💻Shalom Bayit: Learn How to Reset your Computer During the Month of Elul

Hashem forewarns us in Shoftim: “Do not pass your children through fire.”¹ Two questions arise. First, who in their right mind would tolerate such harm to their children? Second, as this was a religious practice meant to elevate the spirit, who could find pleasure in it?

My uncle immigrated from the religiously conservative city of Shiraz to the vibrant, free-spirited Tel Aviv in his 30s. Fifty years later, I asked, “What was your first impression?” “It felt like a den of immorality,” he replied. “Why did you stay?” I pressed. “I grew accustomed to it,” he said simply. Today, he adores Tel Aviv.

Sadly, it’s possible to become desensitized to disturbing behavior, and even to find pleasure or value in it. How does this begin? By straying “to the left or to the right”² from the Torah’s path.

Yet, all is not lost. Within us lies an incorruptible moral compass with a reset button. This month of repentance offers the perfect moment to press it, enhancing our Shalom Bayit.

¹ Deuteronomy 18:10

² Deuteronomy 17:11