Yom Kippur 5787 at the Israeli Centre: Kol Nidrei on Sunday Night, No Tickets, Everyone Welcome

Last updated: September 14, 2026

Yes. Yom Kippur services in Thornhill with no tickets are exactly what the Sephardic Israeli Centre runs, at 7700 Bathurst St, Unit 1, in Promenade Village. Kol Nidrei 5787 falls on Sunday night, 20 September 2026, and Yom Kippur continues through Monday, 21 September. There is no ticket, no seat card, no registration and nothing to arrange in advance: you walk in, you take a seat, you daven.

The Short Answer

Yom Kippur services in Thornhill with no tickets at the Sephardic Israeli Centre work the simplest way possible: you come to 7700 Bathurst St, Unit 1, at Promenade Village, and you come in. Kol Nidrei 5787 is on Sunday night, 20 September 2026. The exact time the chazan begins, and every time through Neilah on Monday, is on the calendar at merkazisraeli.com/calendar, which is the only place we will ever quote a yom tov time, because those times move every single year.

If you are an Israeli or Hebrew-speaking family in Thornhill Woods, Bathurst Manor, Richmond Hill or near Bathurst and Centre, and the last Yom Kippur you actually sat through was in Israel, this is written for you. Not for someone comparing shul options on a spreadsheet. For the person who wants to hear Kol Nidrei in the nusach of their grandfather and does not want to fill in a form first.

The Full Answer

What “no tickets” actually means here

At The Israeli Centre there are no High Holiday tickets, no seat assignments and no registration. There is nothing to pay at the door and nothing to sign. That is the whole policy, and it is shorter than most people expect it to be.

People sometimes phone anyway, just to check that they heard right. The honest answer is that the Centre grew from about twenty-five people, and a place that started that way does not build a gate at the front. The building runs on donations, in Canadian dollars, at merkazisraeli.com/donate, designated to the area of greatest need, to Kiddush and Shabbat meals, to Torah learning or to the building fund. Give if and when you want to. It has nothing to do with whether you can walk in on Kol Nidrei.

Kol Nidrei on a Sunday night: what the room is like

Kol Nidrei at the Israeli Centre is Sephardic, Nusach Edot HaMizrach, the tunes and the pronunciation Israelis know from home. Yom tov events here fill the building with two and three hundred people, so the room is full, warm and slightly too small, which is exactly how a Yom Kippur night in Israel feels.

You will hear Hebrew in the aisles before it starts. Not shul Hebrew: kitchen Hebrew, phone-call Hebrew, the kind spoken by a family that landed in Vaughan eighteen months ago. Then it goes quiet. That drop in the room, right before the chazan starts, is the reason people come back the next year.

Where the times live, and why we will not print them here

Every Shabbat, candle-lighting, Havdalah and holiday time at The Israeli Centre is published on the calendar at merkazisraeli.com/calendar and nowhere else. Those times change week to week and year to year with the Toronto sunset, and a blog post from Elul is the worst possible place to read one. Check the calendar the day before Yom Kippur, not a screenshot someone sent you in a WhatsApp group in 5786.

What does not move is the weekday rhythm you can use to get familiar with the place beforehand: Shacharis at 8:45am, Mincha and Arvit at 7:00pm.

Coming for the first time: five steps

Coming with children

Children are not a problem at The Israeli Centre on Yom Kippur; over two hundred children pass through the youth programmes here every month, so nobody is going to freeze when a four-year-old makes noise during Neilah. Bring them. Take them out when they need out. Come back in.

If your kids liked being here, ChillZone is the natural next step: weekly groups for Jewish kids and teens every Motzei Shabbos, boys 7:00 to 8:00pm and girls 8:00 to 9:00pm, about 250 kids, pizza and prizes, season opening 4 October 2026. Registration is at chillzone.org, and it fills the same building that will be packed on Yom Kippur.

What happens the week after Kol Nidrei

The honest reason most Israeli families in Thornhill do not end up connected anywhere is not Yom Kippur. It is the Tuesday afterwards, when nothing is on the calendar and the momentum dies. At The Israeli Centre the week after is already scheduled: Shacharit every Sunday at 9:00am with a full breakfast afterwards, Kollel Zichron Avraham learning Masechet Yoma every night from 8:15 to 9:00pm with Rabbi Moshe Gershon as Rosh Kollel, and a Shabbos with a kiddush every single week.

When the Answer Is Different

The Israeli Centre’s no-ticket Yom Kippur in Thornhill works for almost everybody, but there are a few situations where you should make a phone call before Sunday 20 September 2026 rather than just showing up.

