We are now in the month of Elul so we will bring down Elul-related thoughts that connect to Emunah and Bitachon. It's incumbent upon us during the days of Elul, to at least be aware that it's Elul, and not forget, so hopefully this will help with that. The most well-known acronym for Elul is the pasuk in Shir Hashirim, Ani Ledodi V’Dodi Li/I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me . This tells us that we're supposed to look at our relationship with God like the loving relationship of a husband and wife. Shir Hashirim is called the Holy of Holies because it describes God and the Jewish people in the example of a husband and a wife. That means it's a relationship. Although we're being judged on Rosh Hashanah, God doesn't want us to walk around all day petrified . We're supposed to have a relationship. Of course, we're going to be judged. Of course, God is a King and of course He rewards and punishes. But our general feeling during the month of Elul should be a feeling of endearment. And Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, is a two-way street. We have to act to God in a certain way and God reciprocates. And it starts from us. Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, We are like the bride and God is like the chatan . I saw a beautiful explanation for this. The Daf Yomi finished Masechet Gittin last week, and the last page talks about grounds for divorce. We're not going to get into the details, but one of them is, in the words of the Gemara, “ She burns his food. ” That seems a little strange. Is it really grounds for divorce, that she burns his food? Many explanations are given, but I heard a beautiful one that goes as follows: This is only in the case where there's a pot of (let’s say ( chicken soup that she leaves on the fire for too long and gets burnt. There's still some left. The middle part is still edible. If she takes a spoon and scoops it out, she has enough for one portion. So what does she do? She scoops out the middle and that’s her portion. She puts it on her plate and she gives the burnt section to her husband and says, “ Here, your portion got burned.” That's what it means, that his food got burned. Rather than saying, ‘ Our food got burned,’ she says, ‘Your portion got burned. And mine is just fine.’ What's the nimshal , the lesson for us? Let’s say a person has a business, makes $200,000 one year, and gives $20,000 to charity. Then, the next year he only makes $180,000. Now he says, “ God, You lost Your 20,000. I'll go on the trip like I always do. I'll lease the car like I always do .” The $20,000 that got lost, was God's $20,000. That's called ‘ His portion got burned,’ and that is grounds for divorce. A person is supposed to have an understanding of this. I'll give another mashal . A person gets home every day at seven o'clock, and has dinner with his family until eight. Then he learns from eight to nine and exercises from nine to ten. One day, he gets stuck in traffic or whatever it may be, so instead of getting home at seven, he gets home at eight. He has to spend an hour with his wife and kids and he has to go exercise. But he lost an hour of time. So he skips his class. That’s like saying, ‘God, Your hour got burned, not mine.’ That's the wrong attitude. Our attitude toward Hashem has to be like that of a loving husband and wife, like, ‘ We’re in it together.” like the famous line of of Rav Aryeh Levine. He went to the doctor with his wife and said, “ Our leg hurts.” This is a partnership. His wife's leg was hurting, so his leg was hurting, ‘ Our leg hurts.’ That's what our religion is about, that we and God are in a partnership together. In everything that we do, Hashem is in it with us equally. That's one of the keys to success. I read recently of a man who was very successful, and besides being very successful, he gave people Berachot that were successful as well. A certain rabbi wanted to see what this man's secret was, so he was watching him, but he seemed like a regular man. He finally went over and asked, “ What's your secret ?” The man said, “ My secret is that I had to go into business and I needed a partner. I looked around, but I had no one to be my partner. So I told God, ‘God, You're my partner. Everything that I make is half mine, half Yours.’ And from then I started to see success in my business and people came to me for blessings. And my blessings were successful as well. ” When the rabbi heard that, he was not surprised. A man that lives in such a simple way, that he and God are going through life together and in everything that's happening, he's living with God, that is an Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li attitude, and that brings success. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will have that understanding and realize that there's no such thing as my portion or God's portion. There are certain things we don't give up on. That's one of the benefits of having a daily lesson, whatever the topic. As Rabbi Frand famously said, “It's not about the daf , it's about the yomi . It's not about the page , it's about the daily . So, when you lose your time, don't let it out on the Torah class. Have a wonderful day.