"Whoever wants a long life, should give one tenth of his
days," writes the holy Sheloh, about the practice of devoting
every tenth day to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Rabbi Akiva
Eiger zt'l kept every tenth day holy, and other
gedolim down the generations marked it by fasting. The
Alter of Kelm introduced the practice into the Talmud Torah of
Kelm. This article, which surveys how this custom was kept by
different gedolei Yisroel and calls upon us to follow
in their footsteps, is based on Kisvei Hasabbo MiKelm, (The
Writings of the Alter of Kelm) and on the booklet Asiri
Kodesh, published in Elul 5748 in Bnei Brak. It is not
presented as a panacea or something that everyone must do, but
it is an important idea that can be inspirational for
everyone.
A Voice from the Past
"My beloved and precious son . . . "
Your uncle . . . has already spoken about this, the great
mistake which students of Torah also fall into, whereby they
say many selichos and cut down on their learning in the
month of Elul, and also take a little more care than usual
over their conduct. But they only mean this to last for this
single month and straightaway, on motzei Yom Kippur,
they all go back to their old ways . . . " So wrote Reb Aryeh
Leib zt'l, the brother of the Alter of Kelm, to his
son.
Reb Aryeh Leib added that, "This however, is a blatant error,
because the earlier sages designated Elul for us to prepare
for the Day of Judgment. What does that preparation consist
of? Embarking on a process of teshuvoh, regretting the
past and resolving to do better in the future. Obviously, this
resolution has to be to behave better in the coming
year than one did in the past one. If a person knows that
even the little that he is now adding to his avodoh is
only meant for the month of Elul, where is his regret and his
resolve for the future, and with what can he approach the Day
of Judgment?" (Teshuvas Yisroel, Appendix)
If, back then, in a generation of such stature, this "blatant
error" was already being made "by students of the Torah," then
in our impoverished times it is certainly the case. Right
after Yom Kippur, on the very next day, all the exalted and
uplifted feelings that we experienced during Elul and the
Yomim Noro'im which followed, calling to Hashem "while
He is close," all but dissipate and vanish.
This, of course, is bad enough. But what is even worse is that
we are aware of this being the case even at the height of the
Yomim Noro'im themselves, and this knowledge itself
weakens us. Seeing no prospect for any long term results from
all our toil and efforts makes it very difficult to
continue.
A Universal Problem
There is no clear-cut solution to this problem. All we can do
is to continue increasing our avodoh even more, for
this -- sustained application and dedication -- is the way
that has been shown to us in order to hold on to spiritual
acquisitions. In Mesillas Yeshorim (perek 25, "The Way
To Acquire Yir'oh") the Ramchal writes, "Since this is
something that is far from our senses, our minds can only give
it shape after much contemplation and reflection. And even
after we have built ourselves an image, that image will move
away from us easily if we do not apply ourselves assiduously
to it."
This then, is the only clear answer that can be given:
sustained, consistent application to avodas Hashem,
taking ourselves repeatedly through the steps we followed to
make our gains, over and over again, until we have fixed them
in our hearts. This principle operates in all areas of our
spiritual lives.
With regard to the particular problem of maintaining the extra
care and heightened sensitivity of the Yomim Noro'im,
throughout the year, when the distractions surrounding us
multiply and threaten to drive away our awareness of our true
purpose in this world, the only answer we can give is, "Go
out, following the tracks of the flock" (Shir Hashirim
1:8). Although we do not have the power to innovate, we
can examine the practices of gedolei Yisroel of past
generations who attained great spiritual heights. By following
them, we too can hope to put ourselves on the correct path.
The Practice of Gedolim of Past Centuries
Even today, we have had the privilege of witnessing the
conduct of the surviving members of the last generation of
alumni of the Talmud Torah of Kelm. Their practice in this
respect was, "asiri kodesh (every tenth one is holy)"!
Ten days were counted from Yom Kippur and that, and every
subsequent tenth day, were devoted to strengthening
avodoh and working on the undertakings made on Yom
Kippur. On these days, extra care was taken in all areas of
avodas Hashem, in dealings with others and in being
careful not to waste time that could be used for Torah study.
This custom thus affords an opportunity to retain and to
reinforce one's connection with the spiritual level
experienced during the Yomim Noro'im.
This is actually a custom that was followed by earlier
authorities. The Sheloh (in maseches Chulin, at the end
of the chapter entitled "Ner Mitzvoh") quoting an even
earlier source, writes, "A person's lifetime should be tithed,
and a tenth devoted to Hakodosh Boruch Hu." The Sheloh
describes at length how one should conduct oneself when the
tenth day falls on Shabbos, on Yom Tov, or on a fast day. He
writes, "It appears to me that in this instance, the day
should not be delayed and it is certainly so . . . for the
main factor in the day's holiness is its being a day of
repentance: of examination of one's ways, of contemplating
repentance, of holy resolutions and of reflection on how he
can mend his ways."
