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Our Rabbi's Message
September 19th 2008
By Rabbi Aaron KriegelAlthough the shofar has been blown every day since the beginning of the month of Elul, for most people the High Holiday season begins tonight at the stroke of twelve. Of course, like the myth that Washington threw a coin across the Delaware, or that he admitted that he cut down the cherry tree; the myth of Selichoth is really not true at all.
Indeed, the Selichoth prayers, which are said in some communities every day from the beginning of Elul and in other communities almost every other day, were never supposed to be said at midnight for two reasons: First, midnight on our watches is a made up time and did not exist in ancient or even medieval times, and two, Selichoth itself was never meant to be chanted in the middle of the night, but rather at dawn (or just before the dawn.)
Selichoth itself is not a holiday or even a semi-holiday with a long tradition behind it. The fact is that the day developed because people wanted to hear how good the chazzan was before the High Holidays. In some instances the evening was a dress rehearsal and in other cases it was the chance just to hear how good the cantor was who had just been hired, but had not been heard by the rank and file membership.
In our township Selichoth is the time before the High Holidays when we have the opportunity to enjoy the music of our cantors who are already well known to the community. This is not a time for deep reflection, but rather for enjoyment. For that reason we have made Selichoth a time for fancy deserts and usually a speaker too.
While not a secular event, Selichoth borders on the secular. It is at this time that one can enjoy the cantors' voice and not have to listen to the sermons of the rabbis.
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