B’nai Sholom Reform Congregation is opening its doors to welcome the Capital Region community for the High Holy Days with complimentary attendance at all services.

The congregation once again offers visitors and guests the opportunity to attend any or all of the services at no charge either as guest of a congregation member or by making arrangements directly with the synagogue office.

Guests also enjoy B’nai Sholom’s reception after the Rosh Hashanah evening service, lunch at a congregant’s home after Rosh Hashanah morning service, and the break-fast following the concluding service on Yom Kippur.

B’nai Sholom is located at 420 Whitehall Road in Albany.

The schedule of services is:
— Sunday, Sept. 29, 8 p.m. – Rosh Hashanah Evening Service;
— Monday, Sept. 30, 10 a.m. – Rosh Hashanah Morning Service;
— Tuesday, Oct. 8, 8 p.m. – Yom Kippur Evening Service;
— Wednesday, Oct. 9, 10 a.m. – Yom Kippur Morning Service;
— Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1:15 p.m. – Study Session;
— Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2:30 p.m. – Healing Service;
— Wednesday, Oct. 9, 3 p.m. – Afternoon Service;
— Wednesday, Oct. 9, 5:15 p.m. – Memorial Service; and
— Wednesday, Oct. 9, 5:45 p.m. – Concluding Service.

For families, B’nai Sholom offers a program tailored for children in kindergarten through fourth grade on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mornings, and babysitting is available at those times for children ages 4 and under. Advance registration for babysitting and the children’s program is required.

Rabbi Donald P. Cashman, B’nai Sholom’s spiritual leader since 1985, will conduct all services. He will preach on the themes of the holy days at evening and morning services and will serve as ba’al tekiyah, the shofar master, for the sounding of the ram’s horn on Rosh Hashanah.

Rebecca Pacuk, a graduate of the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music and an Albany area native who attended B’nai Sholom during her youth, will be the cantorial soloist for the holy days once again. Pacuk is a music teacher in Salem, New Hampshire, and resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In addition, Elizabeth M. Huntley will return to furnish harp accompaniment to the services. She is principal harpist with the Glens Falls Symphony and has performed widely as a soloist, in regional productions and orchestras and with touring musicians. Since 1998, Huntley has been the editor of The American Harp Journal.

B’nai Sholom has adopted the two-volume Mishkan HaNefesh, published in 2017 by the Central Conference of American Rabbis to succeed Gates of Repentance as the prayer book for the sacred days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It features gender-neutral English translation and easily accessible transliteration of all Hebrew prayers, supplemental and alternative readings and poetry, and other liturgical innovations.

B’nai Sholom’s single-story synagogue is fully accessible for people who use wheelchairs, walkers, and strollers and includes a handicap-accessible, all-gender restroom that can be easily reached from the sanctuary.

For forms to attend one or all services, reserve childcare or for the children’s program, visit www.bnaisholomalbany.org or contact the B’nai Sholom office: 518-482-5283 or .