Difficulties in Reciting Selichot

Hello Rabbi, I try to get up for Selichot every day, but it's really hard for me because I don't feel it leads me to repentance. I just say the words and feel nothing. Is there a point in continuing to make an effort and say Selichot every day?

Shalom Rav,

In every prayer, we have two parts and forms of prayer, and we need to do both. It's important to understand and recognize both.

There is a prayer from the heart when you are connected to the prayer and speak with the Creator as a son to his father. Every person must find time for such a prayer, which often comes out better when one is alone, and after the prayer, the person feels spiritual elevation and a good feeling, and that's excellent.

But there is a completely different prayer, which is the fixed prayer established by the Men of the Great Assembly. In this prayer, you need to feel as if the President of the USA personally likes you and asked you to request something for the people of Israel, and he will fulfill the request. A professional team familiar with the president carefully selected which words to say, how to stand, when to play, and when to speak formally. Of course, the analogy is much more than the example, but I am trying to bring the analogy closer to what we can grasp. The fixed prayer, where there is first and foremost an obligation to feel that we are standing before a king, requires very serious work and many years to connect to the words and text. Everyone, of course, has prayers they connect to more and prayers that are more challenging to connect to, but saying the fixed text established by the ancients is like saying a text composed by a professional team, even if we do not understand its exact meaning and even if it is difficult for us to connect to the text. In this prayer, the importance of praying together with the community is much more significant. After such a prayer, we do not always feel spiritual elevation, but it connects the soul of a person to the Creator with much greater strength, and it is very important to understand these things in the importance and virtue of prayer, even when feeling dryness and lack of taste.

The recitation of Selichot is a powerful tool established by the ancients to prepare for Rosh Hashanah and merit in judgment, and to approach the King of Kings. Even if we feel less of a connection, there is a tremendous merit in it that is worth striving very hard to achieve, and it will be rewarded to us manifold in the coming year.

Alongside this, it is very important to invest and try to connect to at least one section of the Selichot, which can be said with emotion and feel elevation.

Wishing you a good inscription and sealing

Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim, Siman 581, סעיף 1).