A High-Holiday Checklist

You have decided to go to synagogue for the High Holidays. Good. Now comes a surprisingly complicated question: what goes in the bag?

A prayer book, presumably. But which one? A tallit, except when it isn't worn, except on the evening when it is. Good shoes, except on the day when your good shoes may be precisely the wrong shoes. And someone has mentioned a white robe. (Are you supposed to own a white robe?)

These are small questions, but they have a way of occupying the whole mind when we're new. Better to settle them beforehand, and leave some room for the larger work: taking stock of our lives, returning to God, and repairing what we have damaged. Rosh Hashanah is a day of judgment and a new year; Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. We ask God for forgiveness because God has given us a path of return. These days ask us to take that possibility seriously.

What follows covers Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, with the services immediately around them. It uses the traditional service names so you can recognize them on a synagogue calendar. Some congregations combine, shorten, or rearrange these services. A local schedule is therefore part of the equipment.

Before the holidays: settle the practical questions

☐ Confirm admission and times. Ask about registration, tickets, seating, children's services, accessibility, and any identification needed at the door. Confirm the actual start times for Kol Nidre, the shofar service, Yizkor, and Ne'ilah. “Morning services” can cover a considerable stretch of morning. Community arrangements.

☐ Get the right book. The High-Holiday prayer book is a machzor. Ask which edition and rite the congregation uses, whether books are supplied, and whether Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have separate volumes. A translation you can understand is useful. (A book you can follow is more useful than one you can admire.) So are reading glasses. An impressive command of page-turning will not compensate for leaving those at home.

☐ Pack the ordinary essentials. Bring your head covering as appropriate to the congregation, glasses, tissues, necessary medication, and a light layer for a cold sanctuary. Arrange children's food and any food or drink needed for medical reasons. Check where these can be kept and used.

☐ Plan what can be carried. On Shabbat and Yom Kippur, carrying outdoors can depend on whether there is a valid eruv, the boundary that permits certain carrying. Rosh Hashanah has festival rules of its own. If you observe these restrictions, settle the route and bag with your synagogue beforehand; leaving a machzor and tallit there in advance may solve the problem. Print what you need before the holiday, and follow the congregation's practice concerning phones.

☐ Prepare for Shabbat when it follows the festival. If Rosh Hashanah falls on Thursday and Friday, ask about eruv tavshilin: bread and cooked food set aside, with the prescribed blessing and declaration, before the festival, permitting certain Friday preparations for Shabbat. This is different from the eruv for carrying. Arrange it beforehand; if you forget, ask your rabbi what options remain. Eruv tavshilin.

☐ Work out your tallit custom. Here, tallit means the large prayer shawl, not the small fringed garment worn under clothing. Who wears one, and from what age, varies: many Ashkenazi men begin at marriage, others earlier; Sephardi practice differs, and many egalitarian communities welcome women wearing one. “Bring your tallit” below means if you wear one in your community. Ask about borrowing before buying. Tallit practice.

☐ Understand the white clothing. White is customary in many communities, especially on Yom Kippur, suggesting purity and our resemblance to angels. The kittel is the simple white robe you may see, particularly on married Ashkenazi men. Its association with burial also makes it a reminder of mortality. Customs differ, including for newlyweds; a white shirt is not a kittel, and owning a kittel is not a condition of admission. Ask what your community does. White and the kittel.

☐ Begin the part that cannot be packed. Make the apology, return what you owe, and take a concrete step toward changing the conduct. Yom Kippur does not settle a wrong against another person while we refuse to address that person. The Mishnah makes this distinction explicitly. It is a demanding distinction, and a very good one. Mishnah Yoma 8:9.

Selichot: before Rosh Hashanah

Selichot are prayers for forgiveness. Many Sephardi communities begin after Rosh Chodesh Elul; Ashkenazi communities begin nearer Rosh Hashanah, traditionally with a late Saturday-night service. Dates and hours vary. Selichot schedule and texts.

☐ Bring: the congregation's Selichot booklet, if it does not supply one. Your usual siddur or machzor may not contain the right sequence.

☐ Wear: ordinary synagogue clothing and shoes. Congregants do not ordinarily put on a tallit for nighttime Selichot; the prayer leader has separate customs. If staying for weekday Shacharit, bring your usual morning tallit and tefillin.

☐ Remember: Selichot itself does not require fasting. An optional fast or a separate fast day is a different matter. For prayers said alone, ask which passages require a minyan rather than assuming every congregational response transfers unchanged.

Erev Rosh Hashanah: the morning before

☐ Bring: the Selichot text, weekday siddur, and your usual weekday tallit and tefillin. The festival has not begun yet.

