B"H

Friday, Elul 20, 5776 / September 23, 2016 - Hakhel year

Sunday night, October 2, we will celebrate Rosh Hashana - ushering in the New Year 5767. In preparation for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we recite special "Selichot" prayers. The Sephardic custom is to say Selichot throughout the entire month of Elul. According to Ashkenazic custom, Selichot will begin this Saturday night at midnight.

"Selichot" means "forgiveness." The Selichot prayers are intended to emphasize and arouse G-d's trait of mercy, benevolence and forgiveness. At the same time, the prayers encourage us to reflect on our deeds and resolve to improve them.

In the Selichot service we pray that G-d bless us with a good New Year. We don't ask for it as a result of our good deeds, rather we say, "We come before You without good deeds; as poor and indigent we knock on your door [for charity]."

Q.  Why do we ask G-d to grant us whatever we need as a charitable act. It would make more sense to ask for all the good as a reward of our good deeds and mention all the good deeds we performed in the past year. Instead, we say: "We come before You without good deeds, as poor and indigent"?

A.  The Magid of Dubna explains it with the following parable: A poor man desperately needed a coat for the winter months. He went from door to door collecting money until he could afford one. He then went, together with his son, to the store to buy the coat.

After choosing a coat, he told the store owner his dire situation of poverty and begged the owner to give him the coat for free. The kind hearted store owner pitied him and agreed. However after he took the coat, he gave the owner the money he collected, thanked him, and left.

His son was puzzled, "Father," he asked, "if you intended all along to pay the merchant for the coat, then why did you ask him to give it to you without charge?"

The father replied, "My son, I never intended to take the coat for free.  However, I was afraid that the money I had was not enough to pay for the coat. So I asked him to be kind and give it to me for free.  Once he agreed to this, any amount of money which I offered him would be acceptable and he would be very happy, even if it wasn't the full price of the coat."

"The same is with us," explained the Magid. "Can we honestly come before G-d and say that we have done enough mitzvot to warrant His kindness in return for what we have accomplished? 

Therefore we ask for G-d's mercy and kindness, saying, "We come before You without good deeds; as poor and indigent we knock on your door [for charity]." Only after G-d accepts our plea to grant us what we need as a result of His generosity, can our good deeds and mitzvot which we performed, no matter how insignificant they may be, have value to bring us blessings for whatever we need in the New Year.

SHABBAT  SHALOM

Montrealcandle lighting time: 6:30 / Shabbat ends: 7:31