Spirited 5786 Experiences and Learning
Prepare yourself for the High Holy Days with deep and meaningful Torah study, song, story, and experiences. We will gather together as a community to challenge ourselves to think deeply about how to create meaningful change and growth during the Season of Awe.
Selichot Service
Saturday, September 13 at 8:30pm
Click Here to Download the Selichot Booklet | Livestream Here
This tradition invites us to open ourselves up to the essential work of the High Holy Days: the process of repair and return, of acknowledgment and longing. Please join Adas clergy and your community for a one-of-a-kind evening of personal reflection through song and text.
Preparations Before the High Holy Days
Elul Shofar Soundings at Morning Minyan
Weekdays, August 23 – September 22
Join us each weekday morning during the month of Elul for Morning Minyan, as we sound the shofar—a stirring call to reflection, renewal, and return. This daily ritual helps us prepare our hearts and minds for the sacred journey of the High Holy Days. All are welcome.
Hesed Honey Cake Baking Event
Sunday, August 24 @ 10am | Register Here
Please join us for our annual Hesed Honey Cake Bake-A-Thon! These delicious cakes will be delivered to our veteran Adas members before Rosh Hashanah! Thank you for helping our community begin their 5786 in a sweet and delicious way!
Live From the Clergy Suite
Join us each Friday in Elul at 10 am on Facebook Live as your rabbis talk about the Torah, the spirit, the work and the joy of the High Holy Day season. Check it out here: facebook.com/adasisraeldc
August 29th at 10am with Rabbis Alexander and Yolkut
September 5th at 10am with Rabbis Holtzblatt and Yolkut
September 12th at 10am with Rabbis Krinsky and Yolkut
September 19th at 10am with the full clergy
Elul Tisch
Saturdays at 1pm, Biran Beit Midrash
September 6 with Rabbi Krinsky
September 13 with Rabbis Alexander, Holtzblatt & Dassa
September 20 with Rabbi Yolkut
Join us for multiple Shabbatot in Elul as we gather around the table to sing and learn together in advance of the High Holy Day season. Enter the High Holy Days uplifted, challenged, and ready for the growth mindset the season offers us.
The Elul Experience
MakomDC and The Adas Israel Wellness Center present a day of learning, embodied practice and gathering
Sunday, September 14 from 9am-5pm
Full Schedule and Registration (Includes Lunch)
Join us for a transformative experience dedicated to the Hebrew month of Elul, a sacred time of personal reflection, renewal, and spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days.
Through embodied practice—such as mindful movement, breath-work, and song—we will awaken our awareness of teshuvah (returning to our deepest selves and to the Divine). Guided by rich Jewish learning, we will explore texts and teachings that illuminate the themes of introspection, forgiveness, and spiritual growth.
Rooted in the power of community, this retreat will provide space for heartfelt connection through shared ritual, soulful discussion, and the collective experience of sacred time. Whether through silent meditation in nature, creative expression, or the stirring call of the shofar, participants will leave feeling renewed, grounded, and ready to step into the new year with clarity and intention.
Baked By Yael Holiday Orders
Baked by Yael is known for hand-rolled and boiled bagels, award-winning cakepops, mouth-watering challah, delicious and hard-to-find black & white cookies, and rugelach, as well as scrumptious raspberry bars and chocolate chip bars. The bakery will be making round challah for the High Holidays as well as babka, apple cake, honey cakepops, and much more! All products are made at Baked by Yael’s nut-free and kosher bakery across from the National Zoo, and include gluten-free and vegan options.
Baked by Yael offers local pickup and delivery, as well as nationwide shipping. For your convenience, we have added Adas Israel as a pickup location for Rosh Hashanah pre-orders! If you have any questions about Baked by Yael's products or the Adas popup pickup location, please visit bakedbyyael.com or contact the bakery at info@bakedbyyael.com.
HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:
Place your order online at bakedbyyael.com by 6:00 p.m. on Friday, September 19, 2025.
During checkout, select "Pickup" and then choose "Adas Israel" as the pickup location.
Your order will be available for pickup on Sunday, September 21, between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. at Adas.
Celebrate Rosh Hashanah with Signature!
Deadline to Put in Orders is September 12 | Order Here
Select Adas Israel Congregation as your central Pickup Location. Orders are due by September 12 and pickup is on Monday, September 22nd from 9:00 am to 9:30 am.
Throughout the year, Signature Caterers offers a selection of unique and delicious themed menus for holidays and special occasions. Each menu is designed by our in-house chef and catering team and will take your holiday meal to the next level with traditional favorites. We offer pickup in Silver Spring, Maryland, and delivery within a 10-mile radius of our location. On select holidays, various central location pickups will be available. Our current specialty menus include Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Shavuot, Thanksgiving and Superbowl Sunday.
