Selichot

Selichot is a service (or a series of services) that occurs the week before Rosh Hashonah. It's a series of penitentiary or apologetic prayers that get us in the correct mindset as we approach Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur and the days of awe (the ten days between the two holidays). It starts the Saturday night before RH (unless RH is very early in the week, then it's two Saturday nights before, in order to give four days of saying Selichot). Because Selichot isn't a normal service, and it's mainly Medieval poetry and hymns and sung biblical texts, it traditionally is said between the evening service and the morning service - meaning very late at night, or very, very early in the morning.

Last night, the HUC liturgy teachers took us to the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem (the "headquarters" of the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbinate in Israel and a super ultra-orthodox synagogue) for the Selichot service at 10:30PM. Since it's an orthodox congregation, the men and women sat separately - in this synagogue, the men are downstairs and the women are in an upstaris gallery. Many students - male and female - wwe upset about beign required to attend this service: "This isn't how I like to daven, so don't make me do something I don't want to."

To that I say: Poppycock! It's an educational experience. Let's learn something new by experiencing some part pof Judaism we're not comfortable with or used to. We're in Jerysalem for god's sake! Let's take advantage of that!

Ok, no more ranting. The service itself was bizarre. The cantor and choir are world renowned, and were amazing. It was beautiful music, sounding very medieval or renaissance, very Thomas Tallis-esque and a symphonic cacophony. But they sang in a very "high synagogue" style, very operatic, which made it hard to understand the words they were singing, consequently making it difficult, really for everyone in our group, to follow along. It was also a very long, and very slow service - they really dragged out the prayers, albeit in a beautiful way - and I may or may not have dozed off on a few occasions. But it was a very, very interesting learning experience and I'm very glad to have had it. It some ways, I feel much more emotionally and spiritually prepared for RH and YK and the days of awe. I'm excited and looking forward to experiencing the chagim in Jerusalem and with HUC and my friends here. I think it's going to be a very memorable year.