Elul is Here!

Shalom Aleichem Chevra, so good to have you with us! What does returning a lost Mickey Mantle card have to do with the month of Elul and getting your soul ready for the High Holidays? In this shiur we dive deep into Deuteronomy 22, working through a whole slew of mitzvot that all carry one powerful theme running beneath the surface. We start with the mitzvah of returning lost objects and concerning ourselves with other people's property, and we unpack why the very first Gemara we teach kids is the tractate on lost objects. It is not random. We want to sensitize our children from day one to the sacredness of the boundary between what is yours and what is mine, because Hashem gave each person their portion and honoring that is honoring Him. We go through the details of the mitzvah of loading and unloading a fallen animal, and Rashi's insight on the word 'imo,' with him, which teaches us that the biblical obligation to help lift a fallen donkey only applies when the owner himself is willing to help alongside you. If the owner just kicks back and says go ahead, you're no longer bound by the specific mitzvah, though you are still being a tzaddik if you help anyway. We also get into a