Slihot: A time of prayer, compassion and forgiveness - book review

This year, just in time for the slihot services, Koren Publishers in Jerusalem has produced an impressive prayer book and guide for the services. The Reid Family Edition Koren Slihot Minhag Lita is the first of three planned editions to be published according to the three major Ashkenazi traditions: Lita, Polin, and Anglia.

The publication features an introduction and commentary by Rabbi Dr. Jacob Schacter and a translation of the piyyutim by Sara Daniel, who produced the correct combination of comprehensible language without losing the traditional spirit of the words. Schacter and Daniel were assisted by Dayan Ivan Binstock of London, Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb of New York and Jerusalem, and Rabbi Leonard Matanky of Chicago. The fruit of their labor is an accessible prayer book offering deeper understanding to its users.

“It is humbling to bring forth a work that presumes to appeal to the Creator’s forgiveness,” notes publisher Matthew Miller in his preface. “We can only hope and pray that this new edition will bring the reader and their congregation closer to the meaning of the ancient words, and clear the way to the path of personal and communal repentance.”

Schacter’s introduction explains the development and significance of the prayers, whose fundamental element includes the recital of The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. He also explains why different communities have different customs regarding when they start to recite slihot prayers. The overriding principle, whenever we recite them, is to do so in a meaningful way.

“We are obligated to perform various mitzvah acts and, in addition, to do so with feeling and intention,” writes Schacter. “A robot can also shake a lulav or immerse in a mikveh but, as human beings, we are engaged in a relationship with God and need to bring the fullness of our humanity into that relationship. Mitzva observance is two-fold: act and affect, motion and emotion, external and internal, formal compliance and living experience; it consists of both ‘religion in manifestation’ and ‘religion in essence.’”

He quotes Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, who said: “The same is true of prayer. It consists of both experiencing the complete helplessness of man, his absolute dependence on God, and the performance of the ritual prayer, of reciting fixed texts.”

This is, of course, particularly true of slihot prayers. As Schacter puts it: “One cannot just read the words and be done with it; one needs to be emotionally engaged with the words, to recite them as ‘words of supplication and penitence,’ deliberately, slowly and with kavanah (sincere feeling, direction of the heart).”

In his introduction, he also expands on another central theme of the prayers: the Akeida (sacrifice of Isaac), tying it to the persecution, suffering and martyrdom of Jews who gave their lives in sanctification of God’s name throughout time. These are not easy concepts to handle, especially in a politically correct era where many progressive branches of Judaism focus more on tikkun olam (mending the world) than on acknowledging the Divine presence and the concept of Divine revenge.

“When we meet disaster and are confronted with misfortune, we are enjoined to submit to what we believe to be the will of God,” Schacter writes, in a section on Tzidduk HaDin. “As we begin the slihot service every single day... Before we utter one word we state, clearly and unambiguously, that whatever you decide for us this year, You are right. Full stop.”

Clearly, a lot of thought and effort went into the preparation and publication of this edition of slihot, dedicated to the memory of Josef Reid. The pages of Hebrew and English text are set side by side on opposite pages, and the font makes the book easy on the eyes. The extensive commentary in the form of footnotes, in addition to the introduction, provides added depth and insight.