On Shabbat evening, at midnight, Ashkenazi communities will join in the custom of reciting the Selichot (after Sephardic communities had already begun doing so since the first day of Elul).
In the silence of the night, we will stand before the Creator of the world and say with a troubled and moved heart: "To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, and to us belongs shame... We will search and examine our ways... Not with kindness or deeds have we come before you, poor and needy have we knocked on your doors.".
If the entire month of Elul is a month of repentance and self-examination, then the days of Selichot are the final stage in the mental preparation for the new year. The atmosphere becomes more serious.
The hustle and bustle of everyday life is pushed aside in favor of the things that really matter.
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The rush of life distorts the correct order of importance. Many of us have experienced the disproportion between the things that occupy us on a daily basis and what is truly important. If, God forbid, a health problem arises in the family, suddenly all the things that seemed vital and exciting become frivolous and worthless, because what value is all of this in comparison to health?.
However, health is not the end all. Good health is like a functioning car, but you still need to know where to go. Those who do not know their destination can find themselves wandering aimlessly through city streets, and even lose their way completely.
These days are the time to think about the goals and objectives of our lives. What do we want to achieve? What is truly important to us? What would we like to take with us after our years in this world?
When you start thinking in this direction, you suddenly feel the importance of the family. It is the true anchor of life. A healthy and stable family, children and grandchildren who follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. Today's world is full of suffering and misery because family values do not receive the attention they deserve.
The crazy pursuit of life causes many to neglect family and children, and we all pay the price.
And we haven't even talked about the essence of life itself. There are people who lack nothing, who have a loving family and wonderful children, and yet they wake up in the morning and ask: "What is this life for?!" The seventy or eighty years of a person's life fly by, and there comes a moment when he asks himself the real questions about the purpose of life.
Be ashamed and not despair.
This is the point to which we connect on the days of atonement and the High Holy Days. We disconnect from the daily hassles and examine our lives in the face of true values, in the face of the Creator of the world and its leader. Life in this world has a purpose and goal. Our soul descended below to fulfill a role and a destiny, which is the essence of our being. Are we on the right track?
True self-examination can lead to the conclusion that we have invested our energies in vain and pessimistic things. Hence arises the same feeling of "shame on our face." But God forbid that we sink into despondency and despair. Before us is the path to true repentance – "we will search our ways and investigate them and return to you." And there is no doubt that our Father in heaven will accept our prayers with mercy.
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