Related Blog Posts on High Holidays

This year, as Jews across the globe begin to prepare for the High Holy Days, the most sacred time of year, I personally feel a sense of deep despair and fierce urgency to enter the year of 5786 embracing the particular and the universal.

In June, I saw a post in a local Facebook group that intrigued me: "Stop! Take a break! Join us for Group Meditation in the City."

With this notice, a young couple, Hadas and Netanel Cohen, invited Nahariyanis  (residents of Nahariya, Israel, where I live) to

Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, does not offer simple answers. As we enter this sacred time, here are five questions to help elevate the day with deeper meaning.

As the shofar’s call approaches and we step into the sacred space of a new year, we are invited to hold two truths at once: that our lives matter beyond measure, and that we are but a small part of a vast and unfolding universe.

In the fifth grade, I aged out of my synagogue’s High Holidays kiddie services. Countless Jewish families have faced this dilemma over the years. Many of us consider Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur the only two occasions when attending services is mandatory.

During the month of Elul, we are invited to listen deeply. Each weekday morning, we are invited to hear the cry of the shofar, marking the beginning of our spiritual journey toward the High Holy Days.

Finding ways to make the High Holidays meaningful for your child is an important way to nurture their Jewish identity. There are many ways to celebrate at home, like reading books, making crafts, or discussing what the holiday means to you and them.

Growing up, I saw Yizkor as a mysterious event on Yom Kippur afternoon. The grownups would return to temple in the afternoon, while my sister and I stayed home. There was no explanation, just an understanding that this was a thing our parents and grandparents did, and we did not.

Some label Rosh HaShanah and the period between the New Year and Yom Kippur as "Judgment Days," a time during which the trajectory of our lives for the coming year is reached.

There are a myriad of ways to make Yom Kippur meaningful for young children for whom it is not an easy holiday to understand.