Preparing for a Year of Blessing | Rabbi Meir Simcha Sperling

Shalom u’Bracha to the entire Vayimaen family. B’Siyata d’Shmaya, I want to share with you an idea regarding Shmiras Einayim, that could be a very nice push for us to really get in control and to overcome this very powerful Nisayon, especially now, during Elul. In life, we all know that before a special day or before anything really, there needs to be preparation. For example, before a wedding, you need to prepare. You can't show up the night of the wedding and start cooking, buying a hat, making calls, trying to find a hall, it doesn't work. And the same thing would apply if you own a restaurant, for example, you need to be prepared and ready before the customers start arriving. You can't start figuring out how many bags of sugar you’re going to need, while the customers are waiting in line. And Rabosai, this is for sure true of a king. Imagine a king is coming to visit your village in a few days. You won't wait until he comes to start taking care of the city, fixing the roads, painting the houses, the fences. You're going to make sure to prepare before he gets there. You're going to make sure that everything is perfect before he arrives. We all understand this. And guess what? It's the exact same thing when it comes to our year. If we want to have Bracha and Hatzlacha this year, we can't just show up on the Day of Judgment and start preparing. Oh, Yom Kippur’s here, Rosh HaShanah’s here. Let's start working on ourselves. Let's start working on Shmiras Einayim and everything else. We need to prepare before. And Rabosai, when is before? Before is now. Listen to this. I heard this from my Rav, R’ Binyomin Cohen shlit”a. He once told me something incredible. He said the gematria of a Kesiva v’Chasima Tova, which means to have a good, gebentsht yohr, is 928, which is the same exact gematria as Elul and Rosh HaShanah combined. What do you see from here? You see from here that we need the Elul. The Elul is a part of it. Now, you might ask, Why is Elul included in the Cheshbon of a good year? Doesn't Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur start in Tishrei? And the answer is that Elul is the time to prepare. We need the Elul. And if you use the month of Elul properly, then you can be zoche to a year full of Bracha, which is what we all need. What better way to start our preparation for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur by getting in control of one of the biggest battles of today's generation, the Nisayon of Shmiras Einayim. From now until Rosh HaShanah, we have a huge opportunity, every single one of us, a gift that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave us, and that's called Elul. And if we can all get a little more in control, one day at a time, one battle at a time, showing Hashem that we care and we want to make a difference this year, we want to be zoche to a good year, and Rabosai, we all can do this, then we can all be zoche to be inscribed in the Sefer of Chaim Tovim. Every single one of us can do this. So Rabosai, let's work together as a nation, and all be zoche to a Kesiva v’Chasima Tova, a good, gebentsht yohr. Rabosai, good luck out there.