Creative Ways to Help Your Kids Understand the Meaning and Lessons of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
The Jewish High Holidays are perhaps the most important time of the year for members of the Jewish faith, a time for personal contemplation and renewal. It can be a challenge, though, when you have young children, as the traditions and origins of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur may be too complex for them. But there are ways to bring the important lessons of the High Holidays to the little ones. It’s never too early to help them start to learn about their Jewish heritage.
Things You Can Do to Engage Children in the Jewish High Holidays
With small children, it’s important to keep things simple and to include an activity of some kind. Here are some suggestions for involving your kids in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur:
- Plan activities that include some of the traditional foods of the holidays. For example, you might take them to an apple orchard or a fruit market. They can pick their own apples that they’ll be able to dip in honey at your Rosh Hashanah meal. At the fruit market, have them look for a fruit they’ve never eaten before—remember that, on the second night of Rosh Hashanah, it’s customary to say a blessing over a “first fruit,” typically something you haven’t eaten before. You can also have your children participate as you bake challah for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. Explain that the breads have a round shape to symbolize the cycle of life.
- Engage your children in the process of self-evaluation and resolution—Ask them if there’s something they did in the past year that they wish they hadn’t. Work with them to make a list of any bad things they occasionally do, as well as any resolutions for the new year. Write the bad things on pieces of paper that can be cast out through a tashlikh service.
- Have your kids make Rosh Hashanah cards for friends and family—They can draw pictures or write words, such as L’shanah Tovah (wishing the recipients a good year). Let them hand the cards to loved ones or put them in the mailbox.
- Get a shofar or other horn (even a kazoo) and show them the different types of blasts
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