Kol Chai Radio spoke with Rebbetzin Shulamis Ezrachi, the wife of Rosh Yeshivas Ateres Yisrael HaGaon HaRav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi and the daughter of HaMashgiach HaRav Meir Chodosh, z’tl, on Rosh Chodesh Elul.

“It’s kadai for us to remember that the atmosphere of Elul is to make it easier for us,” Rebbetzin Ezrachi began. “We all want to elevate ourselves, and davka the atmosphere of the Yamim Noraim – the fear of judgment and punishment – helps us to overcome our inclinations and rise above ourselves and become closer to Hashem.”

“These are moments of opportunity, when it’s easier for us to do what we truly want -to do teshuvah. The difference between the past and nowadays is dependent on the individual.  Whoever saw how my husband, the Rosh Yeshivah, banged on the bimah and announced E-L-U-L truly felt that it was E-L-U-L.”

“We always tried not to hold chasunahs during these days. At the end of his life, my father, z’tl, would forget the date. Yom Kippur passed and two days later, he was still davening from a machzor. He said: ‘What about all the tefillos and Selichos and bakashos?’ I saw how much he viewed Elul as a huge opportunity and how chaval it was that it already passed. That’s the way we need to view it – not like the way I viewed it in my childhood when I feared the gezar din.”

The Rebbetzin ended by speaking about her husband again: “The Rosh Yeshivah has siyata dishmaya. We’re amazed by him. He appears so weak and suddenly he speaks so forcefully. His guf has siyata dishmaya that he can speak so powerfully.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)