Read Part 1 here.

Approximately 8 minutes to read.

In Elul the king is in the field—G-d is available for us to approach. Now is a time for personal stocktaking, introspection, and a sincere change of heart from our less than positive behavior.

In the previous installment, our ma’amer asked several questions:

If Elul is the time when “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine,” — a time of love and fear, then why does it say elsewhere that Elul is a time of fear and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are a time of love?

Before fully answering this question, we explored the Tur’s statement that during Elul we blow the shofar to inspire awe of G-d. We see, therefore, that Elul is indeed a time of deepening our awe of Him.

Furthermore, the metaphor of the people leaving the city and meeting the king in the field—initiating their relationship—implies that Elul contains the theme of developing awe of G-d.

How can we apply this to how we relate to friends and family? With strangers?

How does this knowledge apply to our relationship with G-d?

What is makkif?

Simply put, makkif is a type of expression which is above our ability to grasp or internalize fully.

For example, if a person is not motivated to exercise and a friend agrees to train with them, that motivation they feel to work out is external. In all likelihood, this person won’t continue after the friend stops offering their moral support.

The following is another example of makkif. Imagine two homeowners in a state that require its residents to recycle by law. The first person separates his trash so he doesn’t get fined. The second person takes environmental protection personally and as a result, she is careful to separate her recycling from her trash. Both people recycle, but the first person is “forced” by an external element and the second believes her behavior helps save the planet. The first person is affected by a makkif while the second person is motivated by her values and beliefs. She might even take more active measures to behave according to her values—she might compost or reuse things more, etc.

We too have a parallel in Judaism.

We can be externally motivated by our environment to keep more mitzvos or up the quality of our learning. Environmental motivators—being around certain people, learning certain ideas, or being in the right place—are G-d’s way of inspiring us. Since this kind of motivation is external, it is short lived. This inspiration is called makkif.

Among makkifim, there are more external and less external makkifim as will be brought up later in the ma’amer.

Motivation and Humility

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Footnotes: 

14. ד”ה אם יתקע שופר בעיר – אוה”ת נצבים ע’ א’רפ ואילך (ובכותרת שם: “ענין תקיעת שופר בר”ח אלול”). וצע”ק ההדגשה כאן ובכ”מ דר”ח.
15. ר”פ בראשית, הובא באוה”ת שם ס”ע א’רפב.
16. ישעי’ סו, א-ב.
17. וראה אבודרהם בטעמי התקיעות מרס”ג שבתק”ש דר”ה עשרה ענינים, ו”הענין השביעי” הוא כי טבע השופר מרעיד ומחריד.