Getting Selichot

My apologies for not sharing or publishing more often, but the blog as been unofficially been put "on hold" and I hope to have more clarity of the future of this resource in the new Jewish Year (if you like or feel strongly about this blog, please feel free to comment and/or share so that I can pass on the feedback).

However I did not want to miss the opportunity to share a wonderful perspective on selichot - which begin for Ashkanzim tonight, the motzai Shabbat before Rosh Hashana. Rabbi Benny Lau made a fascinating point this evening about the uniqueness of the selichot service.

There are specific rules governing tefilla, which often call upon a rabbi or gabbai to arbitrate what should be said under specific circumstances.  One such questions arises regarding the kaddish titkabel - the full kaddish. Rav Benny noted that this is only said after davening the Amidah - which the gemara really considers tefilla.  Interestingly, kaddish titkabel is said at the end of the selichot service, despite the very absence of the Amidah.  His argument was that we are to treat this service with the similar level of preparation and intensity, as the structural hope of the kaddish asks for Hashem to receive (titkabel) the requests and prayers, and follows with our desire for peace to come upon us and all of Israel.  Rav Benny cited a source (I think the Levush Malchut) arguing that selichot are structured like a normal mincha service, starting with ashrei, followed but a hatzi kaddish, and ending with tachanun and then kaddish titkabel. The motivational goal here is for each of us to reapproach our selcihot to the core text, the 13 attributes and to see them as an opportunity to a recharge our divine sparks.

I want to humbly add on to Rav Benny's words by noting that the essence of Neilla on Yom Kippur is the furious recitation of selichot and our plea's for mercy rooted in the heritage of the covenant of the 13 attributes as the gates of the day close.

I hope that you have a meaningful preparation for the High Holy Days.

Don't Forget to Add...

A warm wish to all the readers of the blog, Hodesh Tov - may this the last month of the Jewish year bring you a culmination of your efforts and tefillot! I hope that you didn't miss the 'world day of tefilla" that I read about in The Yeshiva World News.

More important, don't forget to add 'L'David' - psalm 27 to your tefillot. To the Sephardic readers, may your selichot be received!

Carlebach Selichot?

If you poll a bunch of Jews asking what is their favorite prayer service, I am pretty confident that Kabalat Shabbat would be the hands down winner.  If you similarly polled the same bunch of people what is their least favorite service - that would actually be an interesting poll to run - what would they say?

I do not think that selichot would necessarily be at the top of that second list (top 5?) - that is because for serious daveners selichot is a special seasonal addition.  However, for many people selichot can be tedious and a challenge to connect to, because of the hour it is said and the text.  When I asked an educator friend how to better infuse spirit to the Tuesday morning selichot, he replied, "do it Carlebach style".  I think his presumption was that Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's music has made kabalat Shabbat so energized that perhaps that should be the approach for selichot.  (I have personally been to first night selichot in the 'Carlebach' genre and do think it was more positive than my more traditional experiences).

Towards this notion, another friend recently passed on to me the following three youtube clips of Reb Shlomo reciting selichot and I encourage you to listen and watch these tefillot.

Part 1/3

Part 2/3

Part 3/3

Here are some of my reflections:

• The power of a unique niggun, the tunes for this season is very powerful and not only gets me in the mood for davening on Rosh Hashanah but is a great educational tool for students.  The nusach of yamim noraim transcends time and never goes out of style.  
• Musical instruments just add to any tefilla experience.
• There needs to be a tune to daven to, not just the silent mumbling along.  I think it gives a great deal of agency and helps one transcend the words to be in the moment, and extends the moment a bit longer; it makes the mediation important.
• Stories - the actual selcihot help to tell the story of the path to teshuvah and forgiveness.  Reb Shlomo adds a few more metaphors and stories.  What story are you telling this year?  

My friend also added the following note - a good inspiration for your upcoming tefillot.  

Reb Shlomo said that sometimes when you go in to the emergency room you sit down and are patient to be seen. But when you have a really serious medical problem that can't wait you go right past the door and scream, "emergency, it's an emergency." Selichos is when a person cries to Hashem and says, "I'm an emergency." 

Selichos is when I realize that I can't wait to be close to You again! I can't wait to correct my ways, I need You to help me let myself be me again, right now. Please. My whole life is an emergency. Praying to G-d on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is the medicine. 

לשמוע אל הרינה ואל התפילה

This is the sentence that captures the essence of the beginning of selichot!  For me, it is as powerful as the trumpeting of the shofar.

How can we get our students to listen, to hearken and actively attach themselves to the joy and the tefilla of this season?  

The Car Wash Selichot Service

It is that time of year - when tickets go on sale for synagogues, when school is interrupted by a parade of Jewish holydays, and we plan to eat and eat and eat again.

The first event of the season traditionally is the first night of selichot. While Sefardic Jews begin reciting selichot on the first day of Elul, Ashkenizim began only last night on the first Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. In my communities, there was a lot of grumbling about the additional 30 minutes added on to their morning tefilla time. Some people are drawn to the service by tradition; other are drawn in by the tunes used (check out this article Desperately Seeking S'lihot by Allan Nadler), others chose not go.

The above picture titled "Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur" often captures how I used to feel about the prospects of spending hours on end inside a shul.

It says in Vayikra 29:30:

בַּחדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בֶּעָשׂוֹר לַחדֶשׁ תְּעַנּוּ אֶת-נַפְשתֵיכֶם, וְכָל-מְלָאכָה לא תַעֲשׂוּ--הָאֶזְרָח, וְהַגֵּר הַגָּר בְּתוֹכְכֶם. כִּי-בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם, לְטַהֵר אֶתְכֶם: מִכל, חַטֹּאתֵיכֶם, לִפְנֵי ה', תִּטְהָרוּ

I like to call this the "Car Warsh" approach to tefilla. The pasuk reads that, "in the seventh month on the 10th of that month, you shall afflict your souls and refrain from any work; the citizen and the stranger that dwells among you. For this day itself will atone for you, to purify you, from all of your sins, and before Hashem, you shall be purified (my translation).

Indeed the Rambam discusses (in Hilchot Teshuva) that even if a person doesn't "prepare" for Yom Kippur by asking forgiveness from others or making amends to their creator, the essence of the days washes away minor transgressions and gives you a new chance at life. That is to say that even if you don't want to get forgiveness - by going through the certain motions on Yom Kippur - sitting through the sermons and clapping your chest - you can get spiritually cleaned by coming out on the other side.

I think that is a popular attitude among some worshipers that hope to get through the selcihot service believing that their attendance, coupled with mumbling of words of piyutim they don't fully comprehend, gains special points for the holiday. I struggle with this approach and how to impart a greater passion to my students that it isn't about turning the pages to get to the end of the day and that one does not have to say every word in order to attain divine forgiveness.

These are my thoughts on the upcoming Days of Awe - and hope to share some more insights from the works that I am reading. One comment that came in to the blog: Imagine a selichot service that captures the energy of a Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat?