Hilchos Selichos: When to Say Them, Yud-Gimmel Middos, and Taking the First Step in Teshuvah

Transcript

Welcome back. Shalom Aleichem, Elul. Elul! Elul is supposed to give a person... Elul is supposed to give a person a — in Yiddish they call it a tzitter, shake, shiver. Elul. I walked in this morning, Baruch Hashem, slichos, something that I don't get back home, as they say in Lakewood. By us they start slichos right before Rosh Hashanah. The Sefardim start slichot. Elul. So I know I'm back in the yeshiva, and I know Elul is here. But I want to talk to you about slichot. How should you say slichot? I walked in, and I was a little bit taken aback at how the slichot were said. So let me begin by starting: minhageinu, minhageinu, our minhag. You know, you guys adopted me, so it's also minhageinu, minhageinu, minhageinu, our minhag. So let me see. Lakum ba'ashmoret. What time did you say was ashmoret? I didn't say. Oh, I don't know. For some reason, I came in, it was 7:40 and you're starting slichot. I guess ashmoret here is a different time than the rest of the world's translation of ashmoret in the book. All right. Lomar slichot, to say slichot. You know, baalei mussar and baalei hashkafah were very against the word saying slichot. You ask a guy, When did you say slichot? When did you say slichot? You don't say slichos. You ask slichos. You beg slichos. You don't say it. You know who says slichos? Hashem. HaKadosh Baruch Hu has to say, Salachti, salachti, salachti. So Baalei Mussar say, don't say when or where or what slichos. You have to say, not said, but ask. And this is an important part of the slichos, how to say slichos. Just to ramble, blah, blah, blah, blah, that's not slichos. That's not what it's about. You know, in the rest of the tefillah you're supposed to have kavanah, but this is not even about kavanah. It's the whole tzurah. It's the whole essence of slichos. It's not about saying the words. It's about asking for forgiveness. You see, it's a lot different than tefillah. Tefillah, we're saying the words. There's a lot of power. There's a lot of strength to the words. But when it comes to slichos, if the sentiment of slichos is not there, it really loses its whole potency. It loses its whole koach. Minageinu lakum baashmoret haboker lomar slichos. Yes, technically that's what you're doing. But what does it really need to be? It needs to be levakesh, l'hitchanen, asking, to beg for slichos. Who says slichos? Hashem. Hashem says, Salachti. But you need to what? To be asking. And when do you start? Tachel miyom Rosh Chodesh Elul ad Yom HaKippurim. Our minhag, it starts from Rosh Chodesh Elul, second day Rosh Chodesh, right? We don't say it on Rosh Chodesh, but from Rosh Chodesh Elul. And the reason, of course, is because it's a time of eis ratzon. Moshe Rabbeinu went up to ask for the luchos shniyos and to ask for forgiveness for Klal Yisrael for making an egel, and he was answered on Yom Kippur. And because of that, these days were designated for days of asking for forgiveness. It's yemei ratzon, yemei ratzon, hem yemei rachamim v'ratzon. A lot of people ask, what do you mean ratzon? Ratzon means goodwill, that Hashem forgives us, right? Baalei mussar say ratzon means Hashem tests your ratzon. That's what it means, yemei rachamim v'ratzon. Yemei rachamim v'ratzon! Hashem wants to know what's your ratzon. He's testing what's inside, what your goals, what you want. You know, from what we want to what we do, this world's apart, right? We want to wake up on time for Shacharit. We want to do Daf Yomi. We want to come the first day of yeshiva.

