Musical Selichot as Jews prepare for Rosh Hashanah
Starting on Saturday night, all Jewish communities are now reciting the prayers of penitence leading up to the Day of Judgment. Herein Ynet shares a musical version of the prayers with the Carlebach melody, led by Yitzchak Meir.
Hundreds of thousands of Ashkenazi Jews in Israel and abroad began reciting the penitent prayers of Selichot on Saturday night in preparation for Rosh Hashanah. They thus have joined Jews from eastern traditions, who began the late-night prayers at the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul three weeks ago.
In the below video, using the melody of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, the Jeshurun Synagogue in Jerusalem, Cantor Yitzchak Meir led the prayers, sponsored by the Ginot Ha’Ir Community Council, the Jerusalem Muncipality's Youth Authority and Even Yerushalmit.
Meir said that he began musical Selichot eight years ago after his discharge from the IDF, together with a group of friends, and he was surprised to discover that they weren't alone. "I naively thought that it was my own personal craziness, and then every year, I've rediscovered that it really isn't just me," the singer explained. "The group of those praying with us just grows every year from Elul to Elul, and each time we have to find a new place that's bigger.
"I was pleased to find that the soul's desire to connect through music, through song, to the good, to the holy, crosses sectors. It's a need of masses of people. I invite anybody who feels in his heart some prayer and purity through song and music to join us."
