You know, I remember when I was a kid a hundred years ago in Europe. When we had a bar mitzvah, after davening, we gathered around with some schnapps, fish, a cracker, and we all made a l'chaim using old-man-grumpy voices, and gosh darn it, we were happy!
In came The Women.
And they introduced a concept called "High Standards," which only made the lives of the women much more difficult, because no way in the underworld, can a man help to attain "High Standards." And of course, the results of these "High Standards" can only be seen on the women's side of the kiddush, since the men, with no need of “High Standards” are happy sitting around talking with friends, without their wives around, eating Yerushalmi kugel (with pickle!), herring, and some cake that they didn't even notice what type it was. They don’t need napkins or fancy this or fancy that. Because men by nature are happy creatures when given food and left alone. And you know who's less stressed and more happy? That's right. NOT the women.
Okay, on to more important things.
There is a well-known halacha that is relevant this year, starting after Shabbos. When Rosh Hashana begins on Monday or Tuesday, Selichos do not begin after the previous Shabbos, but rather they begin after the Shabbos the week before. Why? Because, according to Ashkenazi traditions, we need a minimum of four days of Selichos. What's the root of this? The Mishnah Berurah (581:6) explains:
"There is a requirement in offerings that the animal be examined for blemishes four days before it is offered. Regarding all the offerings it says, "You shall offer a burnt offering," but regarding Rosh Hashana, it says, 'You shall MAKE a burnt offering.' This teaches that on Rosh Hashana, a person should make himself as if he is offering his very self. Therefore, four days were set for a person to examine all the blemishes of his sin, and to repent for them."
We see that the famous dvar Torah of "You shall MAKE a burnt offering," isn't just a cute thing to say, but rather has real ramifications in our lives.
Regarding teshuva, Rav Yisroel Salanter brings in Rebbe Meir who said, "The punishment for not having the white strings of one's tzitzis is greater than the punishment for not having the techeles (blue) strings."
Why is this? Because the white string costs less, there is less of an excuse to not have them. If you're going to ignore the easy mitzvos, you're truly showing your contempt for Heaven.
Rav Yisroel Salanter continues, "A person should not be lax in preparing for Yom Kippur, at least with the easy things … to keep Torah and mitzvos in the easy matters, and reach the level of baal teshuvah on Yom Kippur."
From here we see an important, and often overlooked, lesson about teshuva during this period. There are plenty of easy areas of Torah which each one of us are lax in. If we can focus on these areas, we can raise our spiritual level and be considered baalei teshuvah.
Yet at the same time, we learned that we need to become burnt offerings. And as we know, the entire offering is burnt. Nothing is left over.
If that's the case, how can we reconcile that with Rav Yisroel Salanter?
Rav Shimshon Pinkus explains that this "burnt offering" is what we call mesirus nefesh. This teshuvah, even if it's on something "small and easy" … well, it's going to need "to hurt" a little. He needs to be giving something up from his life for Hashem in order to do this teshuvah.
Right now, tens of thousands of soldiers are being called up and put back into combat, or support. Most of them have already served hundreds and hundreds of days, whether in Lebanon or in Gaza. They have lost friends or seen them wounded, they have not seen their families, not participated in simchas, and have not been able to provide for their families. And let's not forget the families themselves, and how much they have suffered. And on top of that, the PTSD that many are suffering from. Most of us don't see it, and many don't even think about it. But this is mesirus nefesh!
And now, we, as a nation, are going into Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, knowing that our actions during these days, not only affect ourselves and our personal futures, but they also affect those of our family and those of the nation.
A group of soldiers, earlier this week, were about to go home after 300 days of combat. At the last minute, they were told that their dismissal was canceled and that they will continue for the time being. Many of them strengthened themselves and started to sing and dance.
If they can take such an attitude after everything that they went through, could we not do the same for the next several weeks?