David's Harp: Why do we need Elul?

Let’s just have Tishri. Sound the shofar, wear the white, beat the chest, bend the knee and round the challah. Why do we need Elul? Why don’t we just jump into the pomp and the pomegranate, the penance and the piyyut? Why do we need Elul? Say the slichos and the ‘sorrys,’ shlep out the tshuvas and shlug kaparos. Why do we need Elul? Don the kittel and dip the apple, really fast and release the vows. Why do we need Elul? Get the Chazan, open the Machzor and make shehechiyanu. Why do we need Elul? Cook the teiglach and cast the tashlich. Why do we need Elul? Let’s just start Tishri. Get the book; write the name, eat the honey cake and seal it. Why do we need Elul?

I recently heard about a groom, on the day before his wedding, who noticed that the ring was missing. He searched and searched and could not find it. He then came to realize that perhaps the unthinkable happened; perhaps his pet dog swallowed the ring. He took the dog to the radiologist and sure enough there was the evidence on film; a ring was sitting in the canine’s stomach.

At the wedding, under the chuppah, the groom presented to his bride an x-ray outlining a dog with a spherical metallic object in its belly. He said to his beloved, “It’s gonna take a little time.”

Why do we need Elul? Because “it’s gonna take a little time.” We need Elul.