Sunday begins the Hebrew month of Elul, a time of preparation leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and the beginning of the Ten Days of Repentance (aseret y’mei teshuvah).

It’s that time of the year again—time to begin the process of returning to our better selves.

Here’s a parable from Rabbi Hayyim of Tzanz (1793-1876) that teaches us something essential about what it means to make teshuvah.

There was once a poor woman who had many children. They were always begging for food but she had none to give them. One day she found an egg. She called to her children and said, “Oh, children, we’ve nothing to worry about anymore! I found an egg. And being a prudent woman, I won’t eat the egg, but instead will ask my neighbor for permission to set it under her hen until a chick is hatched. And I won’t eat the chick but will instead set her on eggs and the eggs will hatch into chickens and the chickens in their turn will hatch many eggs and we will have many chickens and many eggs. I won’t eat the chickens and I won’t eat the eggs but instead, I’ll sell them and buy a heifer. And I won’t eat the heifer but will raise it to a cow and not eat the cow until it calves. I won’t eat it then either and we’ll have many cows and many calves. And I’ll sell the cows and the calves and buy a field and then we’ll have fields and cows and calves and we won’t need anything anymore!”

As the woman was speaking and making her plans, the egg fell out of her hands and broke.

Taught our master Rabbi Hayyim of Tzanz, “This is how we are. As the Holy Days approach, we all resolve to make teshuvah, vowing in our hearts to do this and that. But the days slip by in mere deliberation and thought doesn’t lead to action and we never actually make teshuvah at all.”

The month of Elul calls us urgently to the act of repentance, to teshuvah. While teshuvah does indeed require thoughtful deliberation as we contemplate our failings and resolve to do better, above all else, teshuvah requires action: apologizing to those we have wronged, making restitution whenever possible, changing our behavior, and performing acts of tzedakah.

The month of Elul is upon us—the time for turning has come.

— Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback