High Holiday Seat Reservations: How Synagogues Get Tickets, Dues and Seat Forms In Before the Deadline

How do High Holiday seat reservations work?

In many congregations, seats for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are reserved through a seat reservation form, released to members who are current on their dues, and assigned or priced by location. Non-members buy tickets. It is the one moment in the synagogue year when almost every household has to do something by a fixed date.

• Seats depend on dues: "Reminder: At least 1/2 of member dues must be paid by September 15, to receive High Holiday tickets" (Pleasantville Community Synagogue).
• Seat assignments depend on being current: "Members must be current in their dues through August 2026 to be eligible for a seat assignment" (Congregation Etz Ahaim).
• Guests pay for tickets: non-member tickets at "$565 for one year" (Beth Tfiloh).

Why are High Holiday seats tied to dues?

Because dues are how the synagogue exists at all. Dues cover somewhere between "45 percent all the way to 85 percent" of synagogue costs (Etz Hayim), and the High Holidays are when members most want to be there.

• The sums are real: "$1,420 dues each" per adult at Har Zion Temple; "Individual Adult - $2,140 / 2 Adults - $3,650" at Anshe Emet.
• The movement's own rabbis describe the seat gate as the gentle path: CCAR Responsa lists making "admission to High Holiday services" contingent "upon payment of financial obligations or the making of acceptable arrangements to do so" as "less difficult, divisive, and contentious than the initiation of legal action" (CCAR Responsa).
• And the gate has a door in it: "acceptable arrangements" means a member who can't pay in full can still come.

What goes wrong with seat reservations every year?

• Forms go out as email and PDF, and a large share of households never send them back.
• Part-paid members find out late that the dues deadline for seats has passed.
• The office spends the last two weeks on the phone, in the busiest fortnight of its year.
• Members who can't afford dues go quiet, and some simply don't come. That is the outcome every rabbi wants to avoid.
• Nobody knows who is coming until the doors open, which makes seating, ushers and guest tickets guesswork.

When are the High Holidays in 2027?

Diaspora dates from Hebcal. Each holiday begins at sundown on the first date.

• Rosh Hashana 5788: 1 to 3 October 2027.
• Yom Kippur: 10 to 11 October 2027.
• The dues and seats window: mid-August to 1 October 2027, the most valuable calling window in the synagogue year.
• About three weeks later than this year: Rosh Hashana fell on 11 to 13 September 2026. 5787 is a Hebrew leap year, so a campaign copied from this year's civil dates would run three weeks out of step.
• The last calls are on the afternoon of 1 October 2027. No member should get a call after candle-lighting on erev Rosh Hashana.

What does a seat reservation calling plan look like?

1. March to April 2027: add a consent line to the renewal form and the seat reservation form, and register your texting number.
2. June to July: renewal statements and seat forms go out as usual.
3. Mid-August: members who haven't returned the seat form, or haven't paid what seats require, get a call: "This is about reserving your seats for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Can I text you the form?" No answer means a voicemail in your director's own voice, then the text.
4. Late August: a second pass. Members who said they'd pay by a date get a reminder text on that date.
5. Two weeks before your dues deadline: calls to part-paid members, so nobody discovers the deadline after it has passed.
6. The final week: a text to anyone still open, and a list for your office of members who need a personal call.
7. After Rosh Hashana: Yom Kippur and Sukkot invitations, by text for most members and by call for those who prefer it.

What should the seat reservation call say?

• Who is calling: your synagogue's name, in your members' own word for it: shul, temple or synagogue.
• Why, in one sentence: reserving seats for the High Holidays.
• The easy step: "Can I text you the seat form?" or "Can I text you the link for tickets?"
• Dues as part of the holidays, not a debt: never "past due" or "final notice."
• Answers to the usual questions: where the family sits, whether guests can come, what happens with children, all from facts your office approves.
• A way through for anyone who can't pay: a private conversation with your executive director or rabbi, by name.

What happens when a member can't afford dues or seats?

