Selihot — why, when and how they are said in the Sephardic rite

Elul · Yamim Noraim · Sephardic rite

Forty days, an hour of favour, and thirteen words that never come back empty

Selihot — why, when and how they are said in the Sephardic rite

Forty days, an hour of favour, and thirteen words that never come back empty

Selihot are not one more prayer. They carry out what Hashem showed Moshe after the sin of the calf: “He wrapped Himself like a prayer leader and showed him the order of prayer” (Rosh Hashana 17b).

Sephardic rite: they are said from Rosh Hodesh Elul until Yom Kippur — forty days, matching the forty days Moshe spent going up for the second Tablets.

The chosen hour is ashmoret haboker, the last third of the night, before dawn. Following the practice received from the Ari zal, they are not said before hatsot.

The heart of the text is not its length but the Thirteen Attributes: “A covenant was made with the thirteen attributes: they never come back empty.”

Selihot prepare teshuva; they do not replace it. Without real repair, the mouth asks for what the life refuses.

📖 Full study

1 What the word means

The word seliha does not mean “excuse”. An excuse smooths over discomfort; a seliha cancels a debt. It belongs to the vocabulary of a King who waives what is owed to Him, not to that of a man playing down what he did.

That is why these prayers are not built as a defence plea. They do not argue innocence: they acknowledge the debt and appeal to one thing only — the attributes by which Hashem conducts Himself with His creatures.

2 Where the custom comes from — Moshe's forty days

After the sin of the golden calf, Moshe went up Sinai a third time. Traditional sources — Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer and the Midrash Tanhuma — place that ascent on the first of Elul and the descent on the tenth of Tishrei, with the second Tablets. Forty days between the two.

The day of that descent became Yom Kippur. It is not a date chosen for convenience: it is the anniversary of a pardon actually granted.

The Selihot calendar follows exactly that period. Saying them from Rosh Hodesh Elul is not adding prayers: it is walking the forty days again, every year.

3 The Sephardic custom, and why it differs from the Ashkenazi one

The Shulhan Arukh (Orah Hayim, siman 581) deals with when one begins. The Sephardic custom — followed by the communities of North Africa, Iraq, Syria and Spain — is to begin at Rosh Hodesh Elul and continue until Yom Kippur.

The Ashkenazi custom begins much later, on the motsa'ei Shabbat before Rosh Hashana, making sure to say at least four days of Selihot before the festival.

Both customs are ancient and legitimate. Each person follows the custom of his fathers and his community. A Sephardi is not “doing better” because he says more: he is following his rite, and that is what counts.

4 The hour: ashmoret haboker

The Talmud (Berakhot 3b) relates that a harp hung above King David's bed: at midnight the north wind made it sound, and David rose to study until dawn.

From there the custom takes the hour of Selihot: the ashmoret haboker, the last third of the night, just before dawn. Not out of asceticism, but because tradition sees it as an hour of favour.

Following the practice received from the Ari zal and kept in Sephardic communities, Selihot are not said before hatsot, midnight. Someone who cannot rise before dawn will say them during the day rather than too early in the night.

5 The centre of it all: the Thirteen Attributes

“Hashem, Hashem, God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in kindness and truth…” (Shemot 34:6-7)

The Talmud (Rosh Hashana 17b) teaches in the name of Rabbi Yohanan that Hashem wrapped Himself like a prayer leader, showed Moshe the order of prayer and told him: whenever Israel sins, let them perform this order before Me, and I shall forgive them. And the Talmud adds: “A covenant was made with the thirteen attributes: they never come back empty.”

Everything else in Selihot — the poems, the supplications, the verses — frames that passage. Someone who misses part of the text has not missed the essential; someone who passes through the Thirteen Attributes without attention has missed the heart.

The Thirteen Attributes are a davar shebikdusha: they are recited with a minyan. A person praying alone says them with the te'amim, in the manner of a Torah reading, not as an invocation.

6 What Selihot are not

They are not a price list: reciting more does not buy more. They are not a formula: the text does not work on its own. And they are not a substitute for repair.

A man asks forgiveness every night for a sum he took, and every morning he keeps it. His mouth asks for what his life refuses. The words are not false: they have no object.

The rule is well known and severe: offences against another person are not forgiven by Yom Kippur until the injured party has been appeased. Selihot change nothing about that, and never claimed to.

7 In practice, this year

Rosh Hashana 5787 begins on Friday evening, 11 September 2026, and continues on Shabbat 12 September. Yom Kippur begins on Sunday evening, 20 September, and ends on Monday 21 September.

We are therefore in the last days of Elul, when the Sephardic custom intensifies Selihot. A few common points of practice:

— Whoever rises before dawn first says the blessings on the Torah, since Selihot contain verses and passages of study.

— One stands for the Thirteen Attributes and for the vidui.

— Without a minyan one does not say Kaddish or the Aramaic passages meant for the congregation; the Thirteen Attributes are then said with the te'amim.

These indications follow Sephardic practice as recorded in Yalkut Yosef and Hazon Ovadia — Yamim Noraim. For a personal situation one asks one's Rav: a web page does not replace a ruling.

🎯 Test yourself

Five questions. Click an answer.

In the Sephardic rite, when does one start saying Selihot?

The Sephardic custom starts at Rosh Hodesh Elul and runs until Yom Kippur: forty days. The motsa'ei Shabbat before Rosh Hashana is the Ashkenazi custom.

What do the forty days from Elul to Yom Kippur correspond to?

Traditional sources place Moshe's third ascent from 1 Elul to 10 Tishrei: he comes down with the second Tablets on the day that became Yom Kippur.

Which hour is chosen for Selihot?

Ashmoret haboker, the last third of the night. Following the practice received from the Ari zal, they are not said before hatsot.

What does the Talmud say about the Thirteen Attributes?

Rosh Hashana 17b: “A covenant was made with the thirteen attributes: they never come back empty.”

How does someone praying alone, without a minyan, say the Thirteen Attributes?

The Thirteen Attributes are a davar shebikdusha: without a minyan, Sephardic practice is to read them with the te'amim, like a passage of Torah.

Result

📅 Ten days to enter Selihot differently

Day 1

Rise before dawn once this week, and say Selihot without watching the clock.

Day 2

Read the Thirteen Attributes slowly, once, in your own language, to know what you are reciting.

Day 3

Pick one single wrong done to someone close, and repair it before Rosh Hashana.

Day 4

Call the person you owe an apology. Do not write: call.

Day 5

Give back or settle a sum, however small, that you have been holding on to too long.

Day 6

Say Selihot with a minyan, at the Beith Haknesset, rather than alone at home.

Day 7

Write three lines: what I want this year not to resemble from the last one.

Day 8

Study the passage of Shemot 34:6-7 with a commentary, not from memory.

Day 9

Give up one habitual phrase of yours that hurts someone at home.

Day 10

The eve of Kippur: ask forgiveness face to face, out loud, from the one you wronged.

🎯 Test yourself

Result

Shalom Bayit — The Mouth at Home

Gematria — Rav Ménaché

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