In Parashat Nitzavim, קפיטל ל' פסוק ו', the פסוק says, ומל ה' אלקיך את לבבך ואת לבב זרעך לאהבה את ה' אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך למען חייך, which means ה' is going to circumcise your heart and the heart of your children to love ה' your God with all your heart and with all your soul, למען חייך, because He is your life. This פסוק comes in continuation to what the פסוקים said before that, that after the person gets the ברכה והקללה, then ושבת עד ה' אלקיך, you will return to ה' your God, ושמעת בקולו, you're going to listen to His voice, ככל אשר אנכי מצוך היום, everything that I am commanding you today, אתה ובניך, בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, you and your children with all your heart, with all your soul. And it continues, ושב ה' אלקיך את שבותך, ה' will make you return, and He says further, אם יהיה נדחך בקצה השמים משם יקבצך ה' אלקיך, if you will be pushed away to the end of the heaven, ה' will gather you from there, והביאך ה' אלקיך אל הארץ אשר ירשו אבתיך וירשתה, ה' will bring you back to the land that you inherited from your parents, then the פסוק says, ומל ה' אלקיך את לבבך, ה' will circumcise your heart and the heart of your children, so you should love ה' with all your heart and with all your soul. On this פסוק, ומל ה' אלקיך את לבבך, the Targum, meaning Targum Onkelos and also the Targum Yonatan ben Uziel, they say that what does the פסוק mean? ויעדי ה' אלקיך ית טפשות לבך, that ה' will circumcise the foolishness, the stupidity of your heart. Even though the פסוק itself doesn't say it, the פסוק just says ה' your God will circumcise your heart, nevertheless the Targum says it means the טפשות, the stupidity of your heart. The reason the Targum says this is very simple: because you don't circumcise the heart itself. The circumcision refers to the orlah of the heart. Just like בגשמיות, when there is a circumcision, you cut off the certain skin which is called the orlah, so too, when we use this term concerning the heart, it means that there is an orlah, there is a kind of skin, a spiritual skin, which blocks the heart from feeling what it's supposed to feel, etc., etc. So Hashem' says He will circumcise the heart, meaning He will cut off the orlah of the heart. As we find in a different place, in a different seder, which is in פרשת עקב, קפיטל י' פסוק ט\"ז, the pasuk says, ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם, that you should circumcise the orlah of your heart. So here, too, when the pasuk says Hashem' Elokecha is going to circumcise your heart, it means He's going to circumcise the orlah of the heart. And this is the reason the Targum adds the word ית טפשות לבך, He's going to cut, He's going to circumcise the טפשות, the stupidity of your heart. This is one way to learn the peshat in this pasuk.

But there is another way to learn the peshat in this pasuk, and it's possible that this is the way Rashi learns. Since Rashi does not explain what the pasuk means, and we know the derech of Rashi is, that whenever there is something not understood in the פסוק, רש\"י comes to explain it, especially in a place where the pasuk is מקרא קצר, the pasuk is short, so to speak, the pasuk skips a word which the pasuk takes for granted that we would understand ourselves, so Rashi usually adds the word that מקרא זה קצר, that this מקרא, this pasuk is קצר, there's something missing. On this פסוק רש\"י doesn't say anything, so it's possible that Rashi learns that the pasuk takeh means exactly as it says. Not that Hashem' is going to circumcise the טפשות, the orlah of your heart, but it takeh means Hashem' is going to circumcise the heart itself. Now what is the peshat? The peshat could be as follows: if we look in the המשך of the pesukim in this parashah, the pasuk says like this: that after יבואו עליך, ה' will make come upon you the ברכה and the קללה, and what's going to happen? ושבת עד ה' אלקיך, you will return to Hashem', ושמעת בקולו, you're going to listen to His voice, and the pasuk says אתה ובניך, you and your children, בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, with all your heart and with all your soul. And then the Torah continues: ושב ה' אלקיך את שבותך, ה' will make you return, והביאך ה' אלקיך אל הארץ, ה' will bring you back to the land, then the pasuk says, ומל ה' אלקיך את לבבך, ה' is going to circumcise your heart. So, in פשוט פשט it seems as if this pasuk, that Hashem' is going to circumcise your heart, comes after what the Torah says before already happened: after Hashem' made you return to Him, and you started listening to His voice, and you listen to His voice בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, with all your heart and with all your soul, then comes ומל ה' אלקיך את לבבך, ה' is going to circumcise your heart. Now, you cannot learn according to this that the pasuk means Hashem' is going to cut off