Selichot “on one foot”:
Selichot is a prayer service before Rosh Hashanah. The word literally means “forgiveness”. Selichot is also a section of prayers asking for forgiveness which is added into the 5 Yom Kippur services (Arvit, Shacharit, Musaf, Mincha, and Neila). There is some, though not complete, overlap between the Selichot prayers before Rosh Hashanah and the Selichot prayers said on Yom Kippur.

When do we say Selichot?
The Sephardi tradition (Jews originally from Spain) is to say these prayers every morning during the month of Elul leading up to Rosh Hashanah. The Ashkenazi tradition (Jews originally from Central and then Eastern Europe) is to say it every morning starting the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah. However, there should be 4 days of saying Selichot before Rosh Hashanah, so if Rosh Hashanah is on a Tuesday or earlier in the week, then Selichot begins the previous Sunday morning. Some connect this with needing 4 days of inspecting sacrificial animals for blemishes in the Temple, suggesting that we need 4 days of inspecting ourselves. Many synagogues today do Selichot the Saturday evening before Rosh Hashanah, or the Saturday evening prior to that if that doesn’t leave 4 days before Rosh Hashanah. Because Selichot were originally recited at midnight, many synagogues today either do a full evening of Havdalah-teaching-eating-Selichot, or start it as late as they think their members will show up, often preceded by a little teaching and eating.

Why do we say Selichot?
We say Selichot to get us in the mood for the High Holidays. It is like pre-gaming, but with introspection instead of intoxication.

What is the history of Selichot?
The first prayerbook was written in 868 CE by Rav Amram Gaon of Babylonia (modern Iraq) in response to a question from the Jews of Barcelona about the proper order of prayers. His prayerbook also contained the first writing down of the Selichot service.

However, it came from somewhere before that. After the Israelites sinned with the Golden Calf, Moses needed support from G-d. G-d revealed the Thirteen Divine Attributes to him (Exodus 34:5-7). The Babylonian Talmud imagines G-d saying to Moses “When the Jewish people sin, let the prayer leader wrap themselves in a tallit and lead the community in saying these Thirteen Attributes and I will forgive them” (Rosh Hashanah 17b:5). In the Middle Ages, the Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Zuta, which is a collection of midrashim, imagines David foreseeing that the not-yet-built Temple would be destroyed and asking G-d how the Israelites would be forgiven for their sins without sacrifices. In this text, G-d’s answer is that the Israelites should gather together as one people, confess their sins, and say the Selichot service, and G-d would forgive their sins (Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Zuta, Additions to Seder Eliyahu Zuta, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 5). This service was then written down in Rav Amram Gaon’s prayerbook.

Later on, the service is mentioned in the 1000s Machzor Vitry, where it says that “it is a custom to begin on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah to rise early to the synagogue, before the sun rises, and beg for mercy” (Machzor Vitry 345). Maimonides talks about this happening in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the 1100s (Mishneh Torah, Repentence 3:4). In the Shulchan Aruch in 1563, Rabbi Joseph Caro describes the Sephardic custom of saying Selichot in the morning from the beginning of Elul until Yom Kippur, mirroring the 40 days Moses was on Mt. Sinai the second time, while Rabbi Moses Isserles says that for Ashkenazic Jews the custom is to daily blow the shofar starting at the beginning of Elul and say Selichot prayers starting the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah assuming the holiday isn’t on a Monday or Tuesday (in which case you start saying Selichot a week earlier) (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Hayim 581:1).

How do you say “Selichot” in ASL (American Sign Language)?

To sign “Selichot” in Hebrew, it’s the same as “I’m sorry” - “s” sign with your dominant hand in a clockwise circle on your chest (to make an “s”, fold down all your fingers except for your thumb, and cross your thumb over the index and middle finger).

Selichot is sort of like a Mincha / Afternoon service, but not exactly. It begins with Ashrei (primarily Psalm 145) and then has a Chatzi Kaddish (which functions as punctuation between sections of a service). Instead of an Amidah, it has the Thirteen Attributes of G-d (Divine traits revealed to Moses after the Golden Calf incident) surrounded by other texts about forgiveness. Selichot ends with a Kaddish Shalem (which is the punctuation between bigger sections of a service) and instead of Aleinu we end with Yigdal, a different description of G-d’s traits.

