This week's Torah portion of Ki Tetzei (Deuteronomy 21,10 through Chapter 25) begins with this verse: "When you go out to war with your enemy, and G-d gives him into your hand, and you take captives…"  Though this is referring to a physical enemy, as the succeeding verses indicate clearly, it can also be understood, as the saintly R. Simcha Bunem of Pshischa explained, as referring to one's personal battle with his own negative inclinations and urges.

In the work HaLekach v'HaLibuv by R. Avraham Schorr (son of R. Gedalya Schorr), he asks how "taking captives" can be understood in the context of a battle with the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination). He also asks why the Hebrew word here for "captives" is shivyo, implying that the captive we might take was previously captive in the hands of the enemy; how can this be understood?

R. Schorr answers as follows, based on the Sfat Emet: Later in the Torah portion, we read,'Do not see your brother's ox or sheep wandering lost – and ignore them; return them to your brother… But if you don't know who the owner is, they shall remain with you until he comes to collect them.'" There are different types of things that a person can lose – and must later retrieve.

For in truth, every individual person is granted many strengths from Heaven – strengths of the soul and of the bodily organs – for the purpose of using them to fulfill G-d's will, to fulfill His commandments and learn His Torah. But when a person uses these abilities to satiate his own needs and lusts, or to actually violate G-d's word and will, these strengths are then taken from him, and then much hard work is needed in order to restore them to his domain.

The Talmud states (Betzah 16a): "G-d gives an 'extra soul' (neshama yetera) to a person on Sabbath eve, and it is taken from him when the Sabbath departs – as written (Sh'mot 31,17): "He ceased and rested, shavat vayinafash [the first syllable of the second word is pronounced vay, an expression of sorrow]: Once He ceased, then vay - the soul [nefesh] was lost."

The Baal Shem Tov famously asks: "The verse speaks of the beginning of the Sabbath, so why did the Sages derive from it a lesson regarding the end of the Sabbath?"

The Sfat Emet answers that when the Sabbath arrives, a person senses what he lost during the days of the week, and the thirst to find his lost spiritual items is aroused within him. That is to say, throughout the workweek, a person is lost in his This-Worldly pursuits, and he "forgets" to seek out his lost spirituality. Instead, his desires are for material matters, not those that G-d specifically wills. But on the Sabbath, the "day of souls," a person's grasp of the truth becomes stronger and he remembers that which he lost, and he says, "Vay, my true soul was lost!" And then, by remembering and searching for it, he can retrieve the lost object.

This also explains why the Torah implies here (from the word shivyo) that the "captive" was previously held in the enemy's hands: This is referring to the strengths of the soul that were lost and taken captive by the Yetzer Hara during the work-week when a person was in his weaker state.

But when a person fulfills "When you go out to war with your enemy," and charges out to fight his negative urges – he merits to restore his lost powers, and take back his captives that had been lost to the yetzer hara.

We read in Proverbs: "Distance your way from [the strange woman] ... lest strangers be sated with your strength and your labors be in the house of an alien" (5,8-10). This can be understood to mean that when one sins, strangers – external forces – come and take his strengths and become satiated from them. One who has fallen into this trap is then advised to 'You alone shall have them, and strangers shall have nothing with you" (ibid. 17). Righteous ones tell us that the Hebrew initials of the last four words in this verse spell out Elul, which is the month of repentance – telling us that when we repent completely of our sins and do good deeds, we merit that our spiritual forces remain only for ourselves ("you alone"), and will not be used by evil forces; strangers will no longer have control over them.

As stated, when one's energies have been lost to the Yetzer Hara, they are held captive by it – but when he does teshuvah and seeks back these strengths, he can restore them to his own domain.

Elul is also an acronym for other significant phrases. The Sfat Emet cites the verse (Yeshayahu 48,11), "And I will not give My glory to another" (V'chvodi L'acher Lo Eten). He explained that during the days of Elul, the gates of mercy are opened for our return to Hashem. And the most famous acronym in this regard is "I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine" (Ani L'dodi V'dodi Li, Shir HaShirim 6,3).

Therefore, the forces of evil have no ability to hide G-d's countenance; "I will not give My glory to another." For in the month of Elul, man is able to take and restore the lost spiritual forces that were in the "other's" jurisdiction. Elul is the unique time for awakening and seeking out and restoring our lost energies. This is done via the blowing of the shofar during each weekday of Elul, which arouses our will.

For G-d most certainly fulfills the commandment of "returning lost objects," as the Sages said: "A Heavenly voice goes out every day from Horev [Mt. Sinai] and declares, 'Woe unto mankind for the insult to Torah" (Pirkei Avot 6,2) – reminding us to seek out what we have lost.

And this is the special nature of the holy days of Elul: Buried within them is a unique force that arouses man from his slumber, calling on him to seek out that which he has lost over the year, in order to finally merit that which is alluded to in the verse above, "until [you] come to collect it."

Translated by Hillel Fendel

In order to get Shiurim like this every week directly to your Inbox, click here