The Milken Archive records the complete midnight service preceding the High Holy Days
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A two-hour radio program entitled "A Season of Forgiveness: Music for the High Holy Days," featuring the complete midnight s'lihot* (penitential) service as recorded on the new Milken Archive CD, The First S'lihot, will be distributed by the WFMT Radio Network to radio stations throughout the country during the first two weeks in September.
This special program, produced by Larry Josephson, will include commentary and discussion by Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Dr. Neil Levin, artistic director of the Milken Archive and professor at the Seminary. For more information, including local stations and times, click here. |
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Each fall, Jews celebrate Rosh Hashana—the Jewish New Year—with blasts from the shofar, followed by ten days of self-reflection, repentance, spiritual renewal and music, known as the High Holy Days.
Culminating with Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the High Holy Days constitute the holiest period of the Jewish calendar. It is the time when Jews are required to account for their sins both against God and against their fellow men, asking for forgiveness and vowing to lead a life of greater adherence to God's teachings and of greater moral and spiritual virtue. Special services are held throughout this period to guide and encourage congregants in their self-contemplation.
In the days before the New Year, in the predawn hours, Jews traditionally precede their daily morning prayers with recitations of penitential supplications in spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days to come. These preparatory days are known as the "days of s'lihot."* They are inaugurated by an elaborate midnight service on the Saturday before Rosh Hashana, known as the "First S'lihot", or "S'lihot for the First Day", which commences the penitential season and is particularly rich with vocal liturgical music.
Cantor Benzion Miller
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young choristers |
In the authentic acoustics of London's historic orthodox New West End Synagogue, the Milken Archive recorded the complete First S'lihot service as it might be heard in orthodox or traditionally-oriented American synagogues with eastern European roots and aesthetic sensibilities.
This recording, completed in July 2001, was prepared according to the highest standards of liturgical and musical authenticity, and is now available on a new two-CD set, The First S'lihot, on the Naxos label.
The disc features the voices of Cantor Benzion Miller, a world-renowned hazzan well-versed in the musical idiosyncrasies of the traditional orthodox style, and the Schola Hebraeica, the world's only fully professional male-voice chorus devoted to Jewish and Judaically related music.
S'lihot is the plural form of the word s'liha, which literally means "forgiveness." A s'liha is a liturgical poem in which the worshipper prays for divine forgiveness from sin and transgression. Many of these liturgical poems have been set to music and are typically performed during s'lihot services by the cantor and choir.
The prayer texts of the s'lihot service include biblical references and quotations, Psalm recitations, and the kaddish. But the majority of the texts belong to the special category of s'liha poems. The earliest of these are at least as old as the Mishnaic period (1st-3rd centuries).
Most of the poetic s'lihot, however, were written between the 7th and 16th centuries. They were composed by g'onim (talmudic sages in Babylonia); by rishonim (early rabbinic codifiers of Jewish law); and by paytanim (authors of religious or liturgical poetry—piyyutim), including some of the most widely recognized medieval Hebrew poets such as Yehuda Halevi, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, and Moses Ibn Ezra, who was also known as hasallach (the supplicant) for his many s'lihot. Some s'lihot are anonymous; others reveal in acrostics only the first names of their authors.
Historical photo of a typical male choir ensemble
(Photo courtesy of the International Centre and Archives)
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The s'lihot literature focuses on such themes as repentance, return to God and His teachings, Israel's collective iniquities, God's mercy and compassion, ramifications of the Day of Judgment, acknowledgment of transgression, Divine forgiveness and pardon, and aspects of the complex relationship between God and the Jewish people. There are many allusions in the texts to biblical incidents and expressions, and in some cases a single biblical phrase or verse is the foundation for an entire s'liha.
In some recitations and improvisations, the hazzan renders an entire text. In others, he either begins a text and then allows time for the worshipers to complete it on their own while he does the same quietly, or the congregation recites a text, after which the hazzan intones a cadential recitation on its concluding lines.
Schola Hebraeica
(Photo courtesy of Neil Levin) |
As Dr. Neil Levin, professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and artistic director of the Milken Archive has written, the s'lihot service has become a kind of "religious concert," offering "a synthesis of musical and poetic art in synergy with the dynamics of a genuine prayer experience that encourages both personal and collective self-examination." The First S'lihot service has been interpreted in song as "a celebration of the conviction that God does indeed hear prayer and does respond to genuine resolve."
The Milken Archive CD includes comprehensive liner notes by Dr. Levin, exploring the history of the s'lihot service and explaining the structure of the service, including background of the settings and the composers who wrote them.
The CD also features newly-commissioned translations of the prayer texts by Rabbi Morton M. Leifman, as well as remarks by Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis of Congregation Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California, on the meaning of s'lihot for our time.
"To forgive is not to forget," writes Rabbi Schulweis. "To forgive is to be liberated from the anger that consumes life and embitters human relationships.... This is the power of prayer—to heal and to fashion a better life. Prayer refines our character and stimulates our moral will.
"S'lihot is the season that prepares the heart and encourages the will to exercise the dignity of the human spirit."
* On the Milken Archive CD, the word "S'lihot" is spelled with a dot under the "h" representing the Hebrew character "het." Unfortunately, typographical limitations on the World Wide Web prevent us from placing a dot under the "h." We have therefore replaced the "h" with a "ch" on this Web site to reflect the correct pronunciation of the word.
