The following idea was written and sent to me last night by Dr. Rakefet Ben Yishai:
"Every home, even if it is cleaned well once a week, needs a thorough cleaning once in a while. There are hidden corners to which we do not get (or do not want to get) regularly, there are old items that we have no need for anymore, furniture that needs to be fixed and walls that require painting. In our daily routine we do not always invest time in taking care of these matters, but once a year Passover arrives, which forces us to pay attention to them.
The month of Elul is Passover cleaning for the soul. Throughout the year we live our lives, with the ups and downs, with the better days and the not-so-great days. The race of life has its own, and problematic habits that we have adopted - negative thoughts, conflicts and inner burnout - are set aside and swept under the rug. We do not always have the time, the courage or the equanimity to deal with them, and here - the last month of the year gives us a chance to stop and shake the dust off of our mind.
The Shoftim Portion that we read this week reminds us: "וּבִעַרְתָּ הָרָע מִקִּרְבֶּךָ" ("Thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee"). Now is the time to deal with the matters that we have neglected during the year, to sit with ourselves with integrity and honesty and perform a sincere soul searching, to identify problematic points in us and to think of ways in which to get rid of them, and to strengthen the most important thing - the good and the positive within us."
