AUGUST 12 • 2021 | 33
SPIRIT
A Dedicated
Purpose in Life
W
hat is the essence of
the month of Elul,
the 30-day period
prior to the Days of Awe in
which, according to Chasidic
philosophy, “The King is in the
Field,
” when God is, as it
were, more accessible to
us than throughout the
year? I believe that the
story of Velvel, a Soviet
refusenik I met in Riga,
Latvia, in the month of
Elul 5730 (1970), offers
an answer to this ques-
tion.
Due to my involve-
ment on behalf of Soviet
Jewry in the 1960s, I was
summoned to a meeting
with the Lubavitcher
Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem
Mendel Schneerson, of blessed
memory. He asked me to be
his shaliach (emissary) to estab-
lish centers of Torah learning
in several cities in the Soviet
Union.
On a Friday night in Riga, I
met a gentleman named Velvel
in the city’s main synagogue.
During a conversation after din-
ner, Velvel told me with sincerity
that there was nothing in the
world he wanted more than a
new tallit, since the one that he
had received when he was a bar
mitzvah was in tatters. I gave
one to him discreetly, which
brought an ear-to-ear smile to
his forlorn face.
As the cantor led the Torah
processional through the mostly
empty sanctuary the next day,
Velvel drew near and lifted
the tzitzit (ritual fringes) of the
obviously new tallit to touch
them to the Torah scroll.
The cantor dramatically
stopped the procession. A frosty
silence overcame the sanctu-
ary. The cantor stared at Velvel
with disdain. The minute-long
staring match went on for what
seemed forever, with neither the
cantor (who it turns out was also
a KGB agent) nor Velvel
giving an inch. Abruptly,
Velvel screamed at the
cantor in Yiddish: “I am
not afraid. You’ve already
taken everything that you
can take away from me!
When I began to come to
shul and I lost my job as a
result, my wife left me and
she took the children with
her. I have no job; I have
no family. The only thing I
have is my Jewish tradition.
The only thing I have is
this tallit. I am not afraid.
”
The cantor resumed the
procession. Velvel had made a
profound statement to everyone
present: We have nothing in life
except for God, His Torah and
His commandments. Nothing
else truly matters.
In Elul, time comes to remind
us of our true purpose on this
earth, to live a life dedicated
to God. A true life of holiness
involves interacting with and
relating to others. To live a life
dedicated to God is to acknowl-
edge that, ultimately, all we have
is God. Everything else is transi-
tory and illusory. It is no wonder
that it is precisely during this
season that people are more
prepared than usual to internal-
ize this message. Perhaps this is
because, indeed, “The King is in
the Field.
” Let us go out to greet
Him.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor
of Ohr Torah Stone and chief rabbi of
Efrat, Israel.
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi
Shlomo
Riskin
Parshat
Shoftim:
Deuteronomy
16:18=21:9;
Isaiah
51:12-52;12.
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