Here are some of the key prayers:

The Observant Life, edited by Martin Cohen (2012)
S’lichot are special prayers that are recited in anticipation of the High Holidays. These beautiful prayers composed by the greatest ancient and medieval poets introduce us to the themes of the upcoming holidays and intensify our avid anticipation of their arrival. According to Sephardic custom, these special penitential prayers are recited every morning during the month of Elul. In traditional Ashkenazic synagogues, and in some Conservative synagogues, the custom is to recite these prayers beginning on the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah, unless there will be fewer than four days between Sunday and the onset of the festival. Since there should be a minimum of four days of S’lichot, the recitation of S’lichot begins on a Sunday of the previous week in years in which Rosh Hashanah begins on Monday or Tuesday.

A contemporary American custom is the midnight S’lichot service held late Saturday night before the first Sunday when S’lichot are to be recited. (For many congregations, this is the sole vestige of S’lichot recitation.) This late night service highlights the beautiful liturgical pieces of the high holidays and, for many, truly initiates the High Holiday season.
- P. 145A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, by Rabbi Isaac Klein (1992)
Selichot, or penitential prayers, are recited before the morning service during the month of Elul and between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (O.H. 581:1). The Sefardim begin reciting Selichot on the first day of Elul; the Ashkenazim, on the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah. If Rosh Hashanah falls on Tuesday or earlier in the week, the recitation of Selichot begins on the Sunday morning of the preceding week (ibid. in Rama). We should have at least four days during which Selichot are recited. One of the reasons for this is that a sacrificial offering in the Temple was examined for four days for defects or blemishes that would disqualify it from being sacrificed. Man should consider himself to be like a sacrificial offering on Rosh Hashanah and hence needs four days for self-examination (ibid. in Ba’er Heitev 5). In America it has become customary to hold the first Selichot service on Saturday night after midnight. Since people are in the habit of staying up late on Saturday nights, it is easier for them to attend such services than to rise early the next morning. Another commendable custom is to have a study session during the hours proceeding the Selichot service at which some aspect of the meaning and purpose of the High Holidays is discussed. Some synagogues have social affairs prior to Selichot, but this is a reprehensible practice which should be discontinued. The mood of frivolity is not a fit preparation for penitential prayers.

The Selichot service is a collection of penitential prayers, the work of liturgical poets (payitanim) who flourished during the 10 centuries following the close of the Talmudic era. The structure of the service follows a definite pattern. Originally the service consisted of several groups of biblical verses, each climaxed by the recitation of The Thirteen Attributes. In the fifth or sixth century, Keil Melech Yosheiv was composed as a prelude to the recitation of The Thirteen attributes (Arza, Justice and Mercy, p. 207). In geonic times the service was further expanded with piyyutim. At present the standard form is to start with Psalm 145 and end with Shomer Yisrael, both being followed by Kaddish, the first with Chatzi Kaddish and the latter with Kaddish Shalem, in order to correspond to the pattern of the regular service (Levush, O.H. 581:1). The collection of biblical quotations, the Thirteen Attributes and their introductory prayers, short confession Ashamnu, and some concluding prayers are the constant of each service. The variables are the piyyutim, as different ones are recited each day.
- P. 178-179

What is Selichot?

Structure of סליחות
Modeled after תפילת שחרית

YHVH - I am God before people sin
YHVH - I am God after people sin if they repent
El - (All-powerful) God
Rahum - Compassionate
VeHanun - Gracious
Erekh Apayim - Slow to anger
Verav Hesed - Abounding in lovingkindness
Ve’emet - And in truth
Notzer hesed La’alafim - Maintaining lovingkindness for 1,000 generations
Nosei avon - Forgiving premeditated sins
Va’fesha - sins committed in rebellion
Va’hata’ah - sins made by mistake
Venakeh - acquitting the penitent.
(R. Tam, RH 17b, adapted by Max Arzt, Justice and Mercy)