Camping with my children at the shores of the river in the Sawtooth National Forest gave me a wonderful opportunity to fish, enjoy Hashem’s beautiful outdoors and spend quality time with my children. There really isn’t much better than learning a maamar (Chassidic discourse) before the sun rises at a campfire in the middle of the wilderness.
The truth is that right here in Boise I can fish, marvel at natural beauties and spend quality time with my children.
My wife, who was home with our 3-week old daughter, asked me to check in with her and let her know we were okay. With no cell phone service, we had no way of doing so. We traveled about 30 minutes to the nearest town and found a store with Wifi, so I could send a message to Esther in middle of our trip.
It was then that it dawned on me.
Yes, I can do all these wonderful things at home (living in Boise has its perks!), but I am too distracted to do them properly. It’s only because I am away from all the chaos of everyday life that I can properly focus on these things.
Without phone calls, emails and bills, I was able to focus on fishing, the wonders of Hashem and my children. I needed to be in a safe zone in order to maximize my attention.
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This week’s parsha, Shoftim, talks about safe zones. The Cities of Refuge were safe zones for the inadvertent killer. In these cities he or she was protected from retribution.
If the Torah wants to protect the inadvertent killer, why not just turn his or her home into a safe house? Why the need to exile them to a city of refuge?
Rather, the Torah recognizes that true change and radical progress is extremely difficult to achieve in a status-quo setting. We might prevent others from harming the unintentional murderer at home, but the City of Refuge was also meant to serve as a catalyst for spiritual self-improvement. We need to be in a safe zone to truly focus on our spiritual growth.
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What the City of Refuge provided in space the month of Elul provides in time. It’s the calendar equivalent of a safe zone. As a prelude to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, it’s a month of spiritual stock-taking, of returning to our true selves and to our Father in Heaven.
Judaism gives us lots of tools to help channel our attention in the month of Elul. Daily sounding of the shofar; extra Tehillim, prayers, & Selichot; additional tzedaka and kindness – are all methods of focusing ourselves on the safe zone of Elul.
Of course, we aren’t meant to spend our entire lives in a safe zone. Torah demands that we find balance between matter and spirit, between family and business, between prayer and Torah study. Indeed, I do own a cell phone and have an email address. Once a week, I have a safe zone of sorts – Shabbat.
But, the safe zone of Elul is different. On Shabbat we detach from worldliness in order to focus on uplifted spirituality. In Elul we delve into the finer points of introspection, cleaning (spiritual) house. In Elul we get into the belly of the beast, attempting to rectify our shortcomings from the worldliness around us. That requires an altogetherdifferent – more intense – safe zone.
Rosh Hashana is only a few weeks away.
It’s time to get in the safe zone!
May you be inscribed and sealed for good.