Do you make traditional Jewish garments?

Yes: bekishe, kapota, kittel, Shabbos suits, bar-mitzvah and chosson tailoring, handled with the discretion the community expects. I've cut them in Vaughan and Thornhill for many years, father to son.

Are you open on Shabbos or Yom Tov?

No. I'm closed all Shabbos, Yom Tov and chol hamoed, and Fridays I close two hours before sundown. Some things come before the work.

How early should I order for a chosson or a Yom Tov?

For a chosson, 9–12 months before the wedding so the kittel, the Shabbos suit and the bekishe are all ready and coordinated. For Yom Tov, order before the season; kittels close by the end of Elul.

Where can I buy a bekishe or kapota without going to Brooklyn?

Here, in Vaughan. I make bekishes and kapotas to your measurements, so there's no flying to New York and no guessing a ready-made size. Measured here at the studio, with the discretion the community expects.

Does a Shabbos suit have to be black?

In many communities black is the norm, and I'll cut you a beautiful one. But the halacha of it is your rav's question, not your tailor's. My job is that whatever your community wears, yours fits properly, holds a press through Shabbos, and lasts for years of wear.

High Holidays · 01 · Traditional / Jewish menswear

The High Holidays 2026: the dates, the weather, and the last day to order

Updated August 2026 · by Sam Talkar

A folded square of charcoal wool suiting with two horn buttons on a worn oak bench, beside a dark red pomegranate, a jar of honey and three dry maple leaves in amber and rust — Three weeks separate Rosh Hashanah from Simchas Torah, and in Toronto that is most of a season.

The 2026 chagim run from Friday 11 September, erev Rosh Hashanah, to Sunday 4 October, Simchas Torah. That is three and a half weeks of being looked at, sitting for long stretches, eating more than usual, and standing outside in weather that changes by nine degrees between the first chag and the last.

A suit made to your measurements takes three to four weeks. Work backwards from erev Rosh Hashanah and the comfortable order date is mid-August. This is the first of five parts on dressing for the season, and it is the one with a deadline in it.

When is everything, exactly?

Every date below is yom tov, when the studio is closed.

	2026	Day
Erev Rosh Hashanah	11 September	Friday
Rosh Hashanah	12 and 13 September	Shabbos, Sunday
Yom Kippur	21 September	Monday
Sukkos (first days)	26 and 27 September	Shabbos, Sunday
Chol hamoed	28 September to 2 October	Monday to Friday
Shmini Atzeres	3 October	Shabbos
Simchas Torah	4 October	Sunday

The thing about 2026: every chag runs Friday to Sunday

Look at the days column again. Rosh Hashanah, Sukkos, Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah all fall on Shabbos and Sunday. Each of them begins Friday evening and does not end until Sunday night.

That is roughly fifty continuous hours, three times over, and it changes what your wardrobe has to do:

Nothing gets laundered in between. A shirt worn Friday night is the shirt you have on Shabbos morning unless you packed another.
You need two of everything that touches skin, per chag, at minimum. Most men have enough suits and nowhere near enough shirts. The white shirt →
One outfit is on display for two days, in the same room, in front of the same people. What you wear is remembered.
Yom Kippur is the exception, falling on a Monday, so it stands alone and needs its own thinking. Part four covers it →

If you take one practical thing from this piece, make it shirts. Men order a suit for the chagim and then wear a tired shirt under it for fifty hours.

Nine degrees between the first chag and the last

Rosh Hashanah is on 12 September. Simchas Torah is on 4 October. Twenty-two days apart, and in Toronto that is a different season.

Environment Canada’s normals put early September highs near 24.6°C and early October near 15.6°C. Rosh Hashanah lands in the warm end, and by Simchas Torah you are dancing in something close to autumn. Late September, when Sukkos begins, sits in the middle around 21.9°C.

The suit that is comfortable on Rosh Hashanah can be too light for Simchas Torah, and the suit that is right in October will be punishing in September. Which is a cloth problem, and it is the whole of part two.

Part two: cloth for a nine-degree swing →

So when is the last day to order?

Plainly, with the studio’s real turnaround rather than a comfortable fiction.

A suit made to your measurements takes three to four weeks. A shirt takes two to three. The fastest genuine rush is twelve days, and rush work is a favour rather than a service, so it is not something to plan around.

Counting back from erev Rosh Hashanah on 11 September:

By 14 August gives the full four weeks. This is the honest answer, and it is comfortable rather than tight.
By 21 August is three weeks. Still inside the normal turnaround, with less room if anything needs a second look.
By 30 August is twelve days, which is rush territory. Possible, not promised, and worth a phone call rather than an assumption.
After that, you are dressing for Sukkos and Simchas Torah rather than Rosh Hashanah, which is a perfectly reasonable plan if you say so out loud.

Two notes worth having. Reordering from a pattern already on file is faster than starting from nothing, because the measuring is done. And alterations to a suit you already own are a different job entirely: quicker, cheaper, and often the right answer if last year’s suit is sound and simply no longer fits. Bring it in before the queue fills rather than in the first week of September.

How long a custom suit takes → · When to alter and when to replace →

What the five parts cover

This one. The dates, the Friday-to-Sunday structure, and the order deadline.
Cloth for September against October → Weight, weave, and the nine-degree problem.
Built to sit → What fails at hour four of davening, and the cut that prevents it.
Yom Kippur → Fasting, a body that changes shape through the day, the kittel, and shoes.
Sukkos with children → Chol hamoed, outdoors, and clothes that survive being climbed on.

A closing note that runs through all five. This series is about cloth and fit. Where it touches custom or halacha it reports what is commonly done, never what you should do. Ask your rav. That has never been the tailor’s call.