Elul. Once upon a time, it was a word that inspired people, made people “shake in their books.” It meant judgment day was coming, and that got a lot of Jews nervous. I too shake in my boots when I hear “Elul,” but mostly because I anticipate spending many tiring hours in shul and eating too much food. I must have lost something in the translation.

FOR DECADES I have been writing down the issue number of the current week’s Perceptions just as a matter of protocol, and without really comprehending the number.

WE KNOW THAT life is a test from Heaven to see where we stand on the issues of life, but this is one of the few parshios that actually tells us this. Nevertheless, it is easy to forget this, or not know it all, and go through life as things matter less than they do.

WE’VE MOURNED, SO now it is time for consolation. This is part of that consolation, from a little different angle.

The GR”A explains the fundamental difference between Sefer Devarim and the rest of the Torah is the level of prophecy. He says that, for the first four books, God spoke directly through the throat of Moshe Rabbeinu in real time. Sefer Devarim was prophecy on the level of the other prophets who usually had their prophecies at night while sleeping and then told them over to the people the next day while awake.