A certain talmid chochom told me... these are the opening words of HaRav Chizkiyahu, ...that HaRav Shach suffered from inflammation in his legs and became house bound, unable to go and deliver his usual shiurim. After the Shabbos prayers, two avos beis din who prayed in the yeshiva, HaRav Shlomo Tenne and HaRav Mordechai Ilan, came and said to him: 'Why don't you go to a doctor?'
He replied: We are in Elul now. Who has time in Elul to visit a doctor?
In previous times, the awe of Elul was truly tangible. People were not afraid of wars, soldiers or police. [They feared the judgment on Rosh Hashanah.] They prayed the psalm of "LeDovid Hashem" and were reassured.
"If an army encamps upon me, my heart shall not fear; if war is declared, in this will I place my trust." That made them altogether calm.
Today, the situation is the very opposite. We tremble before the army and the police, but Elul? "I am confident about that."
One thing we have to know: Each Rosh Hashanah is a new Rosh Hashanah. It is nothing like last year.
On Rosh Hashanah one can get anything. There is reason to be fearful in Elul, but look at it this way. If someone offered you a rare deal in which you could earn a BILLION dollars... you would be so nervous lest you miss the chance to earn a billion dollars. But in truth in these days you can profit much, much more. If you exploit these days for what they are really worth — you can profit for all eternity!
Maran HaRav Meir Chodosh zt"l taught us why we blow the shofar in Elul. The Tur writes that Moshe Rabbenu went up to Mount Sinai on Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur and they blew the shofar every day so that they would not stray after avodoh zora. Why is this a lesson for today?
Rav Meir said that we must understand how such a generation could go after the Golden Calf. They saw krias Yam Suf, Matan Torah, they heard Onochi from Hashem. After all this how could they make a golden calf?
But the truth is: if you look for cheap substitutes you can even come to the Sin of the Calf.
Ok, they had a miscalculation. They thought that Moshe Rabbenu was not coming back. But why not go for Aharon? Why a Golden Calf? And why not all the other great people living then? Nodov, Avihu, the Elders?
But they knew that these great men would continue along the lines of Moshe, and they wanted something a little more easygoing. Once one is looking for a cheaper substitute it is a slippery slope that can wind up at the Calf.
We have to know: in Elul we must not seek cheap substitutes. This is what the shofar teaches us: be serious. You have to put in real effort. If you invest the effort, you will be rewarded.