You need a specific kind of seat

If you are bringing a parent who cannot stand for long, or someone who needs to be near a door, do not leave it to chance in a room holding two and three hundred people on yom tov. Call Rabbi MG at 647-588-9967 beforehand. There is still no ticket and no charge; it is simply easier when somebody knows you are coming.

You grew up with a different nusach

Tefillah at The Israeli Centre is Nusach Edot HaMizrach, start to finish. If your machzor at home is an Ashkenazi one, a Koren or an ArtScroll from a previous shul, the order and the melodies will not line up perfectly with what the chazan is doing. Most people manage fine and follow along. If following along matters to you, borrow an Edot HaMizrach machzor from the shelf when you arrive.

You have a health question about fasting

This is not the place for that answer, and we will not give one here. Speak to your doctor about the medical side and to a rav about the halachic side. Rabbi MG is reachable at 647-588-9967 and speaks Hebrew, English, French, Yiddish and Flemish, so the language will not be the obstacle.

You are looking for a meal, not a seat

Chesed at The Israeli Centre covers Shabbat meals, hospitality and assistance, and that runs year-round, not only around yom tov. If you are new in Vaughan or Richmond Hill and you have nowhere to eat before or after the fast, that is a phone call, not a form. 647-588-9967, or info@israelicenter.org.

Our Take After Four Years on Bathurst

Rabbi MG came to Toronto four years ago and opened a Thursday night shiur that started with two men and grew to fifty and sixty. Before that: born and raised in Antwerp, yeshiva in Jerusalem, semicha in Israel, an LLB and a short spell in family law, more than twenty years in Bnei Brak and twenty years at the family restaurant in Monticello in the Catskills. That last line is the one people underestimate. Two decades of running a restaurant teaches you how to make a stranger feel fed and unjudged, which is most of what a shul lobby needs on Kol Nidrei night.

What we notice, year after year, is that Israelis in Thornhill overweigh the entry question and underweigh the return question. They spend Elul working out whether they are allowed in somewhere. They spend zero minutes working out what happens on the Sunday after. The Sunday after is the one that decides whether your family is connected here in five years, and ours is easy: 9:00am Shacharit, then breakfast, then people standing around talking too long over coffee.

The thing we would tell a friend: do not treat Yom Kippur as your audition. Come once before it if you can, on an ordinary Sunday morning, so that Kol Nidrei is not the first time you open that door. It changes the whole night.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a ticket or a membership for Yom Kippur at The Israeli Centre in Thornhill?

No tickets and no registration exist at The Israeli Centre, 7700 Bathurst St, Unit 1, Promenade Village, Thornhill, for Yom Kippur or for any other day of the year. You walk in and take a seat. Donations are entirely voluntary and are made at merkazisraeli.com/donate.

What time is Kol Nidrei 5787 in Thornhill?

Kol Nidrei 5787 falls on Sunday evening, 20 September 2026, with Yom Kippur continuing through Monday, 21 September 2026. The exact time is published on the calendar at merkazisraeli.com/calendar, because yom tov times shift with the Toronto sunset every year and we never print them in an article.

Is the Yom Kippur service Sephardic and in Hebrew?

The Yom Kippur tefillah at The Israeli Centre is Sephardic, Nusach Edot HaMizrach, the same nusach used for daily and Shabbat tefillah all year. The davening is in Hebrew and the room is full of Israelis and Hebrew speakers from Thornhill, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and North York, so you will hear Hebrew before and after as well.

Can I bring my children to Yom Kippur, and is there something for them afterwards?

Children are welcome at Yom Kippur at The Israeli Centre, where over two hundred children pass through the youth programmes every month. After the chagim, ChillZone runs every Motzei Shabbos from 4 October 2026, boys 7:00 to 8:00pm and girls 8:00 to 9:00pm, with about 250 kids, pizza and prizes; registration is at chillzone.org.

Come see the place before Kol Nidrei if you can. Sunday morning Shacharit at 9:00am with breakfast afterwards, any weekday Mincha and Arvit at 7:00pm, a shiur from the weekly schedule, or Shabbos with the kiddush that follows it. The Israeli Centre, 7700 Bathurst St, Unit 1, Promenade Village, Thornhill. Rabbi MG: 647-588-9967, or info@israelicenter.org. Ring first, or just show up; both work.

Sources

1. Gregorian dates for Yom Kippur 5787 (20 to 21 September 2026) – Hebcal Jewish Calendar
2. All Shabbat, holiday and Yom Kippur times for The Israeli Centre – The Israeli Centre calendar
3. ChillZone youth programme registration and season dates – ChillZone
4. Donation designations in Canadian dollars (greatest need, Kiddush and Shabbat meals, Torah learning, building fund) – The Israeli Centre donations page