The central message of Elul and the Ten Days of Repentance is that He is on our team
There are those who approach the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah as accountants — i.e., as if our principal task is to bring our Divine balance sheet into the black, with our zechuyos outweighing our avonos, and thereby secure a favorable judgment for the year to come. And indeed, they can find support for that approach in the minhag brought in halachah to take on certain extra stringencies during this period — such as refraining from pas palter.
Even a superficial reading of the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:1) reinforces such a bookkeeping approach: “Every person has zechuyos and avonos. One whose zechuyos are greater than his avonos is a tzaddik…
In his sefer Teshuvah (Mosaica Press), Rabbi Immanuel Bernstein points to a very different approach to the entirety of Elul, culminating in the Ten Days of Repentance. His starting point is a comparison of two comments by Rashi. At the conclusion of Moshe Rabbeinu’s second period of forty days on the Mountain on 29 Av, Rashi writes, “On this day the Holy One, Blessed be He, was reconciled with Israel and told Moshe, ‘Carve out for yourself two tablets’” (Rashi to Devarim 9:18).
At the end of the third period of forty days, however, Rashi adds a crucial word: “On that day, the Holy One, Blessed be He, was reconciled with Israel b’simchah, and said to Moshe, ‘I have forgiven in accord with your words’ ” (ibid). The difference lies in one word — with joy. The goal of forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur is not the avoidance of punishment, but rather the creation of a vibrant, pulsating relationship with Hashem at a time when Hashem draws near to make Himself uniquely accessible to us.
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