לך אמר לבי בקשו פני את פניך ד' אבקש (תהלים כז ח), To You my heart has said, Seek My Presence, Your Presence G-d do I seek.

This verse that we began to recite twice daily beginning from the first of  Elul and continuing through Sukkos, on the face of it makes no sense.

Are we so brazen to ask of G-d to ‘Seek our Presence’?

Rashi offers a novel interpretation of this verse. Our heart, he avers, acts as an agent of G-d appealing to us on His behalf, to ‘Seek His presence’. In response we assert that we in turn will seek His Presence.

From within each one of our hearts, G-d beckons us to respond to His call and seek Him.

If that is the case then why is it that most of us don’t hear it?

Why do we have better reception during the month of Elul in hearing its message? What is it that normally interferes with the clarity of its transmission?

שפטים ושטרים תתן לך בכל שעריך (דברים טז יח), Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your ‘gateways’.

Although ostensibly this is a directive to enforce the law by implementing judges and policing its policies, the Masters of the Secrets of Torah reveal there is a personal message to each one of us.

The ‘gateways’ here refer to the seven ‘entrances’ into our bodies, the two ears, two eyes, two nostrils and the aperture of the mouth that often sully the soul that resides within our hearts. The contaminated sights we view that obscure our eye’s proper vision, the negative words that corrupt our ears, the scents that lure and seduce us towards sin, and the abuse of the mouth in consuming what is forbidden and in speaking caustic words, all muffle that inner voice that  shouts from within our hearts to ‘seek His presence’, preventing us from hearing its call.

Elul is a time when we must withdraw from the activities we normally engage in, that ‘clog the arteries’ of our hearts, disabling our hearts from sending its message effectively.

As we approach Rosh Hashana, the Day of Judgment, we recall those pristine moments in the course of the Days of Awe, when those demons were silent and we felt our hearts beating loudly with a passion to connect to our Beloved.

אני ישנה ולבי ער קול דודי דופק (שיר השירים ה ב), I am asleep but my heart is awake! A sound! My Beloved knocks!

The Holy Barditchiver explains that the verse is teaching us that אני ישנה, when the 'אני', the ‘I’, the ego, our selfish interests, ישנה, sleeps, is stifled and silent, that is precisely when לבי ער, the heart awakens. It is then that we hear clearly the purposeful sound of my Beloved who is pounding within my heart summoning me to His embrace. (לך לך)

This then is the first component necessary to recapturing our hearts. We must become שופטים, judges, in being judicious in evaluating the gateways to our hearts assuring they remain free from debris and soot thus permitting the sweet voice of our heart to penetrate our entire being with His Presence.

But what is then the function of the שטרים, police, on this personal level of enforcement? In what way are we supposed to emulate these officers?

The Torah records how before the nation engaged in battle, these שטרים, officers, would speak to the people and say, “Who is the man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him not melt the heart of his fellows, like his heart.”

Those who feared they were unable to stand under the pressure of the intensity of battle and cowered in the face of the glint of the sword were exempted lest they instill fear and a sense of defeat in their comrades.

What would happen though to those who were courageous in stepping up to the challenge at first, yet found them paralyzed by fear once the actual battle began? Would they too be allowed to flee as well?

The verse concludes that the officers would appoint ‘leaders of the legions’ who would take command at the head of the people. Rashi quoting Sifrei writes: This means that they place זקפין, guards, in front of them and behind them, with iron arrows in their hands, and if anybody attempted to retreat, the guard had the authority to strike his legs.זקפין are people who stand at the edge of the battle array to לזקוף, pick up the fallen and to encourage them with words: Return to the battle and do not flee, for flight is the beginning of defeat.

Why would someone who honestly thought he had what it took to fight the fight but later discovered he was a coward be penalized and forced to fight?

The Tolna Rebbe offers a fascinating insight to human nature and the Torah’s profound understanding of it.

In life, it is during the calm contemplative moments, when we have clarity of mind, that we are truly in touch with ourselves. If a man standing prior to battle concludes he has what it takes, that is who he truly is. When later in the face of battle he cowers, allowing fear and anxiety to envelope him, that is man-made and distorts his true essence. When we know we have an escape route we weaken in our resolve allowing artificial fear to stifle our true ardor. The Torah therefore ‘forces’ us to see our true strength, not permitting us to escape, compelling us to draw on that superhuman power that committed men are able to conjure in the moments of truth.

We must ‘strike ourselves’ in our legs and come to the realization that there is no escape route.

We are at the ‘moment of truth’, there is no retreat.

If this is true regarding the relationship between man and his Creator, then it is certainly reflected in that relationship that brings the Divine Presence into its very midst.

The more one removes the ‘I’ from the equation, the more resonant will be the call to ‘seek Me’, that allows for G-d to suffuse a Jewish home with His Presence.

If we put ourselves to the task, never retreating from our destined greatness, we will discover ever greater strengths in building a home and family that radiates His Presence in every fiber of our lives.

May we truly become ‘Jews at heart’, adhering to that longing call from our devoted Beloved and seek and discover His thrilling Presence that encouragingly accompanies us every moment of our lives.

באהבה,

צבי טייכמאן