The call stops asking, and a person makes sure the family can still come. The Reform responsa hold that "no Jew should be denied the opportunity to affiliate with the community and no Jewish child should be denied a Jewish education out of inability to pay," and Orthodox writing agrees: "you dare not sanction him for something outside his ability."

• The call hands it to a named person: dues policies already say "please call Executive Director ... or Rabbi ... to discuss alternative arrangements" (Ansche Chesed).
• Dues asks stop for good for that member. Asking again after a stated inability to pay is exactly what Jewish law on debts rules out.
• Seats are still possible through the "acceptable arrangements" your director decides.
• A caveat: CCAR is the Reform rabbinate. Conservative and Orthodox congregations should confirm their approach with their own rabbi.

What did one congregation's High Holiday campaign find?

Real numbers from one congregation's High Holiday campaign across roughly 1,900 members, and the Sukkot invitation that followed:

• A person answered on 26% of calls. Plan on about a quarter for live conversations.
• About half of the calls went to voicemail, so roughly three in four members heard from the synagogue in some form.
• 966 voicemails were in the director's own voice.
• 155 members called back to carry on the conversation, and several said thank you.
• On Sukkot, 115+ text replies came in on the first day, most from members who hadn't answered the call, while older members engaged well on live calls.

Should you call lapsed members before the High Holidays?

Yes. The High Holidays are when families who drifted away are most likely to think about coming back, and your records already hold them as "resigned" or "Unspecified."

• Start with recent lapses: households that were members in the last few years and simply didn't renew.
• Invite, don't bill: "We'd love to have you with us for Rosh Hashana. Can I text you the details?"
• Offer the way back that fits: renewing membership, a guest ticket, or a conversation with the rabbi.
• Respect a clear no: anyone who says they have joined another congregation or don't want calls is removed the same day.
• Every answer cleans your records, so next year's statements go to the right households.

Emailed seat forms vs. office phone calls vs. a calling campaign

Most synagogues use the first two. Here is what each covers between mid-August and erev Rosh Hashana.

How much are High Holiday seats worth to the budget?

• One household that renews instead of drifting away brings in $1,420 to $3,650 or more, depending on your dues model.
• Guest tickets add up: at $565 a ticket, ten families bringing one guest each is over $5,600.
• The calling cost: member calling runs on the $60/month plan with 220 minutes included, then $0.20 a minute. Most congregations add minutes for August and September only.
• Measure by result: seats reserved, dues paid or arranged, tickets sold and hardship found, not calls placed. "A platform advertising '$0.05 per call' may actually cost more than one advertising '$0.03 per minute'" (RoboTalker).

What should go on this year's seat reservation form?

The seat form is the one document almost every household returns, which makes it the best place to get calling right. A summary of public regulatory material, not legal advice.

• A consent line beside the phone number: AI and prerecorded voice are both regulated under the TCPA (FCC 24-17), and mobiles need consent.
• Don't rely on the nonprofit exemption for tickets: it covers up to three calls in 30 days to residential lines, and whether a paid-event ask counts as telemarketing is a question for your counsel.
• A texting opt-in: carriers have blocked unregistered business texting since 1 December 2024. A synagogue that registers in late August may not be texting by the High Holidays.
• A mobile and a home number, and which one to call.

Where do the seats and payments live?

• In your own system, exactly as today: ShulCloud, ShulSuite, Rakefet or your own website.
• AutoCallFlow integrates with all of them, and we connect your member list for you during setup.
• Members pay and reserve through your own links, which the call texts them. Money never passes through the calling service.
• Your office gets one morning list: seats reserved, will reserve by a date, wants a call back, can't manage dues this year, guests coming, wrong number.

For the full dues cycle, see Synagogue Annual Billing: The Manual Steps in the Dues Cycle, and Which Ones a Call Can Fix. For how a calling campaign runs for tickets, dues and events, see Synagogue Calling Service: How It Works for Tickets, Dues and Events.