Notice, you see, the person who's listening to the shiur doesn't realize who I'm turning my eyes to, who I'm focusing on. But I'm going around the room, and I'm focusing on certain points to certain peoples, yeah? But the point being, from what we want to what we do is worlds apart. Yemei ratzon, Hashem's testing our ratzon, you see? And how is He testing? First of all, Hashem is bochen levavot. And the second thing is, if you really want something, you'll do it. Hashem wants to see, how much do you really want? Do you really want? So this is a new understanding of what it means, Yemei Rachamim v'Ratzon. Simply it means ratzon, good will, Hashem forgives us. A deeper meaning is Yemei Rachamim v'Ratzon. Hashem is testing, testing our will, our will, our will. Now, when is the right... U'veyom Rosh Chodesh atzmoi. Of course, Rosh Chodesh we don't say slichos because we don't say tachanun. It's a day, it's a holiday, right? Good, okay. When is the right time to say slichos? Or better, as we say now, to ask for slichos? Hazman hara'ui yoter lomar slichos bimei hame'ula mechatzos halay... Everybody repeat after me: mechatzos ha... not hayom, mechatzos halayla. I see the way people get up very late and they're saying slichos. They think it means chatzot hayom. It's chatzot halayla, at night, early. We'll talk about that. She'az hu etz ratzon. That's the time of ratzon, ach bechatzi harishon shel halayla, and this is a very important halacha. The first part of the night till chatzot, you're not allowed to say slichot and shlosh esrei midot, and in the world of Kabbalah and Zohar it's because it's din. The night has din, and therefore the time of slichah, to bring up our sins, is not the right time. Many say slichos early, and Ashkenaz, they'll have slichos minyanim at 10 o'clock in the evening. The reason for this is, in the morning people are rushing to work, they don't have time to say slichos. You force them to say slichos in the morning, they won't wake up for slichos. So they have this new thing called the 10 o'clock slichos, right? Many said, you know what, what are you going to do? People, it's better they should say slichos at 10 o'clock, even though it's not so clear and so simple in Zohar to do that. Yeah, but okay, listen, slichos is slichos, Zohar is Zohar, right? Halacha is halacha, Zohar is Zohar. Chacham Ovadia and many Sefardish gedolim are very strict about this. No matter what, you can't say slichos before chatzot halayla. 10 o'clock minyanim, do not be part of it. And he goes as far as saying, Ad rabba, yesh levatel minhagam. You should try your best to stop these minyanim, yeah. And he says more, yeah, that even if you're there, you're stam, you're in the shul learning, and they're saying slichos, you can't be part. You shouldn't take any part of it. You should not be saying, Vayaavor Hashem al panav. Don't, don't, nothing. Just sit there, keep quiet, and try to stop them if you could. I mean, you're not going to sit there and make a big machlokes, but, huh? That's the whole thing, too bad. He holds not. He holds better not. No, that's what many gedolim poskim, especially Sefardic ones— I just said it. They say it's dangerous to say it. It's a dangerous thing to say it, and therefore they're dead against it. To the point that even if you're there, and you happen to just, and you say you want to answer a long, you're not even—you're not saying you're a shliach. Don't have anything to do with slichos before. Now, because he changes his tune. Okay. Rav Moshe Feinstein writes that maybe, possibly, it's only a zohar and this and that. Maybe it's not lahalacha so much. Lahalacha they have to say slichos; it's brought in Shulchan Aruch. So maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, b'shaas hadchak gadol, we could permit it, and because of that we find these ten o'clock in the evening minyanim. Okay. Now, he tells me I should keep on reading because he changes his tune. So you must have a different Yalkut Yosef than me, or you don't know how to read, because he doesn't change his tune at the evening. So let me tell you.

What he does say. So you know what? Let me skip to that halacha that you're referring to. Kahal v'eidah she'efshar l'haskim l'slichos b'od laila. If they can't say slichos at night, yecholim lomar slichos b'sha'as haboker hamukdamos. So the next best thing is early morning, what you guys call 10, 11 o'clock in the morning. Early morning. No, you know what I'm talking about, 6 o'clock in the morning. Lifnei tefilas Shacharis, you can do it even before tefilas Shacharis, o lifnei tefilas Mincha. In the afternoon you can do it, lifnei tefilas Mincha, achar chatzos hayom ad tzeis hakochavim. But after that, you shouldn't be saying. So where do you see in here that he changes it? Oh, he wants me to go further. V'tov she'az hachazan she'omer ha'slichos yis'atef b'tzitzis. I walked in here, and the shliach tzibbur wasn't wearing tallis. I have no idea why, if you ask me, I don't understand. I honestly, is there, you have a different custom? There's a custom saying slichos without a tallis? I never heard of such a thing. But it says clearly you should wear a tallis. And the truth is, it's in the Gemara. The Gemara says clearly, right? Huh? Not you, the shliach tzibbur. Yes, on your tallis. It's already past the night. Why shouldn't you make a bracha? Why not? Put on your tallis. Speak to Rav. Speak to Rav. Tell Rav what you... Rami. Okay. Could you find the... No, no problem. Let he'll answer. He'll take care of you. Okay. So here's the point. The point is that you have to have, yitatef batzitzit. The Gemara says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu showed Moshe Rabbeinu seder ha-slichot. The Gemara says in Rosh Hashanah, yud-zayin amud beis, Vaya'avor Hashem al panav vayikra. Amar Rabbi Yochanan, אילמלא מקרא כתוב, if not for the pasuk, אי אפשר לאומרו, melamed sheנתעטף הקדוש ברוך הוא כשליח ציבור, והראה למשה סדר תפילה. So you see clearly, yitatef HaKadosh Baruch Hu, put it away, kishliach tzibbur, kishliach tzibbur. So you see clearly he put on a tallis. Slichot, the shliach tzibbur needs a tallis. I don't know why. Maybe there's some custom behind this, I don't know. But halachically, the shliach tzibbur needs to wear a tallis. Now, וכן במחנות הצבא, כשאי אפשר להם לומר סליחות בשמורת הבוקר, יאמרו הסליחות קודם תפילת שחרית, או קודם תפילת מנחה, או אחר חצות הלילה. I still don't see what, Rami, you're talking about. Keep on reading. He wants me to read to the end of the sefer where it speaks about Hilchot Even HaEzer. It's going to be there. Okay. Af al pi she'ein lomar slichos b'yud-gimmel midos b'sha'as sonei chatzos halaylah, mutar lishmoa az meharadio slichos. That's something else. When you hear from the radio slichos from Eretz Yisrael, or he wants to hear k'dei litlamed ulitragel b'neginah, he wants to prepare and practice, zeh chelek davar, that's okay, because why? You're not really saying the slichos. I still don't see what Rami made up. He has a tremendous power of chidush in halachah. He makes up halachos. Very good. So far, so you still think I should keep on reading? Okay. So remember, if a guy wants—where you going?—if a guy wants to take out the slichos to prepare so he should be able to know the words or should be able to sing it properly, that's also okay. All right, he still wants me to keep on going. Ah, no, no. So the point being that a person, if he wants to listen to the radio where they're saying slichos in Eretz Yisrael, he can listen. He can listen. Now, ha-shomea slichos v'yud-gimmel midos, yekadesh ma shliach tzibur derech haradio b'shidur yashir.

