Selichot from Rosh Hodesh Elul
Sephardim say Selichot for the whole month of Elul and through Yom Kippur, usually before dawn. Ashkenazim begin a few days before Rosh Hashana.
The SelichotHolidays1–2 Tishrei · Two days
The shofar, the Yehi Ratzon blessings over the simanim, Selichot from the start of Elul, and the melodies of the Sephardic machzor.
NextBegins at sundown Friday, October 1 · ends at nightfall Sunday, October 3, 2027
Rosh Hashana, the head of the year, is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and the day on which the world is judged. The Torah calls it Yom Teru'ah, the day of the shofar blast, and the prayers crown God as King.
Sephardim begin preparing a month earlier, rising before dawn for Selichot from the start of Elul. On the holiday itself, the solemnity of judgment meets the confidence of children before a loving Father: the tables are full, the simanim are blessed, and the melodies are sung by the whole congregation.
Tikhleh shana vekileloteha, tahel shana uvirkhoteha: let the year and its curses end, let the year and its blessings begin.
The month of Elul
Sephardim say Selichot for the whole month of Elul and through Yom Kippur, usually before dawn. Ashkenazim begin a few days before Rosh Hashana.
The SelichotIn many Sephardic synagogues the shofar is sounded during Selichot, as a call to wake up and return.
The month of ElulOn the morning before Rosh Hashana, after Selichot, many perform Hatarat Nedarim before three men, releasing vows made during the year.
Before the Day of Judgment we give tzedakah and ask forgiveness of the people we have hurt.
The mitzvah of the day
The Torah commands us to hear the shofar on both days of Rosh Hashana. When the first day falls on Shabbat, the shofar is not sounded that day.
"Lishmoa kol shofar" and Sheheheyanu. The listener answers Amen and intends to fulfil the mitzvah, without speaking until the end of the sounds.
Teki'ah, a long blast; Shevarim, three broken sounds; and Teru'ah, a series of short staccato notes, in the combinations set by the Sages.
Thirty sounds are blown before Musaf. Sephardim, following the Arizal, also sound the shofar during the silent Amidah of Musaf and during its repetition, completing one hundred sounds by the end of the prayers.
Before the shofar, many Sephardic congregations sing the piyyut "Et Sha'arei Ratzon" by Rabbi Yehuda ibn Abbas, retelling the binding of Isaac.
Someone who cannot come to the synagogue should still hear the shofar, at least thirty sounds, ideally from a person who comes to them.
The machzor
The eve of Rosh Hashana opens with this piyyut by the 13th-century kabbalist Rabbi Avraham Hazan Girondi, each verse ending "tikhleh shana vekileloteha."
The Musaf Amidah proclaims God as King, recalls that He remembers every creature, and recalls the shofar of Sinai and of the redemption.
Our Father, our King: said during the Ten Days of Repentance, with the congregation's answers sung aloud.
From Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur the Amidah ends its third blessing with "the holy King" and adds "Zokhrenu lehayim." If forgotten, ask your rabbi about repeating.
In the synagogue
Sarah is remembered on Rosh Hashana. Maftir: Numbers 29:1–6.
Haftarah: 1 Samuel 1:1–2:10, the prayer of Hannah
The ram caught in the thicket, the source of the ram's-horn shofar. Maftir: Numbers 29:1–6.
Haftarah: Jeremiah 31:1–19, "Is Ephraim not My dear son?"
Yehi Ratzon
The Talmud teaches that at the start of the year one should see or eat foods whose names hint at blessing (Keritot 6a), and the Shulhan Arukh records the custom (583:1). Before each food we say a short prayer beginning Yehi Ratzon, "May it be Your will." The simanim are prayers, not charms: no food is forbidden on Rosh Hashana.
That our enemies be consumed (yitamu). The blessing Ha'etz is said first, over the dates.
That our merits increase (yirbu).
That those who wish us harm be cut off (yikaretu).
That our adversaries depart (yistalku).
That the evil decree be torn up (tikra) and our merits be read (yikare'u) before You.
That our merits be as many as its seeds.
That we be renewed for a good and sweet year.
That we be the head and not the tail.
Through the two days
On the afternoon of the first day (the second, when the first is Shabbat), we go to a sea, river or spring and say Micah 7:18–20, "You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," with verses and prayers from the Kabbalists. The custom is first recorded in medieval Germany and spread to every community.
The Yerushalmi warns that one who sleeps at the start of the year, his luck sleeps. Many Sephardim avoid sleeping during the daytime of Rosh Hashana and spend it in Tehillim and learning.
Rosh Hashana is a Yom Tov: "Eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks... for the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).
Many Sephardic synagogues offer the honors of opening the Heikhal and carrying the Torah to support the community. The merit is the gift to the community, not a purchase of blessing.
Side by side
The whole month of Elul
From the Saturday night before Rosh Hashana
Sounded in the silent Amidah and the repetition
Sounded in the repetition
A full seder of simanim with Yehi Ratzon
Mainly apple in honey and a few simanim
The piyyut Ahot Ketanah
No equivalent
Sweet and abundant
Sweet and savory together, for a sweet year; served with couscous on many Moroccan tables.
A festive dish of the Amar family table, rich with cinnamon and honey.
Rose-shaped pastries filled with sweet squash, echoing the kara of the simanim.
Golden with saffron, bringing two simanim into one bowl.
For "the head and not the tail," and for blessings as many as the fish of the sea.
The simplest simanim, on every Sephardic table.
Across the Sephardic world
A long seder of simanim, often with a lamb's head, sweet couscous and the family melodies of the machzor. The Amar family guide preserves one such table.
The "Seder Yehi Ratzon" with its blessings, and the Selichot sung to the maqam traditions of Aleppo.
Rodanchas, leek keftes and the Ladino blessing "Anyada buena, dulse i alegre": a good, sweet and happy year.
The simanim seder, sweets of dates, and the Baghdadi melodies for Selichot and the High Holy Day prayers.
The stately melodies of the Western Sephardic tradition and the shofar sounded in congregations founded by the first Sephardic families of the New World.
Sephardic U media
Keep learning
Questions
From the day after Rosh Hodesh Elul, for the whole month and through the Ten Days of Repentance, usually before dawn.
Foods whose names hint at blessing, such as dates, leeks, beets, gourd, pomegranate and the head of a fish, each eaten after a short Yehi Ratzon prayer. Sephardim usually make a full seder of them on both nights.
No. The simanim are prayers for a good year. Avoiding sour or dark foods is a folk custom, not a law.
One hundred, including sounds during the silent Amidah of Musaf and its repetition, following the Arizal.
No. On Shabbat the shofar is not sounded; it is heard on the second day.
A prayer said at a body of water on the first afternoon of Rosh Hashana, casting our sins away in the words of the prophet Micah.
"Tizku leshanim rabbot," may you merit many years, or in Ladino "Anyada buena." The answer is "Ne'imot vetovot."