Overwhelmed Before Rosh Hashanah? 10 Ways to Make It Easier

Meat, fish, symbolic foods, cakes, clothes, Selichot, cleaning. The holiday is getting closer, and the list just keeps getting longer. Somewhere between the third side dish and the fifth shirt still waiting to be ironed, you look at the clock, realize midnight has long passed, and ask yourself: How did I get to the holiday with no energy left again?!

Rosh Hashanah is the day when the entire world stands anew before its Creator and we crown Hashem as King. Every vegetable peeled and every pan placed in the oven is part of preparing the palace for the King’s arrival. Preparing for the holiday is not simply a to-do list. It is about welcoming the King.

Our sages taught: “Whether one does much or one does little, as long as one directs one’s heart toward Heaven” (Menachot 13:11). It is not the quantity that matters. On a day of prayer, judgment, and crowning Hashem as King, it is important to save some of our energy for what matters most.

Here are 10 tips to help you prepare without arriving at Rosh Hashanah completely exhausted.

1. Write Down What’s Weighing on You

Take a quiet moment to check in with yourself. What is stressing you out most? The family you’re hosting? The long prayers? Cooking? Cleaning? Once the stress is on paper, it becomes easier to organize your thoughts and ease some of the burden.

2. Divide Tasks by Priority

Sort your tasks into three groups: must do, nice to do, and can skip.

This year, the third group comes off the list.

Not everything that would be lovely to accomplish actually needs to happen before the holiday. Decide what truly matters and give yourself permission to leave the rest.

3. Make an Organized Menu, But Don’t Go Overboard

Nothing brings peace of mind quite like a menu written down. Divide a page into five sections: the first night’s meal, the first day’s meal, the third meal, the second night’s meal, and the second day’s meal. Under each one, write down what you plan to serve.

Once everything is on paper, you can stop managing the menu in your head, usually at 3 a.m., and let the list do the work instead.

And remember: a good menu does not have to be a long one. No one will count whether there were five kinds of salads or three, but everyone will notice if you arrive at the table exhausted. Before adding another dish “because everyone expects it,” ask yourself whether it will truly make your family happier or simply leave you with another pot to wash.

4. Make an Organized Shopping List

Once the menu is set, the shopping list practically writes itself. Shop as early as you can and spare yourself the last-minute supermarket run along with half the neighborhood.

Go through the menu ingredient by ingredient, then add household basics, drinks, toiletries, and anything else you will need over the holiday. One thorough trip is much easier than five emergency ones.

5. Get Everyone’s Shabbat and Holiday Clothes Ready

Nothing is more frustrating than discovering shortly before the holiday that the white shirt you need is at the bottom of the laundry pile.

Go through the whole family’s Shabbat and holiday clothes ahead of time and make sure everything is washed, ironed, and waiting in the closet.

And if you wanted to buy your daughter a new holiday dress and something went wrong along the way, breathe. Last year’s dress is still perfectly fine, and by the end of the first meal, there will probably be sauce on it anyway.

6. Check Off What’s Already Done

Keep one organized list of everything you need to do, and use a colorful marker to check off each task as you complete it.

There is something satisfying about physically seeing your progress. Instead of constantly focusing on everything that remains, you can look at the page and see just how much you have already accomplished.

7. Ask for Help

Do not wait until you have no energy left. Divide tasks among members of the household, ask family for help, and, if possible, pay someone to take something off your plate.

“I can handle it myself” is not a medal of honor. Sometimes it is simply the fastest route to arriving at Kiddush with no strength left.

Children can set the table, organize their rooms, put away groceries, or help with simple food preparation. Not every task has to belong to you.

8. Start Now

Every small thing you do ahead of time will make the final hours easier. Start with something you can prepare and freeze, even if it is only a container of fried onions.

Set the table early if you can. Prepare serving dishes. Check candles, machzorim, and anything else you will need for the holiday. Small tasks add up, and every one you complete now is one less thing competing for your attention later.

9. Give Up One Task Ahead of Time

Choose one task right now and deliberately let it go.

Maybe the windows will not be cleaned. Maybe there will be one fewer dessert. Maybe you will buy something you usually make from scratch.

When you decide in advance what you are giving up, it stops feeling like a failure. It becomes part of the plan.

10. Set Aside Time to Rest

Twenty minutes of rest before the holiday can change everything. Put it into your schedule like an appointment you cannot cancel.

Sit down. Have something to drink. Take a shower without rushing. Give yourself a few minutes in which you are not cooking, cleaning, organizing, or checking another task off the list.

A calm mom is one thing the holiday table cannot do without.

Even a home that is not perfect can welcome the new year with dignity and joy. Rosh Hashanah is not meant to find us completely depleted. Already in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, the people were told on this day: “Do not be sad, for the joy of Hashem is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

So before the holiday begins, put down the cleaning cloth and set aside the to-do list. Whatever did not get done can wait. Save some of your energy to pray, give thanks, ask, and crown Hashem as King.

That may be the most important preparation of all, even if it is the one thing you cannot check off a list.