Return to High Holy Days Activities for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Attend religious services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Call local synagogues, community organizations, and colleges to inquire about the times and location of services.  Many synagogues require tickets for admission to services on the High Holy Days.  Be sure to ask whether tickets are available for people who are not synagogue members, as well as about fees for tickets.  Almost all Jewish communities offer free services for the High Holy Days; however, because of the need to provide adequate seating, reservations are usually required.  Yizkor services and children’s services are usually free and open to the community, but it is important to inquire beforehand. Plan and prepare festive meals for the evenings and days of Rosh Hashanah.  For Rosh Hashanah, be sure to include sweet foods in order to help insure a “sweet year.”  A traditional Rosh Hashanah treat is a slice of apple or a slice of challah that can be dipped in honey. On the second evening of Rosh Hashanah, it is traditional to eat a new fruit of the season — a fall fruit that you have not yet eaten.  Before eating this fruit (pears, pomegranates and grapes are usually available at this time of year), say the “She-he-cheyanu” blessing.  This blessing thanks the Holy One for continuity. Ba-ruch A-tah A-do-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam, she-he-che-ya-nu v'ki-y'ma-nu v'hi-gi-a-nu laz'man ha-zeh. Blessed are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who has granted us life, who has sustained us, and who has enabled us to reach this season. Some people have the custom of saying special blessings for special foods. For example, for a pomegranate, you say: Yehi razon milfa-neha adonai Eloheinu ve-Elohei avoteinu, she-narbeh zehuyoteinu ki-rimon. May it be your will . . . that our merits will be plentiful as the [seed in the] pomegranate. Buy or bake a round challah filled with raisins in honor of Rosh Hashanah.  The shape of the challah symbolizes the continuity of life and Jewish tradition.  The raisins add sweetness to the bread. Make a list of people you want to thank for special things they did for you this year.  Write them notes — not e-mails — thanking them for helping you. Make a list of people who you think you need to apologize to.  Call them or see them in person and ask for their forgiveness. Send gifts of honey or honey candy and other sweet things to people you feel need a little emotional “boost.” It is customary to give contributions to a charity before a Jewish holiday.  Tzedakah may be in the form of money or time volunteered for a good cause.  Another way to give to charity is to donate used or salable goods to a thrift shop or shelter.  For information on many different types of worthy charities, visit www.networkforgood.org/ on the Internet. Visit elderly Jewish residents in nursing homes or Jewish patients in a nearby hospital before Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur.  Your visit may be especially meaningful to people who do not have many visitors.  Your presence will help give them a sense of connection to the community, especially if they are unable to attend services.  Ask the people you visit about how they observed the holidays when they were children.  Make sure to call the nursing home beforehand to arrange for your visit.  Bring a small gift — some flowers in a colorful vase, a flowering plant, or a pretty scarf for a woman; a baseball cap or a bright tie for a man. Visit the graves of loved ones before the High Holy Days.  Performing this deed is considered to have special merit.  Making such a visit at this time of year helps us to remember the people who gave us life and inspired us to perform good deeds.  Jewish mystics believe that visiting the graves of relatives who have died encourages them to intercede with God on our behalf.      If you have children or grandchildren or other young relatives, bring them with you and tell them about the relatives that you're visiting.  Consider starting a family tree.  For information on how to do this, visit our Genealogy Page. Help plan and facilitate a tashlich ceremony, the ritual for symbolically casting sins into the water.  Identify a body of flowing water within walking distance of your community.  Ask people to meet somewhere at a particular time so all may go to the body of water together.  Bring prayer books and Biblical passages to read.  A traditional prayerbook for Rosh Hashanah will have suggested readings.  Also bring small pieces of bread to distribute, so all who attend may throw away their sins.      It’s fun to sing songs during a tashlich ceremony.  Make up song sheets to distribute.  While Jewish songs are most appropriate, some people also have the tradition of singing familiar folk songs like “Down by the Riverside” and other songs related to bodies of water.      This year, the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat.  Traditional Jews perform tashlich on the Second Day of Rosh Hashanah when the First Day falls on the Sabbath.  Some Liberal Jews perform tashlich on the First Day of Rosh Hashanah, no matter when that day occurs. Study something new about Judaism.  For example, the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, meaning that time is measured according to the cycles of the moon.  Research the difference between the solar calendar and the lunar calendar.  Why do Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur occur on different days every year according to the solar (secular) calendar?  What other religions and cultures use a lunar calendar? For both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, set aside some time for individual private prayer and meditation.  If possible, go to a place where you can contemplate the beauties of nature.  Read Rebbe Nachmann of Bratslav’s prayer and think about the ways in which you are part of the natural world that surrounds you.  What obligations do you feel to preserve the world’s natural beauty?  What can you, yourself do to help heal the world? Rebbe Nachmann’s Prayer Master of the Universe, grant me the ability to be alone. May it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grasses, Among all growing things, There to be alone and enter into prayer. There may I express all that is in my heart, Talking with Him to whom I belong. And may all grasses, trees, and plants Awake at my coming. Send the power of their life into my prayer, Making whole my heart and my speech through the life and spirit of growing things, Made whole by their transcendent Source. Oh!  That they would enter my prayer! Then would I fully open my heart in prayer, supplication, and holy speech; Then, O God, would I pour out the words of my heart before Your Presence.