Shabbat and shuls in Ma'ale Adumim

Ma'ale Adumim has a lot of shuls: the municipality's official list has 46 synagogues, with addresses and gabbaim. What it mostly does not say is nusach or language, and that is the honest headline of this guide: I could not confirm a current English-speaking minyan. Here is what I did find. See the shul listings and the Shabbat times.

Candle lighting: two published times

I found no candle-lighting custom published by the municipality or the religious council. Their weekly times are on the religious-services WhatsApp bot (052-8460889), and the council's old website is gone. Two published times exist:

• 20 minutes before sunset: Hebcal's standard Israeli time, and the time Kipa lists for Ma'ale Adumim.
• 30 minutes before sunset: the time Chabad.org lists for Ma'ale Adumim.

The Shabbat page shows both. Follow your shul or family.

Finding a shul

• The official list marks nusach only for a few: Megadim Ashkenazi and Megadim Sephardi (both at Pri Megadim 25) and Moshe Dayan (Ashkenazi) at 1 HaChalamish St.
• Kehillot Tehilla (2011) said most shuls are Sephardi and named the Nachalat Yehuda Carlebach minyan in Mitzpe Nevo as having a large Anglo kehilla. That source is 15 years old, so please check before you go.
• Ohel Rachel, the matnas shul at 5 Derech Midbar Yehuda, is Orthodox, nusach Ashkenaz/Sefard with Carlebach tunes, with shiurim on Shabbat and chag. Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat start 20 minutes after candle lighting, and it hosts aliyot for smachot by arrangement.
• Yeshivat Birkat Moshe (hesder, Mitzpe Nevo 21) was founded in 1977.

Other names come up in conversation (Musar Avicha, Pnei Shmuel, the Mitzpe Nevo shul), but I have not been able to confirm whether any of them has an English-speaking minyan. If you daven at one, please tell me and I will add it.

In summer the municipality holds a community Kabbalat Shabbat with music and dancing in Park Shamir on Friday afternoons.

Mikvaot

The Religious Council runs five women's mikvaot with fixed hours (Mitzpe Nevo 96, HaNachalim 96, Pri Megadim 105, HaArava 3 and HaShayish 35) and Be'er Michal in Givat HaMeyasdim by appointment. Hours are Sun-Thu evenings, roughly 18:30-22:00 in winter and 19:30-22:30 in summer, with some differences; on Friday night and Yom Tov they open 30 minutes after Shabbat or chag begins, for 1 hour 10 minutes. Every mikveh has a free keilim mikveh beside it, open in the daytime. The men's mikveh in Mitzpe Nevo costs 10 NIS on weekdays and 20 NIS on Fridays and erev chag, with a 121 NIS monthly pass. Kfar Adumim has its own mikveh.

The eruv

The municipal eruv page currently has a heading and no map. The religious-services WhatsApp bot (052-8460889) says it has the eruv map. Please check the eruv's status there each week.

Getting married here

Couples marrying through the Ma'ale Adumim Religious Council register 3 months to 45 days before the wedding. The fee is 708 NIS, discounted to 425 NIS for soldiers and national service volunteers, students up to 30, yeshiva students and olim in their first two years. Olim from abroad first establish eligibility to marry at the rabbinical court. Council phone: 02-5354001.

Kashrut

Businesses in the city are supervised by the Ma'ale Adumim religious council. Kfar Adumim's businesses are under Mateh Binyamin's council. The kashrut levels shown in this directory come from the council's 2022 list, so always check the certificate on the wall. More in where to shop and eat.