As the Days of Awe approach, many of us seek ways to prepare our minds and hearts for the season of reflection, repentance, and renewal. Prayer and worship are central to the journey, but so too is the quiet act of study: sitting with words that challenge, inspire, and comfort us as we look inward and outward.
To help guide that journey, Temple Emanu-El clergy and Marjorie Shuster, Librarian and Director of Literary Events for the Ivan M. Stettenheim Library and the Streicker Cultural Center, have assembled a curated list of readings for the High Holy Days. The selections range from classic guides to contemporary voices, from liturgical insights to personal reflections, and even children’s stories that bring the spirit of the season to life for our youngest readers.
Whether you are looking for historical context, spiritual depth, or new ways to engage with the themes of forgiveness, renewal, and responsibility, this list offers a doorway into the season. Many of these books can be found in our Stettenheim Library.
We invite you to explore, learn, and enter the High Holy Days with words that illuminate the path.
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur Survival Kit – Shimon Apisdorf
Rosh Hashanah Readings: Inspiration, Information and Contemplation – Edited by Dov Peretz Elkins
Yom Kippur Readings: Inspiration, Information and Contemplation – Edited by Dov Peretz Elkins
Entering the High Holy Days: A Guide to the Origins, Themes and Prayers – Reuven Hammer
A Faithful Heart: Preparing for the High Holy Days (A Study Text Based on the Midrash Maaseh Avraham Avinu) – Benjamin Levy
Waiting for Rain: Reflections at the Turning of the Year – Bryna Jocheved Levy
Preparing Your Heart for the High Holy Days: A Guided Journal – Kerry M. Olitzky and Rachel T. Sabath
Celebrating the Jewish Year: The Fall Holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot) – Paul Steinberg
The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary – Michael Strassfeld
Inspiring Days: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Beyond
Beginning Anew: A Woman’s Companion to the High Holy Days – Edited by Gail Twersky Reimer and Judith A. Kates
From the Stettenheim Library:
To Heal A Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility – Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World – Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality and a Deeper Connection to Life – in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There) – Sarah Hurwitz
How Good Do We Have to Be? A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness – Harold Kushner
Conversations With God: Prayers for Jewish Women – Ruchi Koval
This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation – Alan Lew
Recommended Children’s Books
Sammy Spider’s First Rosh Hashanah – Sylvia A. Rouss, Illustrated by Katherine Janus Kahn
The Hardest Word: A Yom Kippur Story – Jacqueline Jules, Illustrated by Katherine Janus Kahn
Talia and the Very Yum Kippur – Linda Elovitz Marshall, Illustrated by Francesca Assirelli
King of the Fruits: Children Story for Rosh Hashanah – Rachel Mintz
Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride – Deborah Bodin Cohen, Illustrated by Shahar Kober
