Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are times for soul-searching, but not on your own – community has always been at the heart of the Jewish High Holidays

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David L. Graizbord, University of Arizona

(THE CONVERSATION) Starting the evening of Sept. 15, 2023, and again the evening of Sept. 24, Jews around the world will be filing into synagogues to mark their “Days of Awe” – the High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

For many who observe these holidays in the United States, the Days of Awe will be the only time that they visit a synagogue this year. Only 1 in 5 American Jews attend services once a month or more.

What is more, Yom Kippur is among the most somber and punishing holidays of the Jewish calendar. Why, then, do so many individuals who rarely pray in a synagogue choose to do it during the dour Days of Awe, rather than on many of the joyful, celebratory feasts that the Jewish calendar has to offer?

The answer lies partly in the nature of Jewish civilization itself. While today observers perceive Judaism as a religion, Jewish culture is not focused on individual belief and worship so much as on an entire community and its collective relationship with God and its history.

As a scholar of Judaic studies, I believe these are core, galvanizing elements of...