☐ Know: some congregations hold hatarat nedarim, annulment of vows, after morning prayers. Ask whether you should participate and obtain a translation. It is not a mechanism for cancelling your obligations to other people. The customary Elul shofar blowing is omitted on this morning. Erev Rosh Hashanah service.

☐ Remember: some have a preholiday fasting custom; it is not a general instruction to arrive hungry for Rosh Hashanah. Confirm your own practice, and prepare the holiday meal and candles before the relevant deadlines.

Rosh Hashanah: evening services, both nights

The evening service is Ma'ariv (also called Arvit). Most communities observe two days of Rosh Hashanah, including in Israel; some Reform congregations observe one. Check whether your schedule includes a second evening and morning.

☐ Bring: the Rosh Hashanah machzor and your ordinary essentials. If Minchah precedes the first evening service, arrive for its listed time.

☐ Wear: festive synagogue clothing. Leather shoes are permitted. A tallit is not normally worn by congregants at Ma'ariv; the leader may have a different practice. White clothing or a kittel, where used on Rosh Hashanah, follows local custom.

☐ Eat: Rosh Hashanah is a festival with meals, not the Yom Kippur fast. Plan for Kiddush and dinner after services. Apples and honey and other symbolic foods belong at the table; you need not bring an apple to your seat.

☐ Prepare the second night's flame before the first. Traditional festival observance permits transferring an existing flame, not striking a match or igniting a lighter. Set up a sufficiently long-burning candle safely before the holiday. Second-night lighting and meal preparation wait until nightfall; if the first day is Shabbat, this means waiting until Shabbat has ended. Follow the machzor's special Kiddush/Havdalah order when going from Shabbat into the second holiday night. Holiday lighting times.

Rosh Hashanah: Shacharit, Torah reading, and shofar

☐ Bring: your Rosh Hashanah machzor and tallit for morning prayers. No tefillin on Rosh Hashanah, either day. Ordinary leather shoes remain permitted. Tallit and tefillin on the holidays.

☐ Plan for the shofar. Check when the congregation sounds it, and arrive before the blessings. You come to hear it; you need not own or bring one. If you cannot attend the main service, ask about another live sounding. A recording does not fulfill the traditional mitzvah of hearing the shofar.

☐ Listen without conversation. Follow the congregation's directions about standing and responses. In traditional services, avoid unnecessary speech from the blessings through completion of the shofar sequence, including the blasts associated with Musaf. Hearing the shofar.

☐ Check Shabbat practice. In Orthodox and Conservative practice the shofar is not sounded when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat; some liberal congregations do sound it. Do not assume Saturday attendance will include it. Rosh Hashanah on Shabbat.

☐ Arrange food sensibly. This is not a fast day, but the timing of eating before prayer and shofar has halakhic details. Ask about the congregation's Kiddush or break, particularly if a long morning or a medical need affects you.

Rosh Hashanah: Musaf, both days

Musaf is the additional service. Its great themes are Malchuyot, God's sovereignty; Zichronot, remembrance; and Shofarot, the shofar and its associations with revelation and redemption. Many Reform congregations incorporate these themes into a shofar service instead of holding a separate Musaf. The Rosh Hashanah Amidah.

☐ Keep: the same machzor and tallit. There is no change of clothing and no fast to begin.

☐ Expect: a long service, often with further shofar blasts. The end of the Torah reading is not necessarily the end of the morning's prayers.

☐ Notice the bowing. Some congregations kneel and bow fully during the Aleinu passage. Ask beforehand if a small cloth or towel is needed; many supply a covering. Do not force a movement your body cannot safely make. Rosh Hashanah service outline.

☐ Return on day two where observed. Bring the same equipment. The readings and some prayers change, and the shofar is heard again when the day is not Shabbat.

Rosh Hashanah: Minchah, Tashlich, and the final evening

☐ For Minchah: bring the machzor for afternoon prayers on each day. Congregants do not ordinarily wear the large tallit at Rosh Hashanah Minchah; leaders' customs differ. Leather shoes and eating remain permitted.

☐ For Tashlich: confirm the day, meeting place, walking route, and text. This is the customary gathering near water, usually on the first afternoon, postponed to the second day in many Ashkenazi communities when the first is Shabbat. Some Sephardi and liberal communities keep it on the first day. It is a separate custom, not another name for Minchah. Bring suitable shoes; you do not need bread, and should not feed wildlife. Tashlich and Shabbat variations.

☐ For the evening after the final day: if it leads into a weekday, check the time for weekday Ma'ariv and Havdalah, the ritual marking the holiday's close. Have wine or grape juice and a cup for Havdalah; after Rosh Hashanah leading into a weekday, no spices or candle are used. You may need the weekday siddur. If the final day is Friday, enter Shabbat instead: light Shabbat candles from the existing flame before sunset, and follow Friday-night prayers and Kiddush, without Havdalah. The festival's last sermon does not determine when ordinary activity resumes. Holiday transitions.

