Leil Selichotסְלִיחוֹת

Selichot or slichot (Hebrew: סליחות) are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on Fast Days. In the Ashkenazic tradition, it begins on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. If, however, the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Monday or Tuesday, Selichot are said beginning the Saturday night prior to ensure that Selichot are recited at least four times. "Leil Selichot" means "the night of Selichot": the first, communal Selichot service that opens the penitential season and sets the spiritual tone for the Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim). Where the broader practice of Selichot unfolds over many nights, this opening service is the threshold: it awakens a spirit of repentance (teshuvah), honest self-reflection, and contrition for the past year's shortcomings as the community turns toward Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The prayers are built around the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exodus 34:6-7), which the congregation chants responsively to dwell on God's compassion and the real possibility of personal change. Tradition links the impulse to seek forgiveness through such petitions to King David, and the prayers themselves grew from fast-day pleas mentioned in the Mishnah, later embellished with liturgical poems (piyyutim) composed largely in the Geonic period.

Timing depends heavily on rite, so dates vary. In the Ashkenazi tradition, Selichot begin on the Saturday night (Motzaei Shabbat) before Rosh Hashanah, traditionally recited after halachic midnight (chatzot) and then daily before the morning service until Rosh Hashanah (but not on Shabbat). Because a minimum number of Selichot recitations (commonly described as at least four days) is required, when the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on a Monday or Tuesday, Selichot begin the preceding Saturday night, roughly a week and a half earlier, so the opening Leil Selichot is always a Saturday night. By contrast, the Sephardi custom recites Selichot throughout the entire month of Elul, beginning the 2nd of Elul (a roughly 40-day period), without a single distinct "Leil Selichot" comparable to the Ashkenazi first night; the Italian rite begins on a Monday or Thursday shortly before Rosh Hashanah. This is a custom-driven observance tied to the lead-up to the High Holidays rather than a fixed calendar day, and the Israel/Diaspora distinction is less relevant here than the difference between rites.

Leil Selichot has no Torah, Haftarah, or Megillah reading, and therefore no Torah cantillation, unlike Tisha B'Av (Eicha trope), Purim (Esther trope), or the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Torah readings (High Holiday trope). Instead, the service has its own liturgical structure: it opens with Ashrei (Psalm 145) and Half-Kaddish, centers on the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exodus 34:6-7) chanted responsively, and weaves together several kinds of piyyutim, among them selichah (forgiveness poems), pizmon (refrain hymns that change by day), akeidah (poems invoking the Binding of Isaac), and confessional poems including the alphabetical Ashamnu. Tachanun-style techinot follow, and the service closes with Full Kaddish (the Shema and Amidah are omitted). The distinctive musical feature is not a scriptural trope but the penitential High Holiday nusach (chazzanut): on the first night the hazzan traditionally dons a kittel and sings elaborate, longing melodies, often with a choir, that anticipate and introduce the melodic mode of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

In Ashkenazi communities, Leil Selichot is the most well-attended Selichot service of the year, drawing men, women, and children to a late-night (post-midnight) Motzaei Shabbat gathering that, in larger congregations led by a cantor and choir, can run well over an hour. The hazzan wears a white kittel, and the service is widely treated as the emotional "kickoff" to the High Holiday season, an occasion for communal gathering, study programs, and concerts in many modern congregations. A historical Eastern European custom had a community official walk through town before dawn, knocking to wake people for Selichot. Sephardim, by contrast, rise early throughout Elul to recite Selichot before dawn. The custom of reciting after halachic midnight follows the teaching of the Zohar and the Arizal that the hours after midnight are a time of mercy rather than judgment.