Rabbi Weinberg's Elul Thought for the Day

Sunday August 30
Today is the tenth day of Elul!
Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, the famed mashgiach of the Mir Yeshiva in Europe (c. 1873-1936), tells the story of a time when he went to a resort and he heard one vacationer tell another that he wants to go to the springs before he unpacks his bags.  He says that he had also seen this on a spiritual level when yeshiva students would show up for Elul zman with their suitcases and leave their suitcases outside the Beis Medrash and learn before they unpack their bags.  Elul is a period of renewal of spiritual health.  Just as people take time off to go to serene places to recharge themselves, Elul has that quality on a spiritual level.  What will you do this week to tend to your spiritual health?  Will you learn a new passage of Torah?  Will you attend a minyan to participate in tefila betzibur (if it is safe for you to do that during COVID)?  Will you pay special attention to brachot?  Will you be more careful about lashon hara?  How will you gain the excitement for mitzvot that those vacationers had for the hot springs of Europe that will cause you to drop your bags and run to Torah?