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SELIHOT
- The stress is on the last syllable
 .
 "Slihot" is the plural of the
verbal noun  "seliha", ie. the name of
an action.
- The word
 is a term of politeness and means pardon,
excuse (me), sorry, forgiveness.
- This plural has a special meaning, it is the title of a small prayer book
with prayers recited by Jews of oriental origin (Sefaradim) from the first of Elul,
the month before "Rosh Hashana" (Jewish New Year), or by Jews of western
origin (Ashkenazim) from the last Shabbat befor Rosh Hashana - if fewer then
four days, from the Shabbat before that Shabbat - in the hours after midnight
till the daybreak, these days are called
"yemey selihot".
- In these prayers, the Jew asks the Lord for forgiveness for all sins and
omissions in connection with religious observance.
- According to the tradition, after the sin of the Golden Calf, the first Tablets
of the Law were broken at 17th in the month of Tammuz, the month before Av, (for the list of months of the Jewish calandar see lesson three -
"Tish'ah beAv"), Moses ascended Mount Sinai on the first day of the month of Elul, and remained there until the 10th of the month
of Tishrei ie. "Yom Kippur", on that day the Lord forgave the people for their
sins, therefore these fourty days before the Day of Atonement are most
appropriate to ask for forgiveness.
- In East European Jewish comunities it was usual for the "Shammash", the
janitor of the synagogue, to go through the village knocking on the doors
calling believers to "Selihot" prayers (see the above illustration).
The First time consonants appearing in this,
for explanation click on each of them.
For linguistic discussion about the word
, click here.
For other lessons, correspondence and to
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