Between the holidays

☐ Keep the calendar distinctions. The Fast of Gedaliah, ordinarily just after Rosh Hashanah and postponed when necessary, is a separate dawn-to-nightfall fast. Shabbat Shuvah is the Shabbat of Return: ordinary Shabbat observance, morning tallit, no tefillin, leather shoes permitted, and no fast. Neither should be confused with Yom Kippur. Fast of Gedaliah.

☐ Follow the Ten Days' prayer additions. Use the siddur's instructions for this period. Keep doing the work of teshuvah, return. There are things a moving melody can help us face; the melody cannot make the apology for us.

Erev Yom Kippur: morning, Minchah, and preparation

☐ For morning prayers: bring the weekday siddur and your usual tallit and tefillin. For afternoon Minchah: check which book contains the special Vidui, confession, said before the final meal. This is still the day before the fast; do not confuse it with Yom Kippur afternoon Minchah. Yom Kippur preparation.

☐ Set your fasting plan in advance. The traditional fast excludes both food and drink, including water, from before sunset until after nightfall the next day, roughly twenty-five hours. Use your community's published start and end times. Children below bar or bat mitzvah age do not undertake the full adult fast; age and training practices vary.

☐ Resolve medical questions before the day. Discuss illness, pregnancy, nursing, eating-disorder history, and medication with your clinician and rabbi. Ask specifically how to take medication, including any necessary food or water. Do not stop prescribed medicine or improvise a restricted eating or drinking regimen. Small measured amounts at intervals are sometimes prescribed by a rabbi, but only when your clinician confirms that the plan meets your medical needs; they must never delay necessary nourishment or treatment. If fasting would endanger you, eating or drinking as needed is the obligation. If urgent symptoms arise, get help immediately. Bring what your plan requires. Fasting and health.

☐ Eat beforehand, and finish the meal before the fast begins. Eating on Erev Yom Kippur is itself a mitzvah, not merely preparation for tomorrow. Eating on Erev Yom Kippur. Change shoes before the holy day starts. Choose non-leather footwear; check uppers, soles, and trim. The restriction concerns wearing leather shoes, not merely owning or carrying them, and not a blanket ban on leather belts or bags. Medical footwear needs deserve their own advance question. Leather footwear: scope of the rule.

☐ Prepare for the whole day. Yom Kippur has Shabbat-like restrictions on work, including cooking and kindling fire, even when it falls on a weekday. The traditional abstentions also include washing for pleasure, anointing with oils or lotions for pleasure, and sexual relations. Necessary hygiene and medical care have exceptions. Put out white clothing or your kittel if that is your custom, arrange holiday and memorial candles safely, and prepare the break-fast meal. Yom Kippur observances.

Yom Kippur: Kol Nidre and Ma'ariv

☐ Arrive early, before sunset. Kol Nidre is traditionally begun before sunset. Your fast starts at the appointed time even if services run late. Bring the Yom Kippur machzor, tallit, and ordinary essentials, with medically necessary food or drink if applicable.

☐ Put on the tallit before sunset, with its blessing. This is the unusual evening when those who wear a tallit bring it for the night service. If putting it on after sunset, omit the blessing. Wear non-leather shoes from the start of the holy day; wear white or a kittel according to your custom. Kol Nidre clothing and timing.

☐ Understand what Kol Nidre does. The familiar name labels the evening as a whole, but Kol Nidre itself is the declaration about vows that precedes Ma'ariv. It does not forgive theft, erase debts, or license dishonesty. If you already said Shehecheyanu when lighting candles, do not repeat that blessing here. Kol Nidre and the evening prayers.

☐ Expect confession in the plural. Ashamnu and Al Chet name failures as “we.” We stand among a people, taking responsibility together. Read the translation, even if the Hebrew runs ahead. The words deserve more than successful pronunciation.

Yom Kippur: Shacharit and Torah reading

☐ Bring: the Yom Kippur machzor, tallit, and essentials. Wear your non-leather shoes and customary white clothing or kittel again. No tefillin on Yom Kippur.

☐ Continue the same fast. It runs through the night and the entire day; this is not a new fast beginning in the morning. The health plan and exceptions still apply.

☐ Listen to the readings. In the traditional cycle, the Torah reading describes the Yom Kippur service commanded for the sanctuary, and the haftarah from Isaiah confronts a fast accompanied by exploitation and neglect. The hungry person outside our own fasting is very much part of the day's concern. Liberal congregations may use alternative readings. If Yom Kippur is Shabbat, follow the machzor's Shabbat additions; the fast still applies. Traditional Torah and haftarah readings; Isaiah 58.

Yom Kippur: Yizkor

Yizkor is the memorial service. In many Ashkenazi congregations it follows the morning Torah reading, before Musaf; other congregations place it later. Sephardi memorial customs differ. Check the time rather than guessing from someone else's synagogue.

☐ Prepare names beforehand. Bring the names of those you are remembering, in the form your prayer book or congregation uses. If you do not know a Hebrew name, ask for help; do not let uncertainty about a name keep you away.

☐ Know the local custom about remaining. In some communities, those with both parents living step out; in others everyone stays. Recent mourners also encounter differing customs. Ask beforehand. No change of shoes or clothing is required, and the fast continues. Yizkor practice.

☐ Arrange remembrance practically. If your family lights a memorial candle, light it safely before Yom Kippur begins. If the prayer includes a pledge of tzedakah, arrange the gift before or after the holiday, rather than bringing money to pass around during services.

Yom Kippur: Musaf

☐ Keep: the Yom Kippur machzor, tallit, non-leather shoes, and customary white or kittel. The fast continues.

☐ Expect the Avodah. In traditional Musaf, the Avodah recounts the High Priest's service in the Temple. Some congregations shorten or reinterpret this portion. Hearing its details helps explain why the day's prayers are so different from an ordinary morning. Musaf and the Avodah.

☐ Prepare for kneeling if practiced. A cloth or towel may be supplied for bowing to the floor. Ask if you should bring one; follow local instructions, and remain upright or seated if needed. Plan rest around the service. A body with limits is the body with which you pray.

Yom Kippur: Minchah

☐ Return at the advertised time. Bring the same machzor and tallit; keep the non-leather shoes and the day's customary clothing. Unlike ordinary afternoon practice, a tallit is commonly worn for Yom Kippur Minchah.

☐ Expect Leviticus and then Jonah. The traditional afternoon Torah reading is Leviticus 18, on forbidden sexual relations. Some congregations use an alternative reading from Leviticus 19, the holiness code; Mahzor Lev Shalem includes this option. The haftarah is the Book of Jonah, with concluding verses from Micah in many rites. Conservative Minchah practice. A prophet tries to evade his task, and a city changes its conduct. It is a fitting book for a day on which we are trying to stop evading ours. Jonah.

☐ Keep the fast and conserve strength. If you must choose between resting and standing through another section, sit. If attending synagogue would make an otherwise safe, required fast unsafe, discuss a plan that may include praying at home.

Yom Kippur: Ne'ilah

Ne'ilah, “closing,” is the fifth and final Yom Kippur service. It is timed for the waning day. The image is of gates closing, and the prayers press us to use the time still before us.

☐ Arrive before it begins. Bring your machzor and tallit. Keep non-leather shoes on and continue the fast. Much of the congregation may stand for an extended period; sit when you need to.

☐ Follow the closing declarations. The Shema and other declarations bring the day toward its conclusion. The shofar at the end is a customary closing blast, distinct from the Rosh Hashanah mitzvah. No need to bring your own. Ne'ilah.

☐ Check the clock, not just the horn. A congregation's closing blast is not by itself permission to eat. Wait for the published local fast-end time, after nightfall, and the applicable Havdalah arrangements. Once the holy day has ended at that local time, ordinary footwear may be worn even before Havdalah. Resuming work requires the appropriate Havdalah declaration.

After Yom Kippur: Ma'ariv, Havdalah, and breaking the fast

☐ Allow for weekday Ma'ariv. Traditional congregations pray it after Ne'ilah. Check whether it is in your machzor or whether you need a siddur. Follow local practice about removing the tallit. Some congregations then go outside for Kiddush Levanah, the monthly blessing of the moon.

☐ Arrange Havdalah. Have wine or grape juice and the appropriate cup ready, or join the congregation's Havdalah. Yom Kippur's candle rules differ from ordinary Saturday night: traditionally the flame must derive from a light that burned through the holy day. Prepare a sufficiently long-burning candle safely beforehand. Spices are normally omitted when Yom Kippur ends on a weekday; when it falls on Shabbat, customs differ about spices. The differing practices. Havdalah after Yom Kippur.

☐ Break the fast after its proper end and Havdalah. Have water and a manageable meal ready, with medical needs taking precedence over the ordinary sequence. Put away the machzor and tallit; change shoes if you wish. After Ne'ilah.

☐ Keep one appointment with the person you meant to become. Set a time for the restitution, the conversation, the study, the changed habit. We have spent a great many words asking to begin again. Now we have a new year in which to mean them.