Penitential Prayer — The Selichot Tradition
Selichot (penitential prayers) are the liturgical tradition of seeking divine forgiveness through sustained, communal acknowledgment of human limitation and the thirteen divine attributes of mercy.
Selichot (forgiveness prayers) are the extended penitential liturgy recited in the days and weeks before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and on various fast days throughout the year. Their centerpiece is the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy, derived from God's self-revelation to Moses after the sin of the Golden Calf (Exodus 34:6-7): 'The Lord, the Lord — a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth, preserving loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin...' The Talmud teaches that God taught Moses to recite these thirteen attributes as an infallible formula for obtaining divine forgiveness: whenever Israel is in need of forgiveness, they should invoke these divine attributes. The midnight Selichot service (Ashkenazi tradition) — gathering in the darkness before the High Holidays — creates one of the most powerful experiences in the Jewish liturgical year: the community coming together in darkness to seek divine light.
The Lord, the Lord — a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth.
Selichot center on the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exodus 34:6–7). The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 17b) pictures God wrapping Himself like a prayer leader to teach Moses their recitation: 'Whenever Israel sins, let them perform this order before Me and I will forgive them.' Sephardim recite Selichot through all of Elul; Ashkenazim begin the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah.
Torah
Written about in
- What Judaism says about forgiveness
Selichot are built around the thirteen attributes of mercy God speaks after the Golden Calf, which the Talmud treats as a formula Israel may always invoke. Ashkenazi communities recite them at midnight — the tradition's own admission that this is work best done when nobody is watching.