Experiencing the high holy days for the first time

For some Jews, the sound of the shofar at Rosh Hashanah is woven into childhood memories. For others, this year will be the first time they hear it as members of the Jewish people. 

Across different backgrounds, communities, and stages of conversion, several South Africans are approaching their first high holy days with a mixture of excitement, nervousness, commitment, and profound reflection. 

Solomon Musi, who is currently completing Temple Israel Cape Town’s Jews By Choice programme, is excited about his first Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

“What I’m most excited about is the whole aura of the experience,” he says. “I imagine what other people went through before us, that excitement and commitment to G-d.” 

He says learning about the Jewish month of Elul, which precedes Rosh Hashanah, have encouraged him to examine both the good and bad within himself. The aim, he says, isn’t simply to recognise what is good, but to confront those aspects of himself that need to change. 

“Some of these things are what we were born into,” he says. “We have certain cultures, communities that we grew around. Some of the things I didn’t even realise were bad. I thought it was fine.” 

This process of self-examination has become an important part of his understanding of Judaism. 

Yom Kippur will be Musi’s first experience of fasting for a spiritual purpose. “You sometimes, as an individual, do fast,” he says. “But not with the purpose.” 

He’s looking forward to experiencing the prayers and blessings associated with the day. “I’m ready,” he says. “I’m looking forward, especially to the prayers, the blessings. I want to experience that.” 

For another new Jew, the approaching high holy days represent the beginning of a different relationship with the Jewish calendar. Daniel*, a 34-year-old software architect from Sea Point, completed a Progressive conversion earlier this year. He grew up in a secular Afrikaans home in Pretoria and moved to Cape Town eight years ago. 

“Coming from a background where religious holidays felt mostly commercial or passive, my first Rosh Hashanah feels like a complete reset,” he says. 

It will also be his first as a full member of the community, after 18 months completing his conversion. 

“Standing in the synagogue hearing the shofar for the first time as a full member of the community, I know I’m going to feel that vibration right in my chest,” he says. 

His experience of community has also shaped his journey. “The Sea Point community didn’t just welcome me,” he says. “They fed me, argued with me over Torah, and guided me through every step.” Studying the liturgy changed his understanding of the prayers. A rabbi’s explanation of their purpose particularly stayed with him. “We don’t read these prayers to remember who we were,” he says. “We chant them to decide who we are becoming.” 

Daniel’s parents were initially confused by his decision to convert. Their response changed when he explained the concept of teshuvah (returning to one’s truest self). His father ultimately told him that if a religion demanded personal responsibility for flaws, he couldn’t argue with that. This year, Daniel will celebrate his first Rosh Hashanah dinner with his family, with a round challah and honey. 

For a 29-year-old teacher from Benoni, the high holy days are unfolding while her Orthodox conversion is still in progress. She expects to complete it in 2027. Her connection to Judaism began through her husband, but she wanted the decision to become Jewish to be her own spiritual choice. She’s had to balance her Indian family traditions with kosher observance and Shabbat. 

Yom Kippur is the holy day she has been thinking about most. “Fasting isn’t foreign to me coming from an Indian cultural background,” she says. “But the focus on absolute spiritual raw accountability, standing before G-d with nothing to hide behind, is deeply moving.” 

She is nervous about the length of the service, but has been practising the prayers and learning the nusach (traditional prayer melodies and wording) for months. 

Her Jewish learning has also extended beyond books and classes. Her mother-in-law has been teaching her to make teiglach and honey cake. These moments have helped translate her studies into family life. “You can read 20 books on Jewish philosophy,” she says. “But braiding a challah while talking about family history teaches you something no textbook ever could.” 

Matthew*, a 58-year-old retired general practitioner from Durban, completed his Orthodox conversion in Israel earlier this year before returning to South Africa. After retiring to the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, he’d started formalising what he describes as a longstanding intellectual and spiritual connection to Judaism. 

“When you are older, converting isn’t about changing your identity,” he says. “It’s about clarifying who you’ve always been.” 

His medical career has also influenced how he experiences the high holy days. “As a doctor, I’ve seen how fragile life is,” he says. “The Unetaneh Tokef [prayer] hits exceptionally hard when you understand the gravity of who shall live and who shall die.” 

Opening the Machzor (high holy days prayer book) carries a different meaning this year. “For years I searched through books,” he says. “But this year, when I open the Machzor, I’m finally home.” 

For each of these people, the high holy days offer something different. Yet all four approach the season with the sense that these days are about more than learning unfamiliar prayers or observing new customs. 

They are preparing to enter a period of Jewish life that asks people to look backwards, examine themselves, and consider who they want to become. For people experiencing this for the first time, that invitation carries its own significance. 

*Interviewees have requested anonymity for privacy reasons.