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החיתפ
םייח ץפח
Chafetz Chayim .יוּארָָכּ םרְָמוֹשׁ הרימשה תבוח סרטנוק .]םָשׁ י"ִשּׁרַ שׁוּרֵפְכוּ ,ןדֵֶע ןַגְבּ - "'ה עַטָנ םיִלָהֲאַכּ .הֶז ןיֵעְכּ ןֵכּ םַגּ הֶיְהִי ,תוֹפָיַּה תוֹעיִטְנַּה ןֵכּ םַגּ וּחְמְצִי םירִָדְנ( ל"ַזֲח וּרְמָאֶשׁ וֹמְכוּ ,םָלֳעָפּ םֵשְׁל הָנָוַּכַּה וּנְיַהְדּ ,ןֶגֹהַכּ םוּשּׁ
Kuntres Chovat HaShemirah
Introduction
continuing good for all of the Chessed that they do. We would
like to further acknowledge our friends at Feldheim Publications
for making these sefarim available to the general public through
Introduction their broad dissemination both in the United States, in Israel and
on-line. Lastly I would like to express my indebtedness and
In this introduction I will explain a wise appreciation to my family and my dear wife in particular for
person’s obligation to accept and implement his their patience and support in allowing me the time to focus on
responsibility to discipline himself in all aspects these works. May Hashem bless them with good health, great
happiness and a long and fulfilling life. We pray that Hashem
of avoiding all forms of forbidden speech, and will consider this limud as an Iluy Neshamah for our daughter,
how that will serve him well in this world and in Mazal bat Frieda, that He will grant her husband and children
Olam Haba. good health and happiness, and that all of her children will grow
to raise wonderful generations of Bnei Torah.
(1) Our master David HaMelech A”H has told us (Tehilim 34:13- Regarding the title – MAZAL ELUL:
14) “Who is the person who desires life, who loves days to see
good? Guard your tongue from bad, etc.” Ostensibly, he should In His Shabbat derasha at the start of chodesh Elul 5762,
have said, “Do not use your tongue to speak badly,” and not Chacham Asher Hatchuel (the Av Beit Din of the Brooklyn
“Guard your tongue from bad,” which is a command to guard Syrian community) began by saying it was no accident Chazal
one’s speech. In using this language He is, he is teaching us to chose the Betulah as that month’s mazal. That choice of
accept the responsibility of disciplining \ guarding our speech. mazal is a paradigm for the approaching month of selichot, for
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Then necessarily it is appropriate to set aside a small amount preparation towards the Yamim No’raim and for life in general.
of time each day to think about whether or not he succeeded The symbolism is a chatan yearning to be with his bride as he
that day in controlling the words that came out of his mouth approaches life with gladness and optimism, responsibility and
and consequently we can hope, with Gd’s help, that he will “see trepidation. That concept of the mazal of Elul is an approach to
good.” life in all of man’s endeavors. It concisely depicts the framework
of this translation.
Man must imagine that he has an orchard planted with a variety
of beautiful fruits, each one of which would be fitting for a king’s Regarding the cover photo:
table. Do you think this man would be stingy in hiring watchmen We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to Rabbi
to guard his orchard day and night? This kind of man who hoards Yisroel Meir Zaks, a grandson of the Chafetz Chayim ZT”L for
his money is called thoughtless (a fool) because eventually this giving us a rare (passport) photo of his grandfather for use on the
unguarded orchard will become overrun by wild animals and cover of this sefer.
bandits of the night who will uproot the trees and eat the fruit
and destroy the surrounding fence. The only vegetation that will
then grow in the orchard will be weeds and thistles instead of the Yedidya Levy
Eyyar 5769
Mazal Elul congregation
3. Meaning, to be careful in this regard, we must watch ourselves and be on Brooklyn, NY
guard against all kinds of forbidden and inappropriate speech.
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