וכן אמר רב עמרם ורב האי מנהג לומר תחנונים בהני עשרה ימים לחוד.
Our minhag is that we say slichos only during the aseres yimei teshuva. ושמעינן דמקצת אתרוותא קיימי מראש חודש אלול. We heard that there's some places that they say slichos at the beginning Rosh Chodesh Elul, but that's not our minhag. The Rambam also in in the footsteps of of Rav Amram, Rav Hai, so the Rambam records the minhag in פרק ג' הלכות תשובה: נהגו כולם לקום בלילה בעשרה ימים אלו ולהתפלל בבתי כנסיות בדברי תחנונים ובדברי כיבושין עד שיאור היום.
When we think about the yamim noraim, so we think in terms of Chodesh Elul. We can't and appropriately can't really conceive of entering the yamim noraim without a Chodesh Elul beforehand. And yet, the Rambam for instance, and and this time a year we subsist largely on a diet of Rambam hilchos teshuva, there's no Chodesh Elul. He doesn't have the minhag Ashkenaz of shofar during Chodesh Elul. Like Rav Amram, like Rav Hai, he doesn't have the minhag of slichos that the mechaber has during Chodesh Elul. And there's a the loshon of the gaonim is pointed. We b'davka don't say slichos. Our minhag is we don't say slichos. We say slichos only aseres yimei teshuva. So where's where's Elul? Where's Elul and and what's the avodah? What's what's where's the where's the preparation? The same siman here in the Rosh, the very last lines, so the Rosh records quoting from the Aviya and then of course this appears in shulchan aruch as as you all know. כתב ראבי"ה ירושלמי פרק קמא דשבת. רבי חייא רבה מפקד לרב אי את יכול למיכל כולה שתא בטהרה אכול.
If you can eat b'tahara a whole year long, it's good. ואילו אכול שבעה יומין בשתא. כתב ראבי"ה קיבלתי שאלו שבעה ימים הם שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים. על כן נהגו באשכנז אף אותן שאין נזהרים מפת נוכרי כל השנה בעשרת ימי התשובה נזהרים.
It's the minhag to be nizhar on pas akkum, even even Ashkenazim who are not necessarily makpid all year long. So the Rav asks the question, so who are we kidding here? The Entenmann's is is off the shelf and we plan on breaking our fast motzei Yom Kippur with our Entenmann's. So what's the so who are we kidding here but the but all aseres yimei teshuva, no, so then we're making sure that the package says pas Yisrael. So the answer's the answer's simple. Aseres yimei teshuva, dirshu Hashem b'himatzo. Because the days are different than all year long. The lashon of the Geonim when they talk about the question of fasting on Rosh Hashana, on Shabbos Shuvah, עשרה יומי אינון משוננין מכל יומתא דשתא. So the pshat is, let's say someone will come with a kasha and he'll ask, he'll see you on right before Shabbos, you put on your Shabbos suit, and they'll say, "Listen, I know full well that right after Shabbos, right after Melaveh Malkah, you're going to take the Shabbos suit off, so what are you wearing it for now?" So the answer is, because he's responding appropriately to the fact, to kedushas Shabbos, he's responding appropriately to the red letter day. So the inyan to be marbe in Slichos is because Dirshu Hashem Behimatzo is teshuvah, Ukra'uhu Behyoso Karov is tefillah, because Aseres Yimei Teshuvah are yimei tefillah. And because they're yimei tefillah, so the same way Shabbos is kibdo bekesus nekiyah, so that's why, yeah, I'm putting on my Shabbos suit and after Melaveh Malkah, I'm going to take the Shabbos suit off, but that's appropriate. There's nothing inconsistent about having a higher standard of dress on Shabbos than there is all week long. So similarly, it's entirely appropriate during Aseres Yimei Teshuvah, not to be zocheh badin and then as soon as the pisko tovo is sealed to regress. No, but because there's a bechina of an extra bechina of Lifnei Hashem, an extra bechina of Omeid Lifnei Hamelech during Aseres Yimei Teshuvah, so because of that, that demands a higher level, that we hold ourselves to a different standard than we do all year long. There is nothing equivalent in Chodesh Elul. There's nothing equivalent to דרשו ה' בהמצאו קראוהו בהיותו קרוב in Chodesh Elul. That's what the Geonim, what the Rambam are telling us, avada avada, during Chodesh Elul, a person is looking to intensify, but not intensify in the short term, in the short run. Whatever intensification a person undertakes in Chodesh Elul should be that which he recognizes can become a permanent change in his schedule. During Aseres Yimei Teshuvah, so then there's an inyan taka to davven extra, even though we have no intention of maintaining that extra davvenning in our schedule come Yud Aleph Tishrei. During Chodesh Elul, that's what the Geonim are saying, no, we say Slichos in Aseres Yimei Teshuvah, we don't say Slichos before Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. During Chodesh Elul, so there, yes, should we be improving, should we be elevating, we should be improving and elevating, but not for the next thirty or forty days. We should be improving or elevating in that which we recognize should be maintained, should be sustained beyond Yom Kippurim, permanently. Should we be extra makpid on our bein adam lachaveiro? Yes, because there's room all year long for improvement and heightened sensitivity in our bein adam lachaveiro. And should we be coming to davvening five minutes earlier in Chodesh Elul? If it's true that we need to be doing that and we recognize that we should be doing that all year long. And should we be more makpid on our sedarim and try to increase and intensify Talmud Torah? If we see an opening again to improve, to elevate our schedule on a permanent basis, Aseret Yemei Teshuva, then there's an inyan again to do things just because these are Aseret Yemei Teshuva and we should be holding ourselves to a higher standard. And the emes is, if you look, even those geonim, listen to—I skipped a few words before—ושמעינן דמקצת אחוותא קיימי מראש חודש אלול ואמרי דביה סליק משה להר פעם שלישית ונחת בלוחות שניות ביום הכיפורים.
So, what are they apologizing for saying Selichot? Chodesh Elul, it's a month before the Yom HaDin. Are they apologizing? Yeah, they taka are. Because the emes is, they agree with this yesod. But what they're saying is, even though you can't equate it to Aseret Yemei Teshuva, but the beginning Chodesh Elul is also a period of ימי רחמים ורצון that invite tefillah. Even the minhag, again, of—even the minhag Sefarad of Selichot from Rosh Chodesh Elul agrees that adding something short-term is only if there's something special in the day which warrants that heightened standard. You know, and once you realize this yesod, I think we become aware of a certain susceptibility that we have. And that is—it's a susceptibility especially when we begin—the minhag Ashkenaz, as the Rama records, so we begin—so what's pshat in the four days of Selichot? So there too, so they quote from the Mordechai, the four days of Selichot really are to be mashlim for Yom Kippur, v'tzom tam, it's the same yesod. The avodah of Elul isn't to add short-term. The four days are k'neged the four days that one cannot fast during Aseret Yemei Teshuva. Because basically, according to this, the ikkar minhag is to fast, but what do you do on a day of fasting? On a day of fasting, it's a yom tefillah and yom teshuvah. But there is a certain susceptibility that we have, which is, when Selichot season does come upon us, it's very easy to feel like I'm marking Elul and I'm preparing for Rosh Hashanah because I'm getting up that half hour earlier and I'm saying Selichot. And that half hour of reduced sleep and that half hour of added tefillah, we're very, very prone to thinking, "Oh, so that's my hachanah for Elul." And the emes is, it's not. The hachanah for Elul—that's got nothing to do with Elul. That's, again, that's just tashlumin for what we're going to be missing during Aseret Yemei Teshuva. The hachanah for Elul is supposed to be—is supposed to be how I interact and whatever permanent change in my bein adam l'chaveiro I successfully implement during Chodesh Elul. That's Chodesh Elul. And whatever upgrade of my kavanah of Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv—not of the Selichot—that's the avodah of Elul. And it's something that, kimedumeh, we have to be wary of, and even in Aseret Yemei Teshuva, even in Aseret Yemei Teshuva where this inyan does exist, where one is supposed to again intensify, משל למה הדבר דומה to putting on the Shabbos suit. But even then, the intensification is in addition. In addition, but the ikkar avodah is again to maintain the routine. but to permanently improve, fine-tune, and upgrade that routine. I heard a beautiful vort from the Novominsker Rebbe, zecher tzadik livracha, who said that the ikar of the avoda of Elul is expressed in the famous mashal of the Alter Rebbe of Hamelech Basadeh. The King is in the field. He is accessible to every single person. Any person, no matter who they are, can come and approach the King. But the Alter Rebbe explains that the shaila is what happens next. After you've encountered the King in the field, when the King goes back to the palace, do you go back with him? Does that encounter change your regilus, change your routine, or was it just a moment of hisorerus? The avoda of Elul is to take that hisorerus and to make it a part of our keva, to make it a part of our daily life, to upgrade our avodas Hashem permanently.