Episode Details

What happens when Elul doesn't go the way we planned?

We enter the month with plans, kabbalos, hopes for who we're going to become. Then suddenly, Selichos is almost here. Rosh Hashanah is around the corner. And somehow, we're still us.

In this shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David return to a mashal from the Ba’al Shem Tov about a fox, a group of animals, and their journey to face the lion they had rebelled against. The fox begins the journey armed with hundreds of brilliant parables to appease the king. But the closer he gets, the more he forgets, until finally, standing before the king, he has nothing left.

And that may be exactly the point.

What Hashem wants from us isn't another story about who we thought we'd become. It's for us to come. To show up honestly. To keep trying, to take on what we can, but ultimately to stand before the King without pretending that we've earned anything.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Opening & Dedications
03:31 Rav Weinberger & Returning to the Ba’al Shem Tov
07:08 The Ba’al Shem Tov’s Fox & Lion
14:01 What the Mashal Means for Elul
19:08 All the Plans We Make for Elul
22:29 When Elul Doesn’t Go According to Plan
24:30 “I’ll Start When Selichos Begins”
26:05 Then Comes Rosh Hashanah…
27:48 Come Before the King Anyway
30:09 Teshuvah Never Ends
31:21 Nothing Can Separate You From Hashem
34:25 How We Really Enter Selichos
36:14 Asking Hashem for a Matnas Chinam
39:30 Show Up Authentically

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