Ten ways to reflect, repair and renew this Yom Kippur

Published: 18 September 2026

Last updated: 18 September 2026

Yom Kippur starts Sunday night. Right now, we're in the middle of the ten days Jewish tradition has always treated as an open window, a chance to look at yourself and reset.

In this Jewish year, Jewish Australians have experienced loss on a scale that has shaken every one of us in. Whatever else we were carrying on December 13, that load since has been made heavier by the weight of the Bondi attack on December 14.

That reality has left many of us grappling with the work we are meant to do in these Days of Awe. It simultaneously feels more difficult and more necessary than ever before.

The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. are an extended checkpoint, a chance to look at the year behind you before Yom Kippur closes it out. The core idea is teshuva, usually translated as repentance but closer in meaning to turning or returning. It doesn't require religious observance. It asks for honesty.

But if the traditional observances don’t speak to us – or if we feel we need something more – how do we do find our way into reflection and renewal.

Here are 10 ideas to try.

Immerse yourself in water to cleanse the past year
There’s a reason so many cultures use immersion to mark transitions. Physical cleansing can feel spiritual. At the mikveh, at the ocean, wherever works for you – embrace the elemental experience of immersion to let go of whatever is weighing you down.
Write down an honest assessment of your life.
What are you doing well? What gives you joy? Where have you failed? What would you life to improve. The process of self-assessment is cheshbon hanefesh, an accounting of the soul, which is the core of Yom Kippur. Writing it down is a discipline that makes it real.
Delete digital material that hurts you
You don’t need old messages that make you angry. Screenshots that cause regret. Photos that don't spark any kind of joy. Things that only exist to keep a grievance alive. If stumbling across it upsets or hurts you and there’s no real reason you need it, send it to the bin and take out the trash.
Do something you’ve meant to do all year
It doesn't have to be strictly religious practice to count. Clearing it is proof you can act instead of just carrying the guilt of not acting.
Sit with someone you disagree with and actually listen
Go in without trying to win the conversation. Find out what this year has done to someone whose politics, or grief, or way of coping looks nothing like yours. It is easy for us to sit in our pain and refuse to see that of others. Repair requires acknowledgment, and acknowledgment requires listening.
Reach out to someone you know is isolated
Many people want to be connected to community but struggle with isolation. This year has left plenty of people quieter and more alone than they felt before. A message can make their day. An invitation can be life changing.
Commit to giving of your resources, consistently, to causes that matter to you
One of the key obligations of this time of the year is tzedakah, often translated as charity but better seen as an obligation to justice. Use this time to identify a way you can make a contribution – such as a weekly volunteer gig or a monthly donation – and commit to keeping it up for the whole of the next year.
Arrange an in-person get-together instead of just sending a message
Connection is a form of renewal. Reach out to someone who has slid away in the busyness of life or whose pathway has diverged from you.
Give away something you’re still attached to
Something that actually costs me to let go of, not a bag for the op shop you won't miss. It’s a physical version of putting down some of what this year has held.
Name what you loved this year and find a way to include it in the next.
All the focus on regret can be a downer. Take some time to be grateful for something that enhanced your life this year: be a person, a trip, a stupid inside joke that still makes you laugh. Plan a way to find the joy in the coming year.

This work won't be finished on Yom Kippur, of course. Wiping slates clean isn't that easy. But it is the sort of accounting that let’s us walk into this fresh year more ready to take advantage of the joy of living in a kinder, more open, more just way.