Deliver Rosh Hashanah Gift Bags
Weeks of September 7th and 15th
Register Here
Once the hundreds of hesed honey cakes are baked, they need to be delivered! This is a wonderful opportunity to spread joy and sweetness before Rosh Hashanah! Deliver as a family, with a friend, or enjoy a bike ride around the city with a basket full of sweets :)
The Gates Swing Open: A Rosh Hashanah Community Discussion
Wednesday, September 17 at 7pm, Biran Beit Midrash | Click Here To Register
Led by Amy Golen and Ellen Winter. Sponsored by the Wellness Center.
Join us as we gather together for a contemplative Rosh Hashanah reflection. With Rabbi Alan Lew z”l as our teacher, we will discuss sections of his 2003 classic book, This Is Real And You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation. This volume follows the spiritual calendar from Tisha B’Av to Sukkot. Our discussion this year will focus on Rosh Hashanah and follows past discussions on the Ten Days of Teshuvah and Sukkot. Rabbi Lew continues to be one of the leading voices in Jewish spiritual practice. His insights, consistently relevant, can guide us on the meaning of the High Holiday journey, especially during these challenging times.
The complete book is inspiring and can be easily purchased online; note there is an updated paperback edition. If you would prefer a shorter read, here is a link to related portions for our discussion, including Chapter 6: “The Horn Blows, the Gates Swing Open, and We Feel the Winds of Heaven: Rosh Hashanah.”
The Elul Chronicles
adasisrael.org/elul
Join Adas Israel clergy and community members as we explore the themes of the season in writing, song, and video, on the meaning of this holy season. We will offer meditations several times a week to inspire, challenge and help us explore our own spiritual work as we approach these sacred days of Awe.
Wellness Center Yoga and Meditation Series with Tobie Whitman
Fridays, 10:15am-11:30am, Funger Hall
September 12 & 26, October 10 & 24 | Register Here
Bring mindful awareness to the body and the breath with a Wellness Center vinyasa yoga series rooted in the Jewish calendar. Through slow, deliberate sequences and energetic cues focused on alignment and cultivating interception, Tobie Whitman (RYT-200) helps students achieve embodied presence. Leave this one hour class feeling centered, calm and refreshed. Tobie is a dedicated vipassana meditation practitioner and has practiced yoga for nearly 25 years.
Grief, Loss, and the High Holy Days with Mick Neustadt LICSW
Dates Coming Soon
If you have experienced the loss of a loved one or friend, the High Holy Days may prove to be a very emotional time. In this one-hour workshop, Adas Social Worker Mick Neustadt will offer guidance and reflection on navigating your feelings, and remembering your loved one(s).
Dip in the Mikvah
Prepare Yourself for the Days of Awe
For millennia the Jewish community has used the Mikvah as a profound spiritual ritual. For moments of deep joy, transition, loss and so much more the living waters of this beautiful space have given people moments of calm, healing, reflection, introspection, peace and wholeness. One of the most sacred times to use the Mikvah is during the Jewish month of Elul , in the 30 days leading up to the High Holidays. This is one way to prepare for the sacred season - take a few moments in these living waters to set the intention for your own spiritual growth and commitment in the New Year ahead. All are welcome.
Feel free to make use of this incredibly beautiful holy space and book an immersion (with or without a guide) in the month of Elul (we have added extra hours to accommodate for additional appointments) - mikvahcalendar.as.me/schedule.php or contact Rabbi Yolkut at rabbi.yolkut@adasisrael.org.
HHD Immersion, Join Us During the High Holy Days
Alternative Musaf Singing Circle
Rosh Hashanah Day 2, Wed, September 24 at 11:30am, Gewirz Beit Am
Join Rabbi Krinsky, Micah Hendler and Rabbi Daniel Novick for a spiritual musaf anchored by communal song. Sitting in concentric circles, we will move through the musical moments of the liturgy, immersing ourselves in the service’s grounding melodies.
Families with Infants and Toddlers Rosh Hashanah Celebration
Rosh Hashanah Day 2, Wed, September 24 at 10:30am, in the Gan Space
Families with infants and toddlers (birth-2years) are invited to a Rosh Hashanah celebration full of song, snacks, and connection. If you would like more information on joining a Havurah, please visit our program calendar, register for the Havurah Program, or email Darci Lewis, for more information—we look forward to welcoming you!
Tashlich Experience
Community Tashlich: Rosh Hashanah Day 1, Tue, Sep 23 at 5:00pm
On Rosh Hashanah, there is a special ceremony where we traditionally go to an ocean, stream, or river to pray and throw breadcrumbs into the water. This serves to symbolically release the things we wish to let go of and set our intention for the coming year. Meet on the Connecticut Ave. Plaza
