As we begin the Hebrew month of Tishrei, the Jewish year opens not with the Rosh HaShana celebration alone, but with a roadmap for renewal and transformation. These days remind us that while the past shapes us, the future is not meant to be an exact copy of the past. We are meant to thoughtfully choose which actions to continue and which actions to cease. Judaism teaches that in a single moment we can choose differently, repair what was broken, and set a new direction for our lives.

The High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, followed closely by the festival of Sukkot, offer us a roadmap for how to do this. They are not only rituals and laws to follow, they are an annual opportunity to refocus our lives— regarding our inner growth, our relationships with others, and our impact on the environment and the creatures who share this world with us. 

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is not only a celebration and preparation for new beginnings but also a celebration of Creation itself. According to Jewish tradition, Adam and Eve were created on Rosh Hashanah and it was on that very day that they were given an all vegan diet by God and taught about their responsibility to care for God’s world. This alone makes Rosh Hashanah the best day of the entire Jewish year to go vegan!

At our nonprofit Jewish Vegan Life, we help our community make that vision a reality. We offer recipes, insights, and events to support Jews everywhere in connecting their plate with their purpose, linking ancient wisdom with today’s urgent call for ethical, plant-based living.

On Rosh Hashanah, we stand before God not merely to be judged for the past year, but to be reminded of this responsibility and who we are capable of being and what we are capable of doing in the year to come.

In fact, the Torah calls Rosh Hashanah “Yom HaZikaron”, the “Day of Remembrance.” But this remembrance is not about nostalgia; it is about purpose. On Rosh Hashanah, we are invited to remember what we are here for, both as individuals, as a nation and as humanity. We are reminded that life is a gift that comes with a purpose, and that every year, every day, we have a chance to actualize that purpose through our personal life choices.

One of the most profound aspects of Rosh Hashanah is its universal vision. The prayers of the day ask not only for blessing upon the Jewish people but for the flourishing and spiritual advancement of the entire world. We pray for greater consciousness and awareness amongst humans and are called upon to remember that our choices ripple outward—affecting not just ourselves but our families, communities, and the Earth itself.

The central ritual of Rosh Hashanah is obviously hearing the sound of the shofar. Its unique piercing cry is meant to awaken us from our spiritual slumber. It has the ability to cut through our complacency and our excuses for living better, more compassionate lives. The shofar reminds us that now is the time to live in alignment with Judaism’s deepest values.

If Rosh Hashanah is about remembering who we are, Yom Kippur is about taking responsibility for who we have been. Known as the Day of Atonement, it is the holiest day of the Jewish year, devoted entirely to honest reflection, sincere confession, and repair.

On Yom Kippur, we don’t partake in food, drink, and other everyday comforts in order to focus entirely on the work of the soul. We gather as a community and take ownership not only for our own missteps but for the failings of our community as a whole. Judaism recognizes that our lives are interwoven, and that we bear responsibility not only for ourselves but also for the societies and systems we are part of.

The prayers of Yom Kippur strongly emphasize the power of teshuvah (repentance or return). At its essence, teshuvah is not about guilt but rather about change. It is about turning from the path that has led us astray and choosing a better way forward. Maimonides, the great medieval Jewish philosopher, wrote that true teshuvah happens when we face the same situation in which we once failed and this time we choose differently. Rav Kook teaches that teshuvah is returning to our original pure and whole selves who are instinctively aligned with only goodness and righteousness.

Yom Kippur also highlights the importance of seeking forgiveness. In Jewish thought, atonement is not complete until we have repaired our relationships with other people. Before Yom Kippur, we are encouraged to reach out to those we may have hurt, to ask for forgiveness, and to grant forgiveness to others. This practice reminds us that healing the world begins with healing our relationships.

On a broader scale, Yom Kippur invites us to think about the ways our individual and collective choices impact the natural world. Do our habits and lifestyle choices contribute to the suffering of animals and environmental destruction? If so, Yom Kippur is our time to sincerely apologize for the harm we have caused and commit to living more responsibly and compassionately in the year to come.

After the intense introspection and personal work of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the festival of Sukkot arrives as a joyful, grounding celebration. For seven days we spend time in the sukkah, a temporary outdoor shelter with fragile roofs made of branches or other materials found in nature that serves as a reminder of the huts the Israelites lived in during their 40-year journey through the desert. 

Together with the shaking of the four species (palm branch, etrog, myrtle and willow), the sukkah also highlights the importance of connecting to God’s creation. We move out of our comfort-filled homes that often serve as a barrier between us and nature and spend an entire week living in a simple structure in which we are meant to see the stars above and hear the sounds of the natural world all around.

Sukkot is called zman simchateinu—“the season of our joy.” We are literally commanded to be joyous during this week, but we are reminded that true joy doesn’t come from material possessions but rather from connection – with family, community, tradition and, again, the natural world. It is these connections we are celebrating and honoring on Sukkot, and it is these connections that will, or at least should, inform our decisions and actions in the upcoming year. 

In today’s world, Sukkot has an especially urgent ecological message. Through its rituals, it reminds us of our undeniable and unshakable dependence on nature and challenges us to reflect on how our lifestyles impact the environment and how we can live more sustainably. 

Plant-based living is one of the clearest ways to embody this Sukkot message. By choosing foods that nourish us without harm to animals or the planet, we step into the sukkah not only with gratitude for creation but with a commitment to protect it. At Jewish Vegan Life, we see every sukkah as a living classroom reminding us that joy, simplicity, and sustainability go hand in hand.

As we move through this powerful and sacred season, we are reminded that the Jewish calendar is not simply a way of marking time; it is a spiritual tool for shaping us into the kind of people we want to be and building the kind of world we want to see. Each year, we are given the chance to look back, to look ahead, and to step forward with clarity, responsibility, and hope for a better word, for us humans and all other forms of life we share this planet with. 

This is the heartbeat of Jewish Vegan Life: a movement to help Jews worldwide live in symbiosis with all creatures, expand our circle of love to all creation, and bring the world to come closer to us.