Shabbat and shuls in Kfar Saba: candle lighting, about 100 synagogues, mikvaot

Kfar Saba has a full religious infrastructure, run by the city's religious council, but I have to be upfront: I could not verify any Orthodox shul that davens in English or French. Here is what I did find.

Candle lighting

This site shows candle lighting 20 minutes before sunset, which is Hebcal's standard for Israel, calculated for the city centre (see Shabbat times). I found no published Kfar Saba custom: the religious council posts prayer-time sheets, but no candle-lighting rule. If your shul publishes its own time, follow your shul, and please tell me so I can fix the site.

The religious council

The Kfar Saba Religious Council at 48 Herzl St (09-7905600) handles marriage registration, mikvaot, the eruv and kashrut. Public hours are Sun, Mon, Tue and Thu 08:00-14:00, Tue 16:30-18:30 and Fri 09:00-11:00 (religious council (opens in a new tab)). It publishes a "synagogues and gabbaim" list and a prayer-times sheet as PDFs (5784 editions when I checked) (prayer times page (opens in a new tab)). See the listing.

Finding a shul

The council's open-data list (2021) has 101 named synagogues with addresses (municipal open data (opens in a new tab)). Kipa's directory lists about 50 by nusach: Ashkenaz, Sefard, Yerushalmi, Moroccan, Yemenite and Edot HaMizrach (Kipa (opens in a new tab), community source). A few starting points:

• HaMerkazi, the central Ashkenazi synagogue at Weizmann corner Herzl, with weekday Shacharit at 06:00, 07:00 and 07:30 and Maariv at 21:00 among others (Kipa (opens in a new tab)).
• Beit Dorshi (Tel Hai and HaCarmel), which posts a weekly Hebrew bulletin with prayer times online (Beit Dorshi (opens in a new tab)).
• HaMinyan HaChadash, the Bnei Akiva youth minyan and a Carlebach minyan on HaCarmel St.
• Heichal David at the Dimri Center on Engel St, in the HaYeruka area.
• Chabad houses on Weizmann St (105, 09-767-3568), in the east, at Meir hospital and at Beit Berl (Lubavitch.com (opens in a new tab)).
• GoDaven lists weekday Mincha minyanim in the Atir Yeda hi-tech park.

See all shul listings.

English and French speakers: the honest picture

I checked NBN, Kipa, the council list, GoDaven and many web searches, and found no English-speaking or French-speaking Orthodox synagogue (NBN (opens in a new tab)). The one English-facing congregation is Hod VeHadar, a Masorti (Conservative) kehilla at 4 HaChish St serving families from Kfar Saba, Ra'anana and Hod HaSharon, with Shabbat and holiday services and a Monday morning minyan; it has an English website (NBN, Masorti kehillot (opens in a new tab); Hod VeHadar (opens in a new tab)). See the listing.

If you daven at a Kfar Saba shul with English or French speakers, a regular English shiur, or a French-speaking minyan, please tell me with the email button. It is the most useful correction this site could get.

Mikvaot

Women's mikvaot run by the council are in Kaplan (3 Mordechai St), the centre (67 Tel Hai St), Ben Gurion St 23 and Shikun Aliya (16 HaAchdut St). Weekday hours follow sunset; on Friday and holiday eves they open at candle lighting for one hour only, and brides book by phone during opening hours (municipality (opens in a new tab)). Keilim mikvaot operate at the same four sites.

Kashrut

The council's kashrut department says only an original, valid certificate proves a business is kosher, and points to the Ministry of Religious Services portal (kashrut department (opens in a new tab)). More in the shopping and food guide.

What is open on Shabbat

• Yitzhak Wald city park is open every day including Shabbat and holidays, 05:30-23:00, free (municipality (opens in a new tab)).
• G Kfar Saba says it opens on Shabbat; Kanyon Arim and the HaYeruka mall reopen after Shabbat.
• Medical: Bikur Rofe urgent care and the duty-pharmacy call-in service (see the health guide).

Eruv

The religious council is responsible for the eruv, but I found no public eruv map or weekly status online. Ask the council (09-7905600) or your shul.