Where will YOU be this Rosh Hashana?

Based on a talk by Rabbi Manis Friedman.

How can I practically do teshuva in the month of elul?

Doing aveiros hurts Hashem. Teshuva means to go back to Him. To return. In elul Hashem comes out to the field to tell you that you are welcome in his palace. He doesn't want you to doubt whether or not you are welcome. He wants to make sure that you will come. Elul is not a time to scare you into doing teshuva. Hashem wants us to come to his 'palace' because he needs us there. Teshuva means, will Hashem's request reach you? Does it mean anything to you that he wants you there? Will you go, or are you so far removed that it doesn't touch you?

It says, that if an engaged woman gets raped in the city, then her and the man who raped her are killed. Why? Because in a city if she would have screamed then we assume someone would have heard her. But if she was raped in a field, only the man who raped her is killed, because we assume that she screamed and there was no one there to help her.

The Rebbe says, if a girl is engaged and raped 'basadeh' then she is forgiven because 'Ain moshia la'- no one helped her. But instead of reading it as 'ain' no one, we read it as 'ayin' which means an eye. If no one helps her than Hashem, the eye will come himself to help her. He comes to the field, to the girl he is engaged to and says, no matter what happened, I forgive you.

Hashem knows that inside we really want to be good Jews. In elul he comes to the field and tells us that no matter what we have done, he forgives us and wants to be with us.

The baal shemtov says our relationship to Hashem is like a marriage. If there is no room for someone else than you can't be frum. Hashem created the world because he didn't want to be alone.

Real love is loving someone who either loves you or hates you. But you can't love someone who doesn't love you back.

Hashem is a romantic. He created the whole world for us so we would appreciate the fact that he wanted a relationship with us. Without a relationship Judaism is a horrible religion.

It says, 'im bechukosai telechu'- Hashem is asking us to please follow his rules. Your marriage will be just like your relationship to Hashem.

Marriage used to be sacred. They treated Hashem right and it carried over to their marriage. One follows the other. Marriage can exist without a good relationship but then there is no pleasure in it.

By kriyas yam suf, yechezkul saw the waters hovering over bnei yisroel and said, if you sin Hashem will kill you, the waters will close over you. But the shifcha (non-Jew) saw a great act of kindness. Hashem split the sea to save us from the Egyptions.

Tishrei Is a time of judgement. But Hashem is not judging us, He is judging galus and the yetzer harah, and all of Hashem's regrets. Hashem wants us to stop sinning because we are his children. When hashem is upset with us it is a compliment, it shows that he cares. It bothers hashem when we sin because he loves us.

So the question is, where will YOU be this Rosh hashana?