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Tips for Preparing for the High Holidays

Gil StudentSep 22, 25
1 minute read
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by R. Gil Student

This article appears in the Fall 2025 issue of Jewish Action, as a companion or sidebar to a great article by Moishe Bane.

Inspiration is 90 percent preparation. Here are ten meaningful things you can do during the forty days of Elul and the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah to prepare spiritually and emotionally for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. These suggestions build gradually over the period of introspection and repentance leading to the Yamim Noraim: 

1. Set Aside Daily Time for Cheshbon HaNefesh

Use a few minutes each day to reflect on your behavior, relationships and character traits. Deliberately think through the details of your days and consider what needs work and what has improved.

2. Prepare Your Prayer

Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik used to prepare for Rosh Hashanah by memorizing the special Amidah prayers for the holiday. You can prepare by studying them in advance and thinking about the meaning of the words and the structure. Ashkenazim begin Selichot the week before Rosh Hashanah, while Sephardim recite them throughout Elul. Prepare by studying the words and themes ahead of time.

3. Strengthen One Mitzvah 

Choose a mitzvah you already do and double-down on it. This might be prayer with more concentration, stricter observance of lashon hara, or doing something special to honor Shabbat like reading only religious material on Shabbat. Growth in even just one area can shift your spiritual trajectory and lead to growth in other areas over time.

Continue reading at Jewish Action: link

Gil StudentSep 22, 25
1 minute read

Gil Student

Rabbi Gil Student is the Editor of TorahMusings.com, a leading website on Orthodox Jewish scholarly subjects, and Director of the Halacha Commission of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He writes a popular column on issues of Jewish law and thought featured in newspapers and magazines, including the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Action magazine, The Jewish Link, The Jewish Echo and The Jewish Vues. In the past, he has served as the President of the small Jewish publisher Yashar Books and as the Managing Editor of OU Press. Rabbi Student currently is serving his third term on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America. He serves on the Editorial Board of Jewish Action magazine and the Board of OU Press. He has published five English books, the most recent titled Articles of Faith: Traditional Jewish Belief in the Internet Era, previously served as the Book Editor of Jewish Action magazine, and served as the American editor for Morasha Kehillat Yaakov: Essays in Honour of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.

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