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‘The stars above you shine with such an incredible brilliance that you can see them reflected in that cold blue ice beneath your feet. And they are so close to you. So close that you can just reach up, pluck them one at a time from the heavens, place them in your pockets, and save them for later.’
These are the words of accomplished pathologist and amateur climber Dr Beak Weathers, describing his 3 am summit assault of Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. Standing there on the South Col, amidst the ice and the silence, the heavens felt so very close.
Beck Weathers never made it to the top of Everest; recent surgery on his eyes caused him to go temporarily blind just hours from the summit. Without the ability to see, and with the brief time window available to reach the summit closing, he was forced to give up the goal he had been working on for years. Instead, he waited on the mountainside for his expedition leader, Rob Hall, to return from the summit and descend the mountain with him. Rob Hall never made it back that day.
That spring day of 1996, a terrible storm closed in during the summit descent, leading to seven fatalities. Assumed dead, Beck Weathers spent the night on the mountain in a coma. Miraculously, he woke up and made his way down to a lower camp, from where he was rescued by a helicopter.
Sometimes, like those few people who have dared to ascend the highest mountains of the earth, we stand amidst the spiritual heights. Sometimes, after days, months, or years of grueling work, we manage to reach the heavens, to stand close to our maker. At other times though, the heavens come to us.
The words of Elul are an acronym for the verse ‘Ani Ledodi Vedodi Li’ - I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. For in Elul, G-d brings us close to him; effortlessly. In Elul we reach the summit without even attempting the climb. Or as the Chassidic master, the Baal Shem Tov, so beautifully says: ‘Hamelech Basadeh’ – ‘The King is in the field’. In Elul, G-d comes to us. The tie between us and G-d is so close that all it takes is for us to reach out our hand, and He will be there.
There is a beautiful midrash found in Shir Hashirim, which tells us that Hashem says, ‘Pis’chu li pesach k’chudo she’machat, v’Ani eftach lachem pesach k’pis’cho shel ulam’ – ‘Open for Me an opening like the eye of a needle and I’ll open for you an opening like the door of a palace.’
All that G-d wants to see in Elul is that desire for closeness, that intense yearning to dwell in the house of G-d. He wants to see that we cherish the connection, that we revel in it, and that it is our innermost hope to dwell on these spiritual heights forever. And in Elul, all we have to do is just to reach out. And once we create that small entranceway for G-d, miniscule though it may be, G-d will extend His Hand to us, and help us to achieve things we never imagined to be possible.