the ערלה of your heart, because the ערלה, which means as Rashi explains in Eikev there, it means אוטם לבבכם וכיסויו, and means the stuffing of the heart, that means that you do not listen to Hashem'. So Hashem' will cut off that part which stuffs up the heart from listening, Now this the פשט תורה cannot mean, being that here the Torah is speaking already after you return to Hashem and you started listening to His voice, you're doing all the mitzvot, and you're doing it with all your heart and with all your soul, so we don't have anymore ערלת הלב, because there is no more stuffing, the heart listens to Hashem. So how can the pasuk say now Hashem is going to cut off the ערלה of your heart? So therefore the peshat must be that Hashem will cut off, meaning not the ערלה of the heart, but Hashem will do something concerning the heart itself, that after there is no more orlah left, nevertheless, He will make the heart reach a higher madregah. And as the pasuk actually says that what's going to happen after that Hashem will do the circumcision of your heart and the heart of your children, לאהבת השם אלקיך, that you should love Hashem with all your heart and with all your soul. So it comes out like this, that the previous pesukim, they speak about the Yidden doing teshuvah, so that could be teshuvah meyirah. As it actually says in the Sefer Tzror HaMor here on this pasuk, that the pasuk here means that the Yidden will do teshuvah meyirah, which means teshuvah out of fear. As we know, as the Gemara explains in Yoma, that there are two levels of teshuvah: there is teshuvah meyirah and then there is teshuvah me'ahavah. There is teshuvah that comes out of fear, a person is afraid of Hashem and therefore he returns to Hashem, and then there's a level of teshuvah me'ahavah, the person returns to Hashem because he loves Hashem, and that's a much higher madregah. So it seems as if the pasuk is saying like this: First Hashem says that when you will get the ברכה והקללה, ושבת עד השם אלקיך, you will return to Hashem, you will listen to His voice, בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, with all your heart and with all your soul, this could be still meyirah, out of fear. Then the pasuk says, ומל השם אלקיך את לבבך ואת לבב זרעך לאהבת השם אלקיך, then Hashem will circumcise the heart, not the orlah of the heart, there is no orlah, but Hashem is going to change the heart, that the heart will have not only yirah, but the heart is going to have ahavat Hashem, it's a higher madregah, to love Hashem, and as the pasuk says, to love Hashem with all your heart and with all your soul. But still, the question that remains here according to this peshat is, that if the Torah is telling us that there is no more ערלה, but Hashem is going to change the heart, that the heart is going to love Hashem, then why does it use the term ומל השם אלקיך את לבבך, Hashem will circumcise, will cut, there is nothing to cut. According to the peshat of the תרגום that the pasuk means He is going to cut the ערלה of the heart, then there is something to cut off, even though this is a spiritual thing, but we use the physical terms, just like you have to cut off the ערלה בגשמיות physically by the mitzvah of milah, so there is the spiritual ערלה that covers the heart, that doesn't allow a person to fear Hashem and listen to Hashem, and therefore you have to cut it off. So the term cutting, circumcising, fits. But if we're learning that the pasuk here means that Hashem is going to change the heart, that the heart should have אהבת השם, should love Hashem, then l'chorah the term ומל, circumcision, doesn't fit, because there is nothing to cut. It is just that the heart that's there will have not only יראת השם, but will also have אהבת השם. So why does the Torah use the לשון ומל? So the answer to this is understood based on looking through the המשך of the pesukim. The pesukim say, והיה כי יבאו עליך, if it will come to you all these things, what's going to happen? ושבת, so you will return to Hashem, and ושב השם אלקיך את שבותך, Hashem is going to make you return, etc., etc. Now, the pasuk here is talking about galus, that Hashem will take you out of galus, which means that the problem that the Yidden are going to have is the fact that they're going to go to galus. So Hashem says that after you're going to have all the problem, which means you will go to galus, so then ושבת עד השם אלקיך, you will return to Hashem, and ושב השם אלקיך את שבותך, Hashem will take you out of galus, והביאך אל הארץ, He will bring you to the land. And then Hashem says, ומל השם אלקיך את לבבך. So we understand that what the Torah is telling us here, that because the Yidden went to galut, two things later are going to happen: they will return to Hashem as it says, ושבת עד השם אלקיך, and then ומל השם אלקיך את לבבך, then the higher level, Hashem will circumcise your heart.

