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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