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high Holidays

High Holidays 5787

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Young Israel Shomrai Emunah is excited to invite you to join us for High Holidays services this year!

Please note (new or different this year):

  • Sign up by Rosh Chodesh Elul – Friday, August 14th for member priority seating; first-come, first-served after that. See the Seat Assignments section below for more details.
  • In our continued efforts to make the registration process clearer and easier, and to make our services welcoming to the community, we have drastically simplified the pricing structure for seats. See the Prices section below for more details.
  • Registration this will be exclusively through the online form. If you require assistance, please contact the shul office at 301-593-4465 x102.
  • Please indicate any seating preferences including “same as last year” in the Notes section on the seating form. Leave this section blank to indicate that you don’t mind where you sit.
  • We are offering expanded Childcare hours, including for Kol Nidrei. See the Childcare section below for more details.
  • We are offering a new format for our Rosh Hashanah appeal, supporting Israel. See the Appeals section below for more details.

 

The question we are asked most frequently is “How do I ensure that I get the [aisle] seat that I want?” Here are our recommendations:

  • Become a member of YISE! Make a commitment to supporting your shul and also take advantage of  priority seating for members.
  • Sign up as early as you can. Member priority seating continues through August 14th. After that, preferences are honored on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • When specifying your seats on the reservation form, use the Notes section to express whatever is important to you, as clearly as you can, keeping in mind that your first choice may not be available.
  • Ashkenazic
    Seating charts for all three Ashkenazic minyanim are available here.
    • Belonofsky Sanctuary
      Led by Mr. Judd Lifschitz and Rabbi Yonatan Gorin.
      Rabbi Rosenbaum, Rabbi Shimon Maged, and Rabbi Hillel Shaps will deliver Drashos.
    • Social Hall
      Led by Rabbi Yehuda Shinensky and Dr. Richie Broth.
      Rabbi Rosenbaum, Rabbi Hillel Shaps, and Rabbi Yehuda Shinensky will deliver Drashos.
    • House
      Rosh Hashanah services in a smaller setting. Morning services will meet at 6:15 am in the YISE House in order to arrive at the amidah at sunrise (“neitz”), and will proceed at a pace similar to the later minyanim. Evening services will be at the same time as those of the other minyanim.
  • Sephardic
    • Franco Family Beit Midrash
      Led by Rabbi Yehoshua Levy.

YISE is committed to providing a place to daven on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for everyone who needs one. If reservation rates present financial hardship, please contact Interim Executive Director Aryeh Shudofsky (aryeh@yise.org / 301-593-4465 x102) for arrangements. No one will be turned away. We will also do our best to meet seating preferences. Accordingly, we request that you purchase your seats by Rosh Chodesh Elul – Friday, August 14, 2025. 

Until August 14:

  • Full members who purchased or reserved seats last year have first priority to retain the same seats, if they specify this as their preference.
  • Full members’ seating preferences will be honored first, followed by those of associate members, followed by those of non-members.

After August 14:

  • Preferences will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please indicate any seating preferences including “same as last year” in the Notes section on the seating form. Leave this section blank to indicate that you don’t mind where you sit.

Rosh Hashanah seat assignments will be sent out by email about a week before Rosh Hashanah. While requests for seats will still be accepted after that date, we might not be able to accommodate preferences or family seating blocks. Yom Kippur seat assignments will be sent out by email shortly after Rosh Hashanah.

Full members who purchased seats last year and who do not intend to use them this year, but who want to retain them for next year may reserve them for $40.

Sign up for your seats using our online form. If you require assistance, please call the shul office at 301-593-4465 x102.

  • Adults: $65 for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur only, $130 for both
  • Youth*: $50 for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur only, $100 for both

Payment may be made by credit card directly through the online registration form, by credit card called into the YISE office, or by check mailed to the YISE office.

As a general practice, we request that YISE members be current in their financial obligations including the payment for past seats and past years’ dues (i.e. charged to you before 2026).

If you are concerned about the affordability of your reservation, you may contact Interim Executive Director Aryeh Shudofsky at aryeh@yise.org or 301-593-4465×102  to discuss.  These discussions will be held in strictest confidence and with every effort made to ensure your ability to join us for all High Holiday services.

* Youth are ages 6 to 18 and college and yeshiva students.

For Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 5787, the Youth Department is pleased to offer High Holiday child care services for children ages 2-9.

The fee is $15 per session, per child. The fee will be waived for children of YISE members and for any child who has their own seat in shul.

