High Holy Day mishugas? Online tips put you at ease

Jewish sites like to strut their stuff with their holiday offerings; it's like the ratings sweeps week for television networks. Here's a brief rundown of some of the best:

A real standout is the Jewish New Year site offered by Chabad Online, http://www.jewishnewyear.com. All of the season's holidays are covered, and the home page is a marvel of good organization.

For each, you can get everything from a basic "how to" guide to more in-depth essays and articles. There are recipes, a "find a service" search engine for wandering Jews who don't have a shul to attend and a clever color-coded time line.

For kids, a cool animated menu offers access to all the holiday basics.

Another gorgeous holiday site comes via the outreach-minded folks at Aish HaTorah, http://aish.com/holidays/The_High_Holidays/. Lots of interesting articles, plus recipes, kids stuff and an outstanding opening page that puts everything just a click away. Check out the essay on "Teshuva: Dry Cleaning for the Soul."

For serious holiday learning -- for both beginners and those who actually know what they're doing -- check out the Orthodox Union's Rosh Hashanah page, http://www.ou.org/ chagim/ default.htm. Dozens of articles and lectures -- some in text form, some in audio -- are broken down by level of difficulty.

The Jewish Theological Seminary has a nice, low-key holiday page, with an emphasis on learning for those of a more Conservative bent at http://learn.jtsa.edu/ roshhashanah/. Particularly interesting: an essay on "The Enigma of Rosh Hashanah."

It's hard to find Reform Web sites with much to say about the holidays. But the movement's "Click on Judaism" home page, http://www.clickonjudaism.org aimed at Gen Xers, has some useful essays, including one with this irresistible title: "Vampires and Tshuvah: What's the Connection?"

Everything Jewish, at http://www.everythingjewish.com, offers terrific, easy-to-understand guides for all major Jewish holidays. There are family projects, as well as all the basic information, written for the non-yeshiva bocher.

Jewish Torah Audio, http://www.613.org, offers a vast array of audio talks on the holidays, all for free. The home page is just plain ugly, and the sound quality of the clips varies, but still, there's a lot here if you are looking for more than the basics and want to listen, not read.

Virtual Jerusalem, http://www.vjholidays.com/rosh/index.htm, the big all-purpose Jewish home page, has its usual wide assortment of holiday materials, but the best part may be the holiday recipe section. There's also a useful educators' guide to the holidays and a "contest corner" for the kids.

Only one problem: The attractive holiday home page is so slow, it may be Simchat Torah before it pops up on your screen.

An even better source for holiday recipes: the Web-based archives of rec.food.cuisine.Jewish, a Usenet discussion forum at http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/rfcj. Click on the holiday of your choice for extensive collections of recipes contributed by participants -- just like your bubbe used to make. Nicely organized, easy to use.

You'll also find a good collection of recipes at America Online's Jewish Community Online, available on the Web at http://www.Jewish.com. AOL users can reach the site by entering the keyword "Jewish.com." This site has all the basics -- holiday information, readings and family activities -- in an accessible format.

Zipple, the zippy Jewish portal for people young enough not to mind the garish purple color scheme, offers some nice essays in its "holidays" section, a handy High Holy Day glossary and frequently asked questions on the season. The target here seems to be under-30 Jews with a day or less of Hebrew school under their belts, but the information is attractively packaged and easy to digest. The site is at http://www.zipple.com.