An Elul Elucidation.
In Israel, in the town of Bnai Brak there was a man who had an interesting profession.
He was a car thief.
He stole cars for a living.
One evening he broke into a car and was manipulating the wires to ignite the engine and bring it to life so he could make off with the car.
As he was attempting to start the vehicle he was startled to hear a noise coming from the back seat. To his horror he saw a toddler strapped into a car seat.
It appeared the child had been accidentally left in the car.
The first thought the thief had was not about himself and how he might get caught and arrested.
His first thought was the immediate emergency to save the baby who was clearly in severe distress.
He gunned the engine and rushed the baby to the nearest emergency room.
The toddler was attended to immediately.
The doctor came out and told the thief that had he waited even five more minutes, his son wouldn’t have made it.
At that moment the thief snapped out of his reverie. He had to explain his way out if this mess so he wouldn’t be arrested for car theft. Or even worse - kidnapping.
He told the doctor that he saw the baby in the car and managed to break in, but he wasn’t even related. He offered to go to the car and check the registration.
After doing some detective work, how delicious the thief became the detective, he found the contact information of the car’s owner.
He called the number.
Of course the people on the other end were beside themselves with panic. They realized they had left the baby in the car (now there are many gadgets to ensure such a tragedy should never happen) and when they ran down to the car, it had disappeared.
They feared the worst.
The relief they exuded could be felt through the phone.
They raced down to the hospital and were overwhelmed in their gratitude to the thief, who they didn’t know was a thief, for saving their baby’s life.
They wanted to give him a monetary reward.
He refused to take the gift. He just wanted to get away from this bizarre scene.
The family refused to let him go so easily and insisted on inviting him for Shabbat.
The thief figured one Shabbat meal and he’d be done with it.
He didn’t realize that the family invited everyone they knew to introduce the Tzaddik, the righteous man, who had saved their son.
Feeling quite the imposter the thief accepted all the accolades, he did not know what else to do.
His hosts insisted he spend the night. They brought him to synagogue the next morning where they hosted a huge Kiddush in his honor, again praising the thief to the hilt.
The thief was ready to crawl out of his skin. Here he was being praised for his deed, but he knew he was really just a car thief.
After lunch the father of the child insisted on bringing the thief to his Rabbi for a well deserved blessing.
When they entered the Rabbi’s home, the thief asked for a moment alone with the Rabbi.
When they were by themselves the thief confessed the entire charade to the Rabbi.
He admitted that he had been in the process of stealing the car when he discovered the baby and he feels like such a charlatan.
He was no Tzaddik, no righteous person, he was a garden variety common thief.
The Rabbi immediately told the thief that he was indeed a Tzaddik, a righteous person. He explained his stance by saying that no matter how he, the Rabbi, had conducted himself, he had never merited saving a life.
So he reasoned that this thief must have done something special to accomplish this incredible merit.
The thief responded dubiously, he couldn’t think of a single good thing he had ever done.
But the Rabbi continued to prod him, there must be a merit that paved the way for saving a life.
After a bit of thought, the thief admitted that when he broke into a car, he would first rifle through the glove compartment and check the insurance. If the car owner had very basic insurance, just collision coverage, he wouldn’t steal the car. But if they had replacement insurance and would receive reimbursement, then he would steal that car.
Seems like a “small” reason to be given such a merit.

Honor Among Thieves.
This story actually took place.
How can we interpret it through an Elul lens?
Here are some questions to ponder and discuss:
Who is truly righteous?
What defines a moment of return?
Who can repent?
Are we defined by the mistakes we make or can there be more to us that meets the eye?
Who can come home?
ELUL
Ani LDodi vDodi Li
I am Beloved to my Creator. He wants everyone to come home.
Everyone has that spark of Gdliness within waiting to be reignited.
One just needs to know how to manipulate the wires of the ignition to bring it to life.
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!