There is a particular kind of heaviness that arrives with Slichot. It is the season of asking for forgiveness, of cleansing the soul, of introspection. It is the humbling work of standing before yourself and admitting: I can do better. I can be better. It is a heavy lift. 

Which is why there is something incredibly chutzpadik about the piyyut Adon HaSelichot that headlines our Slichot season. 

The piyyut is written as an acrostic, twenty-two lines, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, each line naming another attribute of God. All-knowing. All-powerful. All-possible. Most of us, facing the enormity of self-reflection, looking back at the year we’ve had, looking forward to the year we want, would pause. We’d gulp. We might freeze entirely. What words could we possibly offer to The One who already knows our internal messiness, who already tracks every mistake we’ve made? 

And yet here we are, with total humility, and somehow able to gather up the sheer nerve to stand and intonate, line after line after line, a catalogue of God’s own greatness. As if we mere humans have some charismatic power to remind God of God’s own virtues. “Awesome God, beneficent and good to all your creatures, clothed in right, declaring truth God, we have sinned before you; have mercy on us.” 

Four attributes, then the........

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