Again, he's listening to the radio from Israel. Again, only after chatzois. You know, they have these websites that they give you from the Kosel, and you're listening to the slichos, and you want to be part of it after chatzois still, after chatzois, oyd yo give amidas v'amen. He's allowed to answer. Why? It's live, and it's happening right now. So if it's live and it's happening right now, you're able to what? You're able to be part of it and answer. Im hashidur hu maklata, in case it is a, what do you call it, it's taped, pre-tape, eino oinah. Then you can't answer amen and yigdal midos and whatnot. There might be a lag, though. Huh? There might be a couple-second lag. So that's the oldest question. That's the oldest question. I don't know. You know, we've spoken about this in the past. Maybe that's called live. If it takes two seconds to travel from there to here and there's a delay, that means it's happening right now. Or if you want to argue and say, be technical and say maybe not, so it's your prerogative—what do you call it?—your prerogative to do that. Not that simple. We've discussed it in the past, right? Because if it's a live radio, they have a delay, right? Is that called still? We've spoken about this. Did you speak to me about this once? You never spoke to me. I've given a shiur on this once. Either way, if you see from Eretz Yisrael by the Kosel and they're saying slichos, and it's—everybody repeat after me—and it's after chatzois. After chatzos, then you're allowed to what? Answer. But if it's not a lie, you hear a tape of a—you want to hear a chacham vad say slichos. You're listening to the tape that happened many years ago. You can't answer amen and yud-gimmel midos. Avreichim u'bachurei yeshiva, lachein talmidei chachamim she'efshar להם לקום יום יום בחודש אלול בשמירות הבוקר. Sometimes it's very hard to wake up every morning. For example, you guys are such avreichei yeshiva and avreichim kolelim, mamash, it would be the terrible disaster for you guys that you won't be able to learn. I'm joking. You guys should get up every morning for slichos. Not a bad idea, yeah? So what could you do? ... עלו מזבטא בסדר הלמודם, כדי על כל פנים ישתדלו לקום במקצת לילה של חודש אלול. He still didn't give you the ten o'clock advice. I'm not sure where Rami sees the ten o'clock advice. I'm going from halacha to halacha to halacha. Maybe, maybe he has it from a different place, but not here. Here it says clearly, whatever it is, if you could choose a few nights that you should be able to say slichos together with the people. Now, there's a whole question. You know, when we talk about chatzos, America, maybe we follow chatzos Eretz Yisrael. You hear the question? I want to tell you it's a big topic. Why? He's looking at me. What do I mean? You know, when it comes to mitzvot that you have, you here. Okay, so it's chatzos, right? You go after the day where you are, right? You can't come and put on tefillin because it's already morning in Eretz Yisrael. But since the chatzois thing has to do with Hashem getting up and crying over His Beis Hamikdash, when does Hashem get up? It's chatzois layla all over the world, sometime at some different time, right? So Hashem is getting up 24 hours a day, getting up and crying. I understand. I get you. I get you. That's the dichotomy of Hashem, that Hashem is able to, without us understanding how that works, there's no time and that. I read all those sefarim, believe me, I read the sefarim with Hashem and before and after, and there's no time. I get it. But there is a tzad halacha that if HaKadosh Baruch Hu gets up at chatzois to cry, and the right time is chatzois Eretz Yisrael. We're a better place for Hashem to cry in Eretz Yisrael by the Kosel HaMa'aravi, by the Kosel HaMa'aravi where His Beis Hamikdash. So wherever it's chatzois then, that's when chatzois. So there's a lot of talk in Acharonim, early Acharonim and later Acharonim discuss this topic. So let's learn it inside. You hear? Bnei chutz la'aretz, tov sheyamtinu, tov sheyamtinu. That's what he's referring to.

