Whether the High Holidays have always been part of your calendar or you’re just beginning to learn about them, this season is full of opportunities to pause, connect, and celebrate in community. HMI is here to help you find your way in.
Our Path Through the High Holidays offers a simple overview and resources for each moment along the journey—Elul, Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Returning, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah.
Looking for inspiration on how to celebrate? Explore this High Holiday Menu of Ideas below, plus learn how to apply for Alumni Micro Grants to bring your vision to life without stressing about the cost!
Rosh Hashanah Ideas
Apple Picking: Nothing says Rosh Hashanah quite like crisp apples and sweet honey! Grab your friends, head to a local orchard, and make apple picking part of your holiday tradition. It’s the perfect way to welcome the new year with sweetness, laughter, and a bag full of fresh apples to share at your holiday table. You could also go cider tasting or try local honey!
- Alumni Micro Grant Opportunity: Apply to receive $10 per HMI alum in attendance for expenses related to your gathering.
- Round Challah Bake: Bake some round challah with your HMI crew! Roll, braid, laugh, and taste-test together as you make the classic round holiday challah that symbolizes the cycle of the year. Bonus: warm challah fresh from the oven makes any celebration instantly sweeter.
- Alumni Micro Grant Opportunity: Apply to receive $36 to cover supplies of your challah bake.
Yom Kippur Ideas
Host a Break Fast Meal: Host your friends for a meal after Yom Kippur to spend time in community – even if fasting isn’t part of your practice. Hosting a simple meal—whether it’s bagels and spreads, homemade comfort food, or whatever your crew loves most—is a chance to turn hunger into gratitude, and solitude into connection. You can also host a food drive for a local food pantry.
- Alumni Micro Grant Opportunity: Apply to receive $10 per HMI alum in attendance for expenses related to your gathering.
Host a Break Fast Meal: Host your friends for a meal after Yom Kippur to spend time in community – even if fasting isn’t part of your practice. Hosting a simple meal—whether it’s bagels and spreads, homemade comfort food, or whatever your crew loves most—is a chance to turn hunger into gratitude, and solitude into connection. You can also host a food drive for a local food pantry.
- HMI Conversation – Repairing Relationships: Yom Kippur invites us to look both inward and outward. Take time this season to check in with the people who matter most, have the conversations you’ve been holding back, and strengthen the bonds that make life whole. Repairing relationships is one of the holiest ways we can step into a new year together. Use our guiding questions to talk through ways to repair and/or strengthen your relationship over a lovely dinner or dessert.
- Alumni Micro Grant Opportunity: Apply to receive $36 to cover supplies of your evening.
Sukkot Ideas
- Pizza in the Hut: Sukkot is all about gathering in the sukkah. So grab your HMI friends, order some pizza (or your favorite takeout), and share a meal under the stars. A sukkah doesn’t have to be fancy to be full of joy; just good food, good people, and a little holiday spirit.
- Alumni Micro Grant Opportunity: Apply to receive $10 per HMI alum in attendance for expenses related to your Sukkah party.
Pizza in the Hut: Sukkot is all about gathering in the sukkah. So grab your HMI friends, order some pizza (or your favorite takeout), and share a meal under the stars. A sukkah doesn’t have to be fancy to be full of joy; just good food, good people, and a little holiday spirit.
- Build Your Own Edible Sukkah: Use graham crackers, frosting, pretzel sticks, and anything else you’d like and see who can build the cutest mini edible sukkah!
- Alumni Micro Grant Opportunity: Apply to receive $36 to cover supplies of your sukkah building.
More Ideas
- Tickets: Apply for an Alumni Micro Grant to help cover the cost of tickets to High Holiday services at a local synagogue. Don’t let price be a barrier—your community is here to support you.
Tickets: Apply for an - Community Service: The High Holiday season is the perfect time to find volunteer opportunities and give back to your community. You can pack hygiene kits for people who are unhoused, write letters to elders, etc. This grant will help offset the cost of supplies for your service project.