The Sheloh concludes, "The proper arrangement is as follows:
throughout one's life, one should begin counting from Rosh
Hashonoh and Yom Kippur . . . the twentieth of the month
should be holy. He should do this every year and at the end of
the year, when less than ten days remain, he should make all
the days after the last tenth day holy, so that the counting
starts from Rosh Hashonoh. He should continue doing this all
his life."
The author of Hogein Vederech Moshe, a work which the
Mogen Avrohom quotes a number of times, writes, "And
now I will write about a medicine for long life. Whoever wants
to live long, should give a tenth of his days . . . from Rosh
Hashonoh, at the beginning of every year, he should count ten
days until Yom Kippur . . . and from then on he counts nine
days and the tenth one should be holy, with Torah study or
some other mitzvoh, so that he remember that this day is more
holy and pure than all the others. In this way, his days will
multiply and he will have a long life . . . "
This custom is compared to that of ma'aser kesofim, as
we find in Or Tzaddikim by the gaon and
tzaddik HaRav Meir Papiresh zt'l (Amud Hatorah,
perek 17): "In the same way that a person is obliged to
give a tenth of his money, he is also obliged to give a tenth
of his days . . . every tenth day from Rosh Hashonoh should be
holy with fasting, Torah and prayer, spending a little more
time in solitude than on other days. On days when he cannot
fast, this day should still be holy with Torah and
tefilloh."
Rabbi Akiva Eiger zt'l also kept this custom, as we
find in the work Chut Hameshulosh (pg.188), where the
author records how he ordered his avodoh: this was how
he arranged his daily avodoh, maintaining this order
for twenty-five consecutive years . . . on Shabbos Hagodol, on
Shabbos Shuvoh, on the fourth day of selichos, on
erev Rosh Chodesh and at Kol Nidrei, he
addressed the community. On every tenth day he remained in
solitude, allowing nobody to approach him on any kind of
business, occupying himself solely with matters between
himself and his Creator.
"In Posen, there lived an elderly man whose grandfather had
instructed him to give the sum of six thousand
reichsthaler to some worthy cause. In his will, the man
wrote that this sum should be given to Rabbi Akiva Eiger. The
money was handed to my grandfather zt'l, who used it to
build a hospital with an adjoining beis hamedrash and
also a small room inside it, where it was his custom to
seclude himself every tenth day. He sat there from morning to
night so that nobody would interrupt him, for it was difficult
for him to be alone at home because of the disturbance of
people coming and going, each with his own affairs. There,
however, he sat securely, for they knew that on that day, he
did not want to be disturbed with anything else at all"
(Chut Hameshulosh, pg.212).
This custom is also mentioned in the list of "Worthy
Customs from the writings of HaRav Moshe Cordovero z'l"
(brought in Inspiration for Aseres Yemei Teshuvoh in
the siddur of the Vilna Gaon Ishei Yisroel pg.
431, number 16). It is also mentioned in the work Yorim
Moshe (by a member of the Ramchal's circle), where stress
is laid upon fasting on the tenth days.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the Alter of
Kelm introduced this practice into the Talmud Torah of Kelm,
and great disciples of that institution from the Alter's day
down to most recent times kept it throughout their lives. The
custom was also kept by the well known groups there, such as
the Chevras Devek Tov and Chevras Tikun Hamidos.
Further information about the practice can be found in
Kisvei Hasabbo MiKelm, in the note on page 140.
A Cautionary Note
It should be pointed out that keeping this custom requires the
utmost caution -- as does every kind of vow and voluntary
undertaking -- against taking too much upon oneself. In
Ordinances of the Tenth [Day], that were put out in
Kelm (and are quoted in the aforementioned sefer), we
find that there were three levels of difficulty in adopting
the custom.
By devoting even a little time during the tenth day to
reflection and self-examination, or doing even one extra
thing, such as praying one of the day's tefillos, or
saying bircas hamozone with special concentration, one
makes the day holy. Experience bears out the assertion that
from a modest beginning one can gradually add more and more
until, with siyata diShemayoh, one is truly achieving a
lot. This was how great and holy men of past generations
conducted themselves and by so doing, they attained the
heights that they attained, accruing merit for themselves as
well as for future generations.
"Go out, following the tracks of the flock," is the directive
for our spiritually impoverished generation. Today, the
breaches outnumber the areas that remain fenced in,
distractions surround every one of us and our day to day
affairs force us into contact with the crowds in the street,
who wallow in a mire of materialism. How can we maintain our
spiritual equilibrium in the face of all of this? How can we
guard the undertakings that we make during the Yomim
Noro'im and Succos -- and who does not truly want this, to
be able to do so?
What are we worth compared to the gedolim of earlier
generations? "If they were like man, we are like donkeys . . .
"
Yet they needed such a practice, and if they did, we certainly
do!
