JOIN US: ROSH HASHANAH & YOM KIPPUR 2023
ROSH HASHANAH
Two days of celebrating the NEW YEAR: Two days of Rosh Hashanah at our spacious rented facility, deliberately spaced-out for healthy Jews who like the extra room to stretch and for COVID-conscious worshippers with immunocompromised sensitivities. Join us just for wonderful services, with our amazing world-class Chazan Baruch Erblich and our wonderful nationally prominent Rabbi Dov Fischer.
YOM KIPPUR
Our services for Yom Kippur are free and spacious, too. We do not “sell tickets” or charge for admission to Yom Kippur services. You do not have to “pay to pray.” You just come and attend for free. You sit where you like. There is no “catch.” Yes, we welcome donations, but that is your personal business. Just come for free, if you like. Really. With Young Israel of Orange County, you do not have to pay for the right to pray to G-d on Yom Kippur. You just come for free.
Our extremely spacious and roomy facility offers a lovely environment for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. At the same time, there is not a bad seat anywhere in the sanctuary. Our High Holiday services are intimate. We also offer our wonderfully gifted Chazan — Cantor Baruch Erblich, one of the most celebrated Orthodox Cantors of our generation (please see the separate link on this page about Chazan Erblich) and our nationally prominent world-class Rabbi whose dynamic, deeply moving and inspiring (and, yes, at times very clever and humorous) sermons will send you home with plenty to discuss and ponder, some to laugh about, and memories that will linger when you return next year.
Importantly, our Rabbi talks about Judaism, Jewish history, Judaism’s deepest values, and he speaks on religiously meaningful topics that will deeply impact your personal relationships, your spiritual life and that of your loved ones. He does not hold you hostage on the holiest days of the Jewish Year to serve you with doses and overdoses of Political Correctness and to tell you how to vote. He makes no excuses for Israel being alive-and-well and taking the steps she needs to be secure. At Young Israel of Orange County we are about Jewish spiritual growth, helping you and your family reach your most meaningful connection with Judaism, with life, and a warm connection at that.
You want more? What a coincidence! We offer more. We offer a great choice of seats at very reasonable prices — namely, free — the best High Holiday (Yomim Tovim) pricing in all of Orange County! And you won’t feel like you are relegated to the rear balcony or the bleachers. Every seat is great.
Join with us to be inspired. Join with us to feel the Jewish experience, to hear the melodies you have known since childhood, led by one of the most celebrated cantors of our time. Join with us to be revived again — just to have your sense of Jewishness revived among a group of great, warm, and friendly people. People who not only “seem” nice — but who actually are good people, people who come to services for the same reasons that you do, to be inspired, to participate in the singing and the melodies, to connect with G-d the Creator, and to make new friends, even while reacquainting with lifelong colleagues.
But wait — maybe you feel a bit outside the experience. Can’t follow the prayers? Toooooo many hours in the temple? Are you just-plain driven crazy by the race to keep up with all that Hebrew?
Great news! You are not alone. Many feel awkward attending the traditional Orthodox service – even though passionately seeking something more traditional, more substantial, than some of the tepid alternatives tried before. So worship with us in our main service, led by our fantastic Chazan and our nationally prominent world-class spiritual leader, Rabbi Dov Fischer. Throughout these traditional services, Rabbi Fischer explains the meaning of the prayers and gives context and depth.
And you know what else? We warmly welcome everyone! And “everyone” means everyone! Maybe that’s why we are called “Orange County’s Orthodox Synagogue with the refreshingly Un-orthodox Approach.” We don’t ask who your mother is, who your significant-other is, what your living arrangements are, who you vote for. We don’t check your lineage, your preferences. If you choose us, our Rabbi and our Cantor, as the people with whom you would love to worship these Holidays, then we reciprocate and choose you. So we’re all chosen people!
Isn’t it great having a Jewish Congregation in town that has expanded the possibilities of what stood before, offering new spiritual paths to substantive Jewish meaning that never existed in Irvine and Orange County before we were founded more than a decade ago? Be part of something special, something inspiring. Worship this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with Young Israel of Orange County.