THE HIGH (PRICED) HOLIDAYS
Temple tix rival ‘Ham’
The hottest ticket in town is not “Hamilton,” but a seat for the Jewish High Holidays at a tony Upper East Side synagogue.
Ducats for the first 10 rows for Sunday night’s Rosh Hashanah service at Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue will set worshippers back $3,275 each.
An orchestra seat for the Broadway hit on Sunday afternoon would cost you only $1,502.
The synagogue’s price package also includes an annual membership to the Reform temple.
Even a ticket in the less desirable Section M is $835 and difficult to come by. Tickets for always-crowded Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah services usually sell out far in advance, according to a temple administrator.
While it is common for synagogues to sell membership and holiday packages, some have criticized the “pay to pray” model.
Rabbi Judith Hauptman of Ohel Ayalah, a “pop-up synagogue” geared toward millennials, called the pricing structure “offensive” and conducts nocost Rosh Hashanah services.
“We are hemorrhaging Jews and we have to put absolutely no obstacles for ones who want to show up on the High Holy Days,” Hauptman said.
There is also no charge for High Holiday seats at the Chabad Jewish Center on West 65th Street.
Rabbi Yehuda Lipskier said he would find it difficult to turn away a worshiper for monetary reasons.
“Synagogues are free to charge, but to make it mandatory — that’s not the way we do it,” Lipskier said. “It’s a free country. They can charge $3,000 a ticket, but if somebody comes up to the door and says, ‘I want to come in and pray’ and they say, ‘No, you don’t have a ticket,’ I have a problem with that.”
Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown Sunday and marks the celebration of the Jewish New Year of 5777. The joyous holiday is punctuated by the blowing of the shofar, or ram’s horn, and starts the 10-day High Holiday period ending in Yom Kippur on Oct. 12.
Temple Emanu-El was founded in 1845 as the first Reform Judaism congregation in New York and seats more than 2,500 people.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and CNN president Jeff Zucker are just a few of the temple’s high-profile congregants. Past members included Joan Rivers. Former Mayor Edward Koch’s funeral was held there.
The synagogue’s Web site says it does not deny membership to anyone for financial reasons. Services will also be broadcast on the site for free.