A girl once brought her boyfriend home to meet her father. She introduced him as a man that stutters but is not dumb. The father said “hello” to him and after stuttering for 10 minutes, the boy finally responded “hello”. The father turned to his daughter and said that this boy is dumb. He knew that it would take him 10 minutes to say “hello”. If he was intelligent, he would have started stuttering for 10 minutes outside of the door and then been able to say “hello” without a long pause.

This story is a great metaphor for the month of Elul and the High Holidays. Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur have prayers that are much different than every other day of the year. During Elul, is the time to practice them and learn to say them so we do not stutter on these important days. If a person decides not to prepare, he is the same as the boy who stuttered that should have prepared himself before walking in the door.