Parashat Ki Teitzei begins with the words Ki teitzei la'milchama al oyvecha, when you go out to war against your enemies. The Torah isn't only speaking to soldiers on the battlefield; it is speaking to each of us. Because in life, the question is never if we go out to battle, but when. Every one of us faces wars, sometimes against forces outside of us, but often against the inner voices that live within.
The Torah gives us the puzzling case of the Ben Sorer U'Moreh, the rebellious son who is condemned to death, a case the Gemara itself says never happened. So why is it here? On a deeper level, this child represents the inner child inside each of us. That innocent voice, that pure part of the soul, can become restless and destructive when it lacks purpose and belonging. And when the "parents," our mind and our heart, cannot guide it, we find ourselves at war with our own essence. The Torah is telling us that our task is not to condemn that child but to give it direction, to return it to its innocence by providing meaning and purpose.
Later, the parasha reminds us of Amalek, the nation that attacked the weak and vulnerable. Amalek is the force that comes from outside, the challenge that shakes us to the core and makes us question our foundation. Amalek is not just an ancient nation but a mindset that still lingers: the denial of morality, the attempt to erase the difference between good and evil. Sometimes we can point to external enemies, whether Nazis in the past or Hamas today, and see Amalek's cruelty alive. But Amalek also exists as a force in the world that tries to strip life of meaning.
When we put the pieces together, the Torah's message becomes clear. The rebellious son within us and Amalek outside of us are both challenges meant to make us stronger. They are not here to destroy us, but to help us grow, to remind us of who we are, to push us closer to Hashem.
And that is the essence of Elul. This month is about teshuvah, which can mean both "answer" and "return." It is the answer to our struggles and it is also the call to return, to return to our inner child, to give it purpose, to bring it back to its pure voice. On a personal level, teshuvah is the return to our truest self, to the part of us that longs for meaning and for connection. On a national level, teshuvah is our response to Amalek in every generation: we counter darkness with light, immorality with holiness, cruelty with compassion.
If our inner child feels lost, the solution is not to condemn it but to give it belonging. If our world is threatened by Amalek, the response is not despair but to create more morality, more goodness, and more Divine presence.
That is the call of Elul: to return, to answer, to rediscover the pure voice inside of us and to bring more light into the world. May we be zocheh to do both, to turn the Ben Sorer U'Moreh back into a true ben, and to wipe out the Amalek within and without, by returning to Hashem with all of our heart.
"Our struggles are not here to break us, but to shape us."
Shabbat Shalom Rav Shlomo