People just don’t like Tachanun. But we should.
As we enter the period before Rosh Hashana, we are all encouraged to deepen our introspection as we pray, to inject a more kavanah. Yet our minds still wander.
Even on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur themselves, while in the throes of our deepest supplications, do we not flip handfuls of pages in the machzor to see how many pages are left? When we can leave out some of those small print yotzrot that “some say,” our hearts leap, just a little.
Which brings me to Tachanun. It is a rare religious Jew who doesn’t have some sense of satisfaction when it is announced that there is a chatan in shul or a bris, and Tachanun can be skipped.
Tachanun is not a long prayer, but when you can skip it, well, it’s like we’ve all won a small lottery. The old joke goes that a baal teshuva is really not a full-fledged Jew until he feels the same sense of happiness that a frum-from-birth Jew feels when “we can skip Tachanun.” It’s crazy. And yet I admit I’m guilty.
Poor Tachanun. What an abused prayer, treated worse than Aleinu, which is rushed through at the end of davening faster than the train you’re trying to catch.
(When I am speaking of Tachanun, it’s primarily the “long Tachanun” said on Monday and Thursday, as well as the short Tachanun, nefillat apayim, literally “falling on one’s face” prayer, which we do by leaning on our arm. I’m not even counting the Viduy confession said by Sefardim and also many Ashkenazi in Israel.
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The word Tachanun, which literally means supplication, originated with David Hamelech. The Talmud (Babba Metzia 59a) teaches that if one leans his head on his arm, nefilat apayim, in devout prayer, immediately after Shemoneh Esreh (no Kaddish in between), the prayer will be graciously accepted by Hashem. The reason we have longer Tachanun on Monday and Thursday is because those are the days we read the Torah and the Rabbinical courts were established by Ezra, to mirror the Heavenly courts that judge man on those same days.
The midrash tells us that those are the days of heavenly mercy because Moshe Rabenu ascended to Har Sinai to receive the second set Luchot, which then was the first day of Elul, a Thursday, and descended with them 40 days later on the 10th of Tishrei, on Yom Kippur, which was on a Monday, (Babba Kama 82a).
The origin of the nefillat apayim, literally falling on one’s face mentioned above, hearkens back to Yehoshua‘s falling on his face in the presence of the Aron HaKodesh, the Holy Ark (Yehoshua 7:6) and that is the reason it is, according to most poskim, only done in the presence of a Torah scroll.
The text of Long Tachanun is attributed to a story of three rabbis who were put adrift on a raft by the Romans after the destruction of Jerusalem. They landed on an island and were persecuted by the local king. They prayed a special prayer of their own composition and as a result, the king died and was succeeded by a righteous king who treated them with dignity and respect. As a result, they attributed their success to the prayer that they had composed, and distributed it to other communities that made it part of Monday and Thursday Tachanun (Kolbo 13th or 14th century CE).
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Regardless of the origin story of the text, an examination of its words may help overcome some of our reluctance to say it. It reveals itself to be such a meaningful and personal prayer that it is actually a “mini Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur” service that we say biweekly, with incredible power for us and for others.
The words rachem and rachamim (mercy) appear constantly. Selicha (forgiveness), the phrase Avinu Malkenu (our Father our King) is repeated over and over. When it is followed by the request that Hashem have mercy upon us, kerachem av al banim, as a father has mercy on his children, how can one’s heart not melt?
Anenu, answer us; Ha’bet la’brit (look at the Covenant You made with us) — all phrases and themes repeated throughout the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, including Kol Nidre night! And concluding with Ha’poteach Yad b’teshuva (You, Who open a hand for repentance).
What an awesome prayer that we can personally request from Hashem twice a week — and certainly during Elul.
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The Talmud relates several stories of the power of Tachanun , literally the power of life and death (Babba Metzia 59b), so much so that Rabbi Eliezer Hagadol’s wife had to stop her husband from saying Tachanun because she was afraid it was killing her brother Rabbi Gamliel, who had excommunicated Rabbi Eleizer.
Maybe that’s why so many of us don’t want to say it, fearful of the awesome consequences. As we know “with great power comes great responsibility” (said Uncle Ben in Spider-Man comics, but actually its roots are in Torah, Devarim, Chapters 14, 15).
Maybe so. But the benefits outweigh the risks. In fact it’s even more important this year.
As stated above, at the time of our greatest forgiveness by Hashem at Har Sinai , after the sin of the Golden Calf, Moshe went up to plead our case in the heavens on the first of Elul which was a Thursday. After 40 days, he came down with the second set of Luchot, the Ten Commandments on 10th of Tishrei, Yom Kippur, which was a Monday.
This year it is exactly the mirror image of that, with the first of Elul on a Monday and Yom Kippur on a Thursday. Let Hashem reflect back to us that forgiveness He graciously gave us then, thousands of years ago.
Though we don’t have a Moshe Rabenu to be our advocate, it falls upon us, as individuals and as an aam, a nation, to direct our tefillot. A good place to start our preparation in this month of Elul is with Tachanun.
And for those who still relish those days when Tachanun is ”skipped,” you have the month of Tishrei coming, when Tachanun is “skipped” for almost (and according to some, the entire) month.
Shabbat Shalom and Ketivah va’Chatimah Tovah! Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
