I t’s a tradition. I can’t quite remember when it began but Elul cannot possibly commence without it.
Erev Shabbos Mevarechim Elul the phone will ring and the caller ID will flash a rarely seen area code in the Boston area. It belongs to practically the only person I know who has a cell phone with that area code and I pick up the phone knowing exactly who it is and what he will say: “Elul Stantzye (Elul station)!”
It is a clarion call whose roots go back to the great mussar yeshivos of yesteryear and nobody says it better than my yedid nefesh (and optometrist of a thousand miles away) Dr. Dovid Soll. It’s the proclamation that summer vacation is over fun and games are on hold and it is time to once again get down to what is important in life. I treasure these annual conversations; they are my oxygen for the six weeks to follow. A woman who occasionally davens in my shul let me know that she makes it her business to be there every Shabbos Mevarechim Elul to hear those two words — “Elul Stantzye”!
What does it mean? Why does it send such chills up our spines akin to “Rosh Chodesh Elul yiheye…”?
