Rabbi Weinberg's Elul Thought for the Day

Monday Sept 7
Today is the eighteenth day of Elul!
The Slonimer Rebbe, Rav Shalom Noach Berezovsky z”l, in his Sefer Netivot Shalom says:
“Character traits are the wings of our service of Hashem. Just as winged creatures cannot rise and
fly without their wings, so too humans who engage in Torah and mitzvot cannot rise without the
purification of their character traits which are their spiritual wings. The more a person purifies
and refines his character traits, the more his entire existence is elevated and the more his Torah
and Divine service is elevated to a higher level as well.” As we prepare to rise in Torah and mitzvot we must think critically not just about our actions to Hashem and to humankind, but about our own character traits.  This is the third component of Teshuva: Beyn Adam Leatzmo, Between Man and Himself.  If we can work on our traits, on our ethics, on our morals, on our inner being then we will do much better in all realms of Torah, Mitzvot and Teshuva over the coming days and grow the wings that can help us to soar!