the truth, to make the truth, to help those who are searching for the truth, to take away falsehood, deceit. You know what he’s saying? Rabbeinu Yonah’s pshat.

# Emes and the Middos of the Ribbono Shel Olam

So what is the truth? Emes. Let us speak about the Ribbono Shel Olam’s middos. What is the middah of the Ribbono Shel Olam? Emes. The baal teshuvah has to be mevakesh chesed ve’emes, truth. Chesed ve’emes. Chazik, the inyan of chesed ve’emes.

You know, people ask: what do I want from emes? I will tell you what I want from emes. I have a vision based on what I heard from Yeshayah and what I saw in sefarim. What does a Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur look like? I always understood it as kadosh, kadosh, heilig, meiridik heilig, unbelievable.

# Rosh Hashanah on Erev Shabbos

You want to hear something interesting? This year, Erev Rosh Hashanah — I am sorry, the second day of Rosh Hashanah is actually when? Erev Shabbos. What happens to the davening when it is Erev Shabbos? It is brought down in halachah that you have to go faster. Why? People are preparing for Shabbos. Could you imagine that once a year you are able to come to the Melech, and then: “Meiridik. I am sorry, we have to rush; we have to go back home because we have to prepare your meal.” One day you will go slower.

You know that Rav Yisrael Salanter, as it is brought down in the Tnuas HaMussar, said that on Rosh Hashanah that falls on Erev Shabbos there are no slichos, no bakashos, nothing. The only thing you say is Nesaneh Tokef, and that is it. No Adir Hu, no Kel Adon. They should not say Chum Aminim. It is brought down in the Tnuas HaMussar: shnel, shnel, shnel, the olam ha’al tzach, tichadit tzibbur. I do not see it standing in front of the Melech.

So it is brought down in the Tnuas HaMussar. That is a whole new world, Rav Yisrael — a world of, today I imagine if any shul would do that, it would be labeled maybe a Conservative shul, right? You would never get away with it in a shul, right? The olam muzahim kei.

# Rav Yisrael Salanter’s Kol Nidre

I want to tell you something else. Over the years I started to understand more and more: what was Rav Yisrael Salanter’s Kol Nidre? What was the Chazon Ish’s night of Yom Kippur? And what was Ne’ilah by the Chofetz Chaim? I heard all this from Yeshayah, and I found it in the Kiyros.

Rav Yisrael Salanter, everybody knows, came late to Kol Nidre. Everybody knows this, right? I never understood the story. Which mother would leave a child and go for Kol Nidre? Maybe the times were different, but who would leave a child? I never understood the maiseh. They even make songs about this maiseh.

So I found in the Tnuas HaMussar the actual accurate story, and the story is that the mother left a girl, a young girl, at home to take care of the baby, and the problem was that the young girl did not know how to feed the bottle. That is the story, okay? So the baby did not enjoy the milk. It makes it a very different story, Rav Yisrael. There was no danger here. We always understood there was a child left alone and crying. That is not the story.

In Tnuas HaMussar he writes clearly that he took it from other magazines and papers. There was a famous story beyond what was: the child was crying because he did not like the milk. Rav Yisrael came in and warmed up the milk. Oops, how long does that take? And the answer is that the girl said she was scared to stay alone, so he waited for the mother to come back, so the girl should not be scared. And when he came to shul, he asked the rebbe, Kol Nidre — he said, I was zocheh to tzedakah on Kol Nidre. One is for the baby and the other is for the girl. That is the story.

# A story from Maaseh Ish

In Maaseh Ish it is brought down that on Yom Kippur at night someone passed by the Chazon Ish, and the Chazon Ish asked him: tell me, how is your parnassah? What are you doing now?

# Yom Kippur Night and Ne’ilah

How is it new? Is it working? Is it high? What? So the man tells the Chazon Ish Rebbe: it is Yom Kippur night, in the middle of the night. The Chazon Ish Rebbe told him: it is the middle of the night; now is the right time for it. It is a nice ishrab, they say. It is a paladin. And this is Yom Kippur night. What about Ne’ilah?

Yeshaya told me that while everyone was screaming Ne’ilah, the Chafetz Chaim was walking around in the shul, going over to all the old and sick. The early zman is over. I want you to go home and eat.

Yeshaya used to say: when we come b’din, maybe it means one must ask mechilah; perhaps that is part of shad yishler yehu. Or maybe it means...

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