These prayers have been layered over centuries though the format that is currently used in most synagogues has been pretty much established since the seventeenth century. Tens of scholars and poets have contributed to composing the liturgy of these prayers, within which much of the history of the Jewish people and their exile has been recorded.

 

Since the prayers are almost all written in a poetic form, their vocabulary and structural format is often times difficult for the average Jew to fathom and appreciate. Nevertheless, these prayers have become hallowed in Jewish tradition and have stood the test of time in a tireless and amazing fashion.

 

The choice of which prayers were to be recited was really a democratic one – with the people reciting the prayers themselves choosing which prayers to recite – and a practical one dictated by the printers who produced these special prayer books. The printers were interested in space on the page and as a result some of the greatest and most poignant prayers were never included in the printed version. Some were too long or too short or too unwieldy to fit neatly fit onto the printed page.

 

Jewish tradition treated this anomaly – the luck of the draw, so to speak – as being heavenly inspired and not just random human choice. Because of this belief in a supernatural hand guiding the ritual of selichot, this prayer service has remained static for most of the last five centuries.

 

The rebirth of the Jewish people in the State of Israel over the past decades has forced us to take a new look at the format and contents of these penitential prayers. There has been much experimentation regarding the traditional service here in Israel.  There are those who feel that our return to national sovereignty in our ancient homeland dictates a new look at the words that we recite. We have seen that in the kinnot recited on Tisha B’Av, new prayers have been inserted to commemorate the tragedy and disaster of the Holocaust of World War II.

 

There also exists an entire special prayer service to mark Israel Independence Day and also Yom Yerushalayim. Even though these additions to our established prayer services are not yet fully adopted by all sections of the Jewish world, it is fair to say that they have secured some sort of place of permanence within religious Jewry. However, there certainly is a built-in resistance to any sort of change, be it addition or subtraction, in the established format and ritual of our time honored services.

 

A new format for the selichot services has recently been published and here in Israel. It is entitled Selicht Eretz Yisrael. It was edited and revised by a number of scholarly rabbis of the national religious Zionist movement. It uses modern Hebrew and has eliminated much of the prose and style of the prayers of old. It has considerably shortened the surface itself and contains new prayers, composed to be more relevant and understandable in current Israeli society.

 

After perusing this work, I decided for myself to stick with the old format and its contents. Of course I realize that this is partially a generational thing and that people of my hoary age are very reluctant to accept change to long-held and time-honored traditions, rituals and habits. Yet, I must say that the new version is an almost heartless work. There is very little emotion in modern Israeli Hebrew as it is spoken and written. And it certainly lacks the overlay of tradition and the innate feeling that one has knowing that one is praying not only to the God of one’s fathers but using the same words that his father and grandfather did in faraway places and under different circumstances.

 

To me the old selichot, archaic and obtuse as they may be are the proper introduction to the days of judgment and mercy that are upon us. The new version will undoubtedly gain in popularity amongst certain sections and perhaps later generations of Israeli society. But it does not yet speak to me or for me.

 

Shabbat shalom

 

Berel Wein