You may choose from the following sessions:

 

Rosh Hashanah Day 1Saturday, September 129:00 am – End of services
Rosh Hashanah Day 2Sunday, September 139:00 am – End of Services
Yom Kippur Kol NidreiSunday, September 206:30 pm – End of Services
Yom Kippur ShacharisMonday, September 219:00 am – End of Services
Yom Kippur Mincha/NeilaMonday, September 214:50 pm – 7:30 pm

Child care will be held at YISE in the upstairs youth classrooms and at the YISE House next to the Shul and/or at the Yeshiva. More details will be provided as we approach Yom Tov. A parent must be onsite in the YISE building when a child is in childcare. For the safety of our children, no exception to this rule will be made. Registered children will be linked to parents and their seat locations so that parents can be contacted should a need arise.

We encourage you to reserve, with payment, as early as you can to secure your child(ren)’s spot. Registration is due by Friday, August 28, 2026. For staffing and safety reasons, no walk-in babysitting services will be accommodated. Please register when you purchase your High Holidays seats using the online form.

If you have any questions about childcare, please email Youth Director Sharon Shimoff at sshimoff@yise.org.

Brief appeals to your generous sense of responsibility for your community will be delivered at Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidrei and Yizkor services. In addition, you may contribute to any of these when you reserve your seats using the online seating form, or any time using the appeals form.

Rosh Hashanah – Israel Appeal (New format this year!)

As a shul, our connection to Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, and Medinat Yisrael runs throughout what we do: the tefillos we say for the safety of our soldiers and the wellbeing of the state, the speakers we host to keep Israel present in our minds beyond the headlines, and the youth programming that instills love of the land in our children. This appeal is one more way we express that connection, this time through direct, tangible investment.

Through the Israel Appeal, YISE will purchase an Israel Bond on behalf of our community, an investment that matures into a resource sustaining our shul’s future while standing behind the State of Israel today. Please partner with us by giving generously to our annual Israel Appeal.

Kol Nidrei – Operations Appeal

Our campus is the hub of all activity at YISE. Buzzing with minyanim, classes, shiurim, youth activities, kiddushim, smachos, community events, and more, the upkeep and maintenance of both our physical and virtual space – indoors and outdoors – is critically important.

While not the flashiest of needs that we experience over the course of the year, our ability to continue operating in support of our community relies solely on the support of our community. Upkeep of our physical plant, including repairs, maintenance, electricity, HVAC, plumbing, IT, and security (among others) is vital to our mission of service. Partnering with our operations fund today will ensure that YISE is able to continue serving our community for many years to come.

Yizkor – Youth Appeal

At YISE, our youth department is focused on ensuring that our community’s children see our shul as central to their lives, just as their parents do. Whether through tefillah, chesed projects, social activities, or Yom Tov celebrations, our youth team works hard to provide meaningful and memorable experiences for the next generation.

We are only able to continue providing the high level of programming our youth deserve through our partnership with you. A thriving youth department is a critical component of our shul, affecting us all whether we directly benefit from it or not. Please support our shul and our youth by giving generously to our annual Youth Appeal.

The Rosh Hashanah issue of HaShomer will publish the traditional New Year’s Greetings from our members, this year primarily online. Since each greeting requires typing or specific lettering and layout, we ask that you please send your greeting by Sunday, August 23. Questions? Call Aryeh at the Shul office, 301-593-4465 x102.

The prices are as follows:

  • Eighth-page (2” high x 3” wide) – $25
  • Quarter-page (3.75” high x 3” wide) – $45
  • Half-page (3.75” high x 6.25” wide) – $75
  • Full page (7.5” high x 6.25” wide) – $140

Preferred format is an image file or PDF matching the ordered ad size.

You can send your ad in and pay for it here or by emailing hashomer@yise.org.

The YISE Yizkor Guide will once again be available in 5787. It will contain specific tehillim, Yizkor passages and K’ail Malei Rachamimim in the order said in our Shul and will be used for all 4 Yizkor services of the year (Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeres, Pesach and Shavuos).

We are asking for your assistance in sponsoring the production of the 5787 Guide. To include your loved ones’ names in the Guide, please visit the Yizkor Guide webpage.

As the High Holidays are upon us, please consider donating a Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur Artscroll Machzor or an Artscroll Selichos in memory or in honor of a loved one for $54 each. Click here to donate.

We realize that our online registration form for High Holidays seats may represent the first time that you are encountering YISE’s ShulCloud system, so you may have never logged into your YISE ShulCloud account before. Here’s how to log in:

  1. Click the Login button in the upper-right.
  2. Use the email address you’ve used for YISE business in the past.
  3. If you can’t remember your password, click on “Forgot Password” to easily reset it.