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Category: Education Content: Elul and Selichot From "Judaism 101: The Month of Elul and Selichot. http://www.jewfaq.org/elul.htm. The month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Tradition teaches that the month of Elul is a particularly propitious time for repentance. This mood of repentance builds through the month of Elul to the period of Selichot, to Rosh Hashanah, and finally to Yom Kippur........... Elul is also a time to begin the process of asking forgiveness for wrongs done to other people. According to Jewish tradition, G-d cannot forgive us for sins committed against another person until we have first obtained forgiveness from the person we have wronged. This is not as easy a task as you might think, if you have never done it. This process of seeking forgiveness continues through the Days of Awe. Selichot As the month of Elul draws to a close, the mood of repentance becomes more urgent. Prayers for forgiveness called selichot (properly pronounced "s'lee-KHOHT," but often pronounced "SLI-khus") are added to the daily cycle of religious services. Selichot are recited in the early morning, before normal daily shacharit service. Selichot: A High Holiday Warm-Up By Rabbi Amy Small Congregation Beth Hatikvah, A Reconstructionist Community in Chatham, New Jersey A reading in the Kol Haneshamah machzor (the High Holiday prayer book) reads: "new year approaches, and we prepare to see ourselves, not in the mirror of our vanity, not in the opinion of our neighbors, but in the light of our highest ideals, that which we call Sacred. We are not at one with ourselves or with our neighbors, Our problems, pride and impatience separate us from the atonement we seek. Yet without that atonement, we are maimed in mind and spirit. The burden of old quarrels, whose cause we scarcely remember, weighs upon us. So too, do the broken friendship and promises, the appeals we denied, the requests we refused, and all the opportunities for good we rejected. This selichot night, we confirm our need for reconciliation and atonement to repair our fractured lives." The selichot service is our preparation for the prayers and teshuvah (personal "turning" or repentance) of the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe. It is awfully difficult to look deep inside our souls to review our lives during the past year if we have not taken time to prepare. Hence our sages wisely gave us a spiritual "arm up" on Selichot night. I liken it to warming up before serious exercise or musical performance. We can compare it to any number of tasks in our own lives that require great effort and skill and concentration. The idea is that the Yamim Noraim are our grand annual opportunity to look at our lives, to examine ourselves deeply, and to recognize our mistakes and shortcomings. Once we recognize them, we can explore ways to redirect ourselves to improve our lives and the quality of our character. This is one of Judaism' greatest gifts--this inherent optimistic belief that we all have the capacity for change and improvement and the structure that helps us to find the direction and the courage to make these changes. Judaism insists on helping us to find the good within ourselves, even while we face our own disappointments and failures. Believing full well in our capacity for being godly, Judaism guides us to pursue it. Selichot's warm-up enables us to get off and running on Rosh Hashanah. We can truly begin a new year when we have honestly and thorough examined the successes and failures of the past. It has been said that Days are scrolls; write on them what you want to be remembered. What do we remember of the days of this past year? What would we want remembered of our lives in the days to come? During the month of Elul, the introspective time preceding Rosh Hashanah, and particularly on Selichot night, we have an opportunity to read our scroll and map out the edits for the book of our life. The liturgy of Selichot is customarily comprised of the "hit parade" of the congregational holy day melodies of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In that way it helps to facilitate a shift in our mood; at Selichot we know that it is time for the New Year. Copyright 2003 Congregation Beth Hatikvah