What brings about galut? So the pesukim before that say, the pasuk before, in קאפיטל כ״ט, פסוק ט״ו through י״ז says, כי אתם ידעתם, that you know since you were in מצרים, ותראו את שקוציהם, you saw their disgusting things, their avodah zarah, and therefore he says, פן יש בכם, maybe there is amongst you a person אשר לבבו פנה היום, that his heart turns away today, לעבוד את אלהי הגוים ההם, to serve, to worship the gods of these nations. So he's giving a reason there, what brings about the Yid to turn away and therefore deserve galut, two things: ותראו את שקוציהם, that you will see their disgusting things, so since you see it, that could bring about that a person should have his heart turn away, which really means, as Rashi says in פרשת שלח, קאפיטל ט״ו, פסוק ל״ט, that העין רואה והלב חומד, that the eye sees and the heart desires. That's what the pasuk says. What brings about a Yid to act not properly and therefore eventually deserve galut is because he sees things which are wrong, and this awakens, arouses the heart to desire, which means be'emet that there are two possible reasons why the Yidden would turn away from Hashem and deserve galut. One is pashut because there is an ערלת הלב, there is an orlah, a stuffing so to speak in the heart, and therefore the heart doesn't do, doesn't feel what Hashem wants it to feel, and because of that, it makes an Yid turn away. But then there's the other thing, because as we just said, there is a reason that would make an Yid turn away not because of the טיפשות of the orlah of the heart itself, but because of a side thing, something from outside of the heart. If the eye sees certain things, this could bring about that the heart should desire to do it, which means that this is not something that comes from the heart itself, it could be that a person's heart itself would be proper, but because he sees certain things, this brings about that the heart should have a desire to do these different things. So it comes out that there are two reasons that bring a person to do the wrong things and therefore later deserve galut. So when Hashem says that He will take you out of galut, what will happen? Also two things. There will be one thing that will take away the orlah of the heart, the fact that a person's heart is stuffed so to speak and is able to feel and do the wrong things, that will be taken away. And also the second cause, which is the outside thing, that the eye could see and therefore the heart desires, that should also be taken away. And this is what the pasuk says, that the reason that an Yid would turn away from Hashem is because אשר לבבו פונה, it's a possibility that his heart turns away. Now this is an expression that refers to the heart itself. This is similar to לבבם הערל, that the heart turns away because the heart itself has an orlah. And then the pasuk says later on ותראו את שקוציהם, that there's another thing, that you will see their disgusting things, you will see their עבודה זרה, and that will bring about that you will turn away and worship עבודה זרה, which is the second inyan of עין רואה ולב חומד. And this is what the pasuk here says, that what's going to happen? First Hashem will make you return to Him, that means He will get rid of the orlah of the heart, and the second thing is ומל השם אלקיך את לבבך, השם will cut off the connection between what the eye sees and the heart desires, because as we said before, what brings about the heart to desire to do wrong, when the eye sees. Now this is something that's not in the control of the person. Sometimes a person could be just walking and see something that comes in front of his eyes, and even though he will close his eyes right away, but what comes in front of his eyes before that, before he gets a chance to look away, it's there. And naturally, if the eye sees something, it has an effect on the heart. So when Hashem says that not only will I take away the ערלת הלב, I will also take away the connection, I will cut the connection between the eyes and the heart. And this is why in the second madreigah, which is not the orlah of the lev, but where Hashem says He will circumcise the heart itself, meaning that He will bring the person to a higher madreigah to love Hashem, what the pasuk here means is also cutting, but not cutting the orlah of the lev, but cutting the connection between the eye and the heart.

And this explains another thing. The pasuk says ומל השם אלקיך את לבבך ואת לבב זרעך, השם is going to circumcise or cut your heart and the heart of your children. Now lichorah, why does it say Hashem will do it? Something an yid has to do, teshuvah is something an yid has to do, just like it says in the pasuk before ושבת עד השם אלקיך, you will return to Hashem, so it should have said here ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם, or ומלתם את לבבכם, you should circumcise your heart, an yid has to do that. But based on the pshat we said before, it's understood, because this is something an yid cannot do, because if an yid is able to see something, whether he likes it or not, but it just comes in front of him and he sees it, then it's not up to him whether it has an effect on his heart, why? Because naturally the sight of the eye has an influence on the heart. But Hashem promises that what He is going to do, He will go against the nature and He is going to circumcise that, which means He is going to cut off that relationship that there is between the heart and the eyes, that even though the eye sees, nevertheless the heart should not desire. And if the heart does not desire, automatically an yid is able to serve Hashem in a higher madreigah than just yirah, but he also serves Hashem with ahavah. And that's what the pasuk means, ומל השם אלקיך את לבבך, השם is going to circumcise your heart ואת לבב זרעך and the heart of your children, meaning He will cut the relationship between the eye and the heart, and therefore what will that bring about? לאהבה את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, He is going to make you love Hashem with all your heart and with all your soul, because if you will not have the ערלת הלב which will be taken away before, as it says ושבת עד השם אלקיך, you will also not have this inyan of עין רואה ולב חומד that the eye sees and automatically the heart desires, and mimeila what will happen? You will have Ahavat Hashem. So according to this it comes out that this pasuk is speaking about a level of Ahavat Hashem.

Now according to this it comes out that since we know that this pasuk is a remez for the month of Elul, because the The words את לבבך ואת לבב is a ראשי תיבות אלול, as the Baal Haturim says on the pasuk. So it comes out that according to this, what is the avodah of a Yid in Elul is to bring himself to Ahavat Hashem, to love Hashem. The Baal Haturim himself, when he says that these words is a ראשי תיבות אלול, he says לכך נהגו להשכים, therefore the minhag is to get up early, להתפלל סליחות, to say selichot, to daven סליחות מראש חודש אלול ואילך, from Rosh Chodesh Elul and on, as the custom is actually by certain קהילות that from Rosh Chodesh Elul they start saying selichot. So we see that the Baal Haturim connects this pasuk with Elul, but he connects it to the fact that we say selichot. Now the word selichah itself means forgiveness, so obviously this refers to the level of yirah, because to get a selichah for a person's aveirot, it's connected at least to do תשובה מיראה. That's the lower level. Now this fits to the peshat of the Targum, that the pasuk here means that Hashem will circumcise the טיפשות הלב, the ערלת הלב, that means He will make a person return to Hashem, get rid of the stuffing of the heart, and he will start doing what Hashem wants. Now for this it's enough teshuvah mi'yirah. So it comes out that the peshat that the Baal Haturim says, the connection to Elul that's in this pasuk, which is connected to the selichah, to getting a selichah umechilah, forgiveness for the aveirot, that is connected to the peshat of the Targum, that this means He will cut the ערלת הלב. But the other peshat we said, that's possible that this is the way Rashi learns, that means that this pasuk refers to the avodah of ahavah, serving Hashem out of ahavah. So according to that, since this pasuk is a remez for the month of Elul, so the pasuk is teaching us that not only during the month of Elul do we have to work with the level of yirah, to serve Hashem out of yirah, but we also have to serve Hashem out of ahavah, out of love, which is a much higher madregah. And the truth is that we find a different remez in the month of Elul, which does mention the inyan of ahavah. The famous roshei teivot of Elul, which is אני לדודי ודודי לי, which is a pasuk in Shir Hashirim, קפיטל ו׳ פסוק ג׳, which is a roshei teivot Elul: אני לדודי ודודי לי is אלף למד ואו למד. The Abudraham, and in Pri Etz Chaim Shaar Rosh Hashanah, and in the Bach, and in different places, the Reshit Chochmah, the Shelah, they all say that this is a roshei teivot for Elul. Now the words אני לדודי, דודי means the one I love, my beloved. So the pshat is אני לדודי, I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me. That means that I, the Yidden, are close to Hashem, close to Hashem, they serve Hashem out of love. So we see that the month of Elul is also a time not only to try to do teshuvah and return to Hashem on the lower מדרגה, out of yirah, but it's also a time to return to Hashem out of ahavah.