The High Holy Days, and the month of Elul leading up to them, is a time many Jews engage in personal preparation for this season of awe. For those of you who go in search of readings, experiences, and practices that make you more receptive to the holiness of the season and the possibility of teshuvah (renewal), we’ve compiled this list of readings, meditations and rituals you can explore to enrich or deepen your High Holy Days experience.
Many of these resources will be particularly helpful to folks who celebrate the High Holy Days at home, and join services remotely through the blessing of Zoom, or watch a livestream. Resources marked with an asterisk are particularly appropriate for those observing at home, especially the ideas for creating a sacred space in your home. Others show you how to do at home what we would typically do together: Tashlich, Rosh Hashanah seders, and activities designed to open you to the possibility of change and growth. We hope you enjoy them.
Resources that span the Yamim Nora’im (Days of Awe)
- Seeker Season* A High Holiday Guidebook For The Curious & Courageous (from Recustom.com)
- Readings for Reflection on these Days of Awe* from JRC, Evanston, IL
- Guide to the High Holy Days from Interfaithfamily.com
- A Prayer for the New Year by Rabbi Menachem Creditor (Opensiddur.org)
- Prayer for Country – Read by Ruth Bader Ginsburg z”l Originally Recorded on October 3rd, 2013 At Congregation Beth El in Bethesda, Maryland
Music! High Holy Days Playlist
- On Kol HaLev’s YouTube channel: Rosh Hashanah 2020/5782 playlist
- Spotify: Kol HaLev’s High Holy Days Traditional, Classics & Updates playlist
- B’Rosh Hashanah/Who By Fire, Central Synagogue
Making Space for Observing the High Holy Days @Home
One way to feel more connected when attending services remotely is to create a sacred space at home, away from where your everyday life takes place. Revelation and awe can find us anywhere, of course, but home, amid the dishes and the laundry, is not usually the place we expect to find them. Setting up a bit of sacred space at home can provide a refuge for reflection, questioning, contemplation and awe. Like the rabbis after the destruction of the Temple, we can create small holy spaces wherever we find ourselves, at home or in exile.
- Hineini for Remote Davening, Cantor Vera and Rabbi Rachel*
- Creating Your Mikdash M’at – Your Personal Worship Space* (adapted from Rabbi Elyse Goldstein)
- Making Sacred Space – Home Altar Guide* by Rebecca Missel (from Customandcraft.org)
- Guide to Making Sacred Space at Home* (a compiliation with instructions, blessings and reflections)
- Turning Your Home into a Sacred Space* by Cantor Matt Axelrod
Prayerbooks, service booklets, and supplements
- Free digital version of Mahzor Leyamim Nora’im: Prayerbook for the Days of Awe
Choose the entire mahzor, or just the sections you want for the services you’ll attend (or for your own study and prayer). - Purchase your own hardbound copy of Mahzor Leyamim Nora’im: Prayerbook for the Days of Awe, Kol HaLev members can receive a 40% discount by following the instructions on this page.
- Service booklets for Kol HaLev’s High Holy Days Services: 24 hours before each service, you’ll be able to download shorter service booklets and supplements from this folder. Each service booklet contains all you’ll need for that service. (For those of you using your own hardbound machzor or the digital version, service leaders will be providing page numbers as each service progresses.)
Elul & Teshuvah
- Updated! Writing and Reflection Prompts by Rabbi Katie Mizrachi.* Writing can be a profound spiritual practice. In the days of Elul, leading up to the High Holy Days, use these questions each day as a way to practice the soul accounting essential to teshuvah.
- New! Renewing Ourselves and Our Visions in the Month of Elul by Tamara Cohen. Traditions for the month of Elul and suggestions on how to use this period for personal and communal transformation.
- Time to Reflect. A workbook from Recustom.com
- Forgiveness: A Journey, Not a Destination – Soul Searching During the Elul by Rabbi Sandra Lawson
- Teshuvah/change is a real possibility!? by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
- Kol HaLev’s Elul Institute 2023: The Role of Awe in Our Lives from a Jewish and Scientific Perspective
Rosh Hashanah
- Simple Rosh Hashanah Seder from Recustom.com
- Rosh Hashanah Meditation* by Rabbi Daniel Brenner (Moving Traditions.org)
- Come Home: A Rosh Hashanah Meditation* by Devon Spier (Ritualwell.org)
Tashlich
- The Power Is in Our Hands: A Fire-and-Water Tashlikh Ritual* by Hila Ratzabi, Ritualwell
- Tashlich: Letting Go* by Rabbi Nathan Martin
- Transformative at-home Tashlich* from Congregation Tchiyah in Detroit
- Do It Yourself Tashlich.* A list of several ideas for the pandemic years and beyond
- STREAM*– listen to this 10-minute self-guided audio tashlich meditation from Deanna Neil; use it as a spoken guide for your own physical ritual, or a quiet mental exercise in how to let things go
- Tashlich – A Guided Video Meditation* – Join Rabbi Molly Kane and Singer/Songwriter Michelle Citrin as they guide you through the ritual of Tashlich
Yom Kippur
- Unetaneh Tokef for Black Lives by Imani Romney-Rosa Chapman
- Environmental Al-Chat from Neohasim.org
- Avinu Malkeinu for This Time by Sabrina Sojourner
- Self-Guided Yom Kippur/Teshuvah Ritual* (printable booklet from Haggadot.com)
Highlights from Past Kol HaLev High Holy Days Services and Celebrations
- Rabbi Steve’s Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Sermons
- Ki Hiney sung by Aurelia Pelsmajer
- Havdalah – Yom Kippur 5783