What are you doing Saturday night at 12:00 a.m.?
Join us Saturday night, September 5, for a special Selichot prayer service kicking off the High Holiday season. According to Kabbalah and Chassidic tradition, these prayers should be recited in the early hours of the morning, an auspicious time of mercy. The Selichot service will be preceded by an inspirational farbrengen led by Rabbi Shmuel.
Saturday, September 12, 2026
12:00 a.m. - Farbrengen
1:00 a.m - Selichot service
Selichot are special early morning prayers said in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. They’re built from powerful verses and ancient poetry that help us pause, reflect, and enter the High Holidays with a sense of honesty and renewal. We begin Selichot on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah, gathering after midnight for a moving, communal moment of introspection.
The service itself is gentle and reflective: the leader chants certain lines, the congregation responds, and together everyone recites themes of compassion, forgiveness, and hope. One of the central moments is the “13 Attributes of Mercy,” a timeless formula for divine compassion first taught to Moses. Toward the end, the ark is opened and the community reads a short confession — not to induce guilt, but to acknowledge where we hope to grow. Selichot helps us enter the High Holidays already in the mindset of return, grounding the season in sincerity, humility, and connection.
