Among the Spanish and Portuguese Congregations of the Western Sephardim, the season of Elul has ever been marked by the commencement of the recital of Selihot, the prayers of contrition and mercy. Each evening after the Ngamidah and each morning before the Zemirot, from the second day of Elul until Yom Kippur, and in some homes also on Hoshanganah Rabba, these supplications have been uttered in the same stately melodies that were preserved in Amsterdam, carried to London, and transplanted in New York and other places where our kind of folks reside Through these prayers, generations of our fathers were taught to prepare for the High Holy Days with humility and reverence. They called the soul to reflection, to repentance, and to the forgiveness of God. Thus did the worshipper, standing in the line of unbroken tradition, find strength to renew the covenant of Israel with the Almighty.So too may we, in our day, lift our voices with theirs, and through the Selihot find cleansing, comfort, and faith, that we may enter the New Year inscribed for life and peace.