As We Enter Rosh Hashana, Adon HaSelichot, Lord of Forgiveness
A Rap Song That's a Prayer, in Translation
The streets and the synagogues of Israel are teeming now, late into the night and in the earliest hours of the morning, with people gathering to pray Selichot, the Pentintence prayers that are said by Sephardi Jews for the entire Hebrew month of Elul and by all in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah and during the Days of Repentance between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.
There has always been something joyous in the song and prayers of the Sephardi Selichot. For those who may not be familiar - have a listen to this medley of Selichot songs by popular Mizrahi (Eastern) singer Daniel Saadon. Listening to these melodies, the message seems to be that at the core of these prayers, we aren’t praying for forgiveness so much as we are celebrating G-d’s forgiveness that we know will come.
Adon HaSelichot, the song I bring today, with its rap beat, the traditional words of the traditional Adon HaSelichot prayeras its chorus, and the original and very personal words of its verses, is a combination of this joy, the pain in looking at one’s “off” actions that one might expect to hear in a song asking for forgiveness, and the personal sense of redemption that comes with fully believing that that forgiveness will come.
It is sung by Hanan Ben Ari, a wildly popular singer whose music walks the line of devotion and questioning (which I’d argue is also a deep kind of devotion), and rap singer EZ (Erez Sharon).
I will close with a blessing similar to what I shared recently, because with the news of the last weeks, it seems, please G-d, this is already happening, and yet it is a prayer that is still so needed:
I bless all of us with a new year that will surprise us with its incredible healing and goodness as last year surpised us with its difficulty and pain.
Shana Tova u’metuka. A good sweet year to all of you. Thank you for being here.