High Holy Days

Each year the High Holy Days offer us a moment of reflection and renewal. May the sounding of the shofar call us to act on behalf of all those who are hungry in our midst. Please utilize MAZON’s High Holy Days materials for your family or community observances and contact Liz Braun-Lilenfeld, Director of Outreach, with any questions.

Honor your loved ones with a High Holy Day e-Card or printed tribute card.

As we close the book on 5784 and welcome the start of a new year, we hope you will join MAZON in ensuring that every person, regardless of circumstance, can feed themselves and their families with choice and dignity.

Watch our High Holy Days Video

We invite you to watch this short video — on your own, with your loved ones, or as part of a High Holy Days service or learning session — and then reflect on the themes using our discussion guide and other materials below.

The statistics referenced in the video reflect the height of the pandemic. For the latest information, explore our Hunger in America page.

Join Us on Social Media

We’ve put together a toolkit of High Holy Day graphics to share on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Share them on your social platforms to engage your community in MAZON’s fight to end hunger this High Holy Day season. We encourage you to feature these graphics in your synagogue’s mailings or virtual newsletters!

Resource Guide for Celebrating Sukkot and Indigenous People’s Day

Sukkot (the Jewish festival for harvest) and Indigenous People’s Day (to honor Native American cultures and histories) often fall closely in the calendar.

Order High Holy Day Materials

Fill out a simple form to order MAZON donation envelopes to distribute during the High Holy Days. This is a perfect way to compliment food drives, encouraging your community to support MAZON's fight to end hunger in every community.

Include MAZON in Your Food Drive
To compliment the food drives that many communities hold for the High Holy Days, we hope you will encourage support for MAZON as well — whether by distributing MAZON materials along with collection bags or starting a community fundraiser to support our work. Together, we can create a world in which every person is able to keep food on their table.
D'var Torah and Sermon Seeds
Ground conversations about hunger in the larger themes of the High Holy Days using MAZON's sample D'var Torah and "sermon seeds" for Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre, and Yom Kippur.
Yom Kippur Activity
Explore options for social action activities and discussions during your Yom Kippur programming.
Sukkot Resources
Sukkot offers an opportunity to gather as a community and celebrate the bounty of the earth — as well as recognize and break down the barriers for those who cannot enjoy that bounty.

Your community can help end hunger.

Many of us participate in food drives during the High Holy Days to help to those facing hunger locally. Please consider taking this one step further by fundraising for MAZON's work to change the systems and policies that allow hunger to persist.

Stories

Sharing stories of people struggling with food insecurity is a powerful way to help your community better understand the realities of who is hungry in America today and why. MAZON’s This Is Hunger program includes stories that are ideal for sharing in sermons or High Holy Day study sessions.

This is Hunger

“The food stamps we get aren’t enough to feed four people for a month. It makes me feel sad that my parents sometimes feed us kids and not themselves.”

“If sickness comes along, it can drain all your money in one day. That’s what happened to me.”

“I never imagined I’d get to this age and this would be my life... but if I could get $40 or $50 in food stamps, I could feed myself.”

“When my food stamps run out, it’s kinda scary not knowing if I'm gonna have any money to eat tomorrow.”

Take Action

Urge Your Elected Officials to Address the Food Distribution Crisis in Indian Country

This High Holy Day season, please join MAZON as we continue to echo calls from Tribal leaders, urging policymakers to address urgent and ongoing food shortages and delivery delays impacting the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). Because of a government contracting failure, these two USDA programs have been plagued by problems for months that have left Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) and other service providers without necessary food items. We are proud to partner with Tribal organizations and leaders, and we hope you will join us in reminding policymakers that they have an obligation to respond to this emergency and work to advance long-term food security policies driven by Tribes and Indigenous communities.

Take action now. 

Hunger in America

Hunger is as prevalent as it is pernicious. Food pantries and distribution sites are vital emergency resources for people facing food insecurity, but charity alone cannot address the full scope of hunger in the U.S., and it was never designed to do so. Learn more about hunger in America and how we can work together to end it.

Include MAZON in Your Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Jewish tradition teaches that we deepen our own happiness when we share our joyous celebrations with people in need. MAZON has created materials to integrate meaningful tzedakah and tikkun olam opportunities into Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations.

Download our Bar/Bat Mitzvah guide and please contact Naama Haviv, Vice President of Community Engagement, for more information.

Educate Your Community

MAZON offers a suite of materials to help educate and engage individuals and communities about the scope of hunger and how we can work together to end it. Learn more.

Stay up to date on our news.