Toiv sheyavtinu la'amiras ha-slichos lifnei hazman shelahem, af sheb'Eretz Yisrael kvar higia chatzos. Even though in Eretz Yisrael it already gets chatzos. U'mikol makom, hamakilim loymar slichos b'yachad im toshvei Eretz Yisrael, u'kegon she'omrim slichos b'netzes haleviyanah matzui kayam. That's what he's talking about. If you want to take out the phone, and you want to sit there with the phone and say, I'm right now in the Kotel. I know a lot of people during the shiur, they're standing with their phone. You know where they are? They're not here. They're not here. They're there, wherever their phone is, right? So he says, yesh lahem סמוכים. Nu, they have who to rely on. It still never said that at ten o'clock you should make your slichos minyan. That's not what it says, all right? So this is a change of tune that you're referring to, but it needs to be defined properly. It means that in case you're standing there with a cell—what do you call that?—an iPhone, and you're sitting and watching Kotel, and it's before chatzos for you, all right, yesh lahem סמוכים. He doesn't say clearly to do it. It's not that simple. But even that—it's a kula, a big kula—even that is only when you're trying to be part of that minyan. But stam to make a ten o'clock minyan, and just because in Israel they're saying slichos this time doesn't mean you could say slichos at this time. So we've learned now a big chiddush, and that is: what is the best time to say slichos? One o'clock in the morning. So, well, who's up for the job? You ready? One o'clock. Anybody ready to come for slichos one o'clock? Maybe if we make slichos here one o'clock, you guys will show up at seven. Maybe it's a good idea. Al kol panim, remember, in case you didn't say slichos before Shacharit, you can say slichot before Mincha. You can say slichos all day. They do have a 6:30 in the afternoon. They do have a 6:30 in the afternoon. Yeah, 6:30 in the afternoon. Wow. Okay. Okay, now let's learn how, how, how to say slichot. Now, I want to tell you before, you know, there's something that I need to get out there. Let's say you get up every morning for slichos, and then you come to your work, and you're employed by somebody, and because of that you're sleeping three-quarters of the time on the job, and you're stealing from him because of that. You're not doing your job properly. Now, halacha identifies a rebbe. A rebbe has to be very careful not to be sleepy. For example, when I come here, right, if I would sleep, could you imagine what you guys would be? When I don't sleep, right, and I'm full of fire, you guys are sleepy. Imagine if I'd be sleepy. It would be unbelievable, right? So he should cut off slichos a little bit. He should come less, and he shouldn't be so busy with the slichos. And he says an interesting chiddush, you hear? He says on the bottom, slichos is extra credit. There's main things. I'll read to you what he brings from the Chida: Klal gadol amru ba'avodas Hashem, lishmor ha'ikrim, v'lo hosif ba'chasidus. V'loy lizalzel b'ikar l'kayem hatosefes. Gotta make sure you got your priorities right. If it means because of that you're not gonna teach Torah properly, gotta be careful with the slichos. If it means you can't learn properly—now, I'm editing, and I want to be careful. If you have a job by somebody, and because of that you're gonna be sleepy at the job at night, and he's not gonna know the difference, but if he found out he'd be furious, you gotta think twice about the concept of constantly coming for slichos. Now again, it needs to be discussed with a rav how much you have the right to say, Listen, it's normal, a Jew, I'm a Sefardic Jew, I come to slichos. You know, how much is within range of right and wrong, okay? Whatever, it needs to be dealt with properly, okay? But it needs to be understood. It's not a free pass. Ah, what do you want from me? I went to slichos. So what? It doesn't mean you're allowed to steal because of that, okay? Now, let's discuss on how, how slichos has to be said. Hakom mishmeres alai Elohim b'slichos, v'lo yisasa b'oyz. You have to be careful that you shouldn't sleep by davening because of it. A lot of times people say the slichos, and because of that they're sleeping during Kriyas Shema. They can't. You're probably better—

off davening properly and leslichos. Now, ikar amiras ha-slichos, slichos, liyos b'kavana, u'v'nachas, u'v'misun, u'v'hachna'ah yeseirah, okay? Slichos needs to be with, like I told you, it's not the words. It's heart to heart. It's feeling. It's telling Hashem, I