[Avodah] Slichos without a minyan before midnight

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Thu Aug 30 10:35:23 PDT 2018


On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 12:07:05AM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
: If one will be saying selichos without a minyan, and will therefore
: be skipping the 13 middos, is there any reason to wait for midnight?

The MA in hilkhos taaniyos (565:5) says "Don't say before chatzos
halaylah any selichos nor (velo) 13 Middos beshum panim le'olam CHUTZ
MIBEIS HAKENESSES."

He doesn't make it specific to the 13 middos. And while his rule would
apply when davening beyechidus, it would apparently not explain why the
norm is after chatzos even in shul.


The Mateh Efraim (581:1) says that on nights other than motza"sh one says
Selichos "ba'ashmores". And that the time for Selichos is at the end of
the night, samukh le'or haboqer, and now we delay until the beginning of
amud hashachar. However, on Sunday it should be a bit earlier, so that
you can say the pizmon "BeZa'aqasam beOd Laylah". Someone who says Tiqun
Chatzos all year should say TH and then say selichos with the tzibur.

I don't know why the ME doesn't address BeMotza'ei Menuchah, which would
imply closer to Shabbos than just "when they cry when it's still night".

But leshitaso, the iqar of the timing is the second half of the night.
AND, relevant to you personally, I got these sources from Sefer
haMinhagim, as compiled by RMMS. (Although I tweaked the MA reference,
since TQKH [525] appears to be a typo and TQSH [565] wotked.) So perhaps
the MA and ME should be what you personally follow.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             What we do for ourselves dies with us.
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