Everyone loves Neila and that awesome high feeling we have at the end of Yom Kippur.  We say “Hashem, please don’t close the gates!”

Nobody wants the gates to close, but did you ever ask, if this is the time of closing the gates, when was the opening of the gates? 

You know when they opened?  Elul!

That feeling that you have at Neila that you don’t want to lose, you actually have 40 days of Neila, of the gates being opened before they close. 

Don’t wait until 5 minutes before they close!  They are opened now!  Start now! 

~ R’ Yaakov Mizrahi