There are two sorts of vacations; these, in turn, parallel the two ways to practice Judaism and interact with the High Holidays. Past years have focused on a packaged experience wherein individuals show up for a rigid, prepared service with no room for laxity. Rabba Dina Brawer provides a perspective shift and a look into the joy of a bespoke experience, self-constructed and flexible.

The High Holidays can be overwhelming, dozens of hours spent preparing and praying. A partnership between Yeshivat Maharat, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and the International Rabbinic Fellowship offers a guide to the machzor, featuring: Forgiveness-oriented poetry from Maya Bernstein • Rabba Claudia Marbach on learning to empathize rather than victimize • Rabbanit Bracha Jaffe on small changes with big impacts on relationships • Rabbanit Gloria Nusbacher on the multifaceted understanding of God’s kingship • Rabba Sara Hurwitz on freeing ourselves through Kol Nidrei rather than feeling eternally and internally trapped • Rabbanit Leah Sarna on filling the attributes of God with meaning and forgiveness, and on the value in both prayer and sacrifice • Talia Weisberg on balancing God’s Divine healing abilities with taking action to ensure personal health • Rabbanit Michal Kohane on God’s dual role as Ruler and Parent, instilling dread and bashful love • Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez on the shift from fearing others to fearing God • Rabba Rachel Kohl-Finegold on breaking down barriers and erasing religious labels

One year after the Halle Yom Kippur shooting, Hillel Germany is taking steps to memorialize the tragedy and grow together as a community through a five-event series. To commemorate the one-year anniversary, a Yom Kippur service with new and old practices is open to the students, survivors and friends alike.

While tefillah looks different for many of us this Rosh HaShanah, there are also those of us who haven’t been a part of communal services in much longer. Individual prayer, says Rabbi Jeffrey Fox, when synchronized with the timing of communal prayer, is permissible on all counts and can join the individual with the greater tzibbur.

As the world repeats its mistakes, Rabba Sara Hurwitz highlights the importance of Zichronot, Memories, one section of the Rosh HaShanah prayers. It is a call to remember what once was and to return to the archetype of kindness that is Noach, called to center stage in the blessing, and to look back on ourselves with forgiveness, allowing ourselves to move forward.

Rabba Sara Hurwitz on what we carry with us • Rabbanit Leah Sarna on individual and communal prayer • Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn on finding God in moments of pain and transforming them into moments of joy • Darshanit Dr. Miriam Udel on Yiddish children’s stories about the Yamim Nora’im • Rabba Shani Gross on judging ourselves

During times of judgment and of crisis, communities turn to the Rabbis for guidance. Several Rabbis send messages of hope and courage, including Rabbanit Goldie Guy’s message of connection, to their congregants through the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

In the final part of a series on magic and magical thinking, Rabbanit Yael Keller discusses how the simanim, symbolic foods eaten and practices maintained on Rosh HaShanah, came to be a cemented custom in households worldwide after being introduced as superstition in the gemara. From there, the shiur moves to how tashlich evolved from a passuk to a practice.

The final day of Moshe’s life was completely packed. From writing to reading an entire Torah, much of the day focused on study and transmission. However, Rabbanit Bracha Jaffe shows how he goes above and beyond, visiting each family and leaving behind a piece of himself.

In the final episode of 5780, Rabbanit Goldie Guy and Rabbi David Wolkenfeld reflect on what it means to have a community. From the importance of each member coming to hak’hel to building a community for the High Holidays both at home in an “apartment shul” and in parking lot minyanim, the clergy speaks about what truly brings the shul together.