Tens of Thousands Attend Final Selichot Prayers at Western Wall Before Yom Kippur

Tens of thousands of worshippers gathered at the Western Wall on Saturday night for the final Selichot (penitential prayers) service before Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. This event marked the culmination of the month of Elul and the Ten Days of Repentance, which fall between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The services at the Western Wall included prayers led by cantors and liturgical poets, reciting piyutim (liturgical poems) and the "13 Attributes of Mercy," a prayer first recited by Moses after the sin of the Golden Calf. The tradition of Selichot typically begins on the first of Elul for Sephardic Jews and the Saturday before Rosh Hashanah for Ashkenazi Jews, often held after midnight or early in the morning, times considered auspicious for prayer.

Approximately 20 mass Selichot events were held at the Western Wall in the lead-up to Yom Kippur, with the final service being the largest. Among the attendees were President Isaac Herzog and other public figures. Survivors of captivity, whose return was prayed for during previous Selichot services, also attended this year's unique prayers. Notable attendees included Noa Argamani, Itai Regev, Omer Shem Tov, Bar Kupershtein, Eliya Cohen, and his new wife Ziv.

During recent Selichot events, Rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, and the cantors offered prayers for the safety of IDF soldiers and security forces, for national unity, and for Israel's peace and security. In a service held between Thursday and Friday, Rabbi Rabinowitz offered a prayer of thanksgiving for the return of hostages, addressing the crowd by saying, "Tonight, from the Western Wall and Hostages Square, I want to say to you, Master of the Universe: Look down from heaven and see how, in the most difficult time, we stood together. We did not always agree on the way, but we were all partners in concern, in prayer, and in hope. For such a long time, the heart of all of us was captive, until the last hostage returned. Because of this sanctification of God's name, the brotherhood and heroism of the hostages, who sanctified God's name in the darkest places and continue to sanctify God's name now, open for us the gates of heaven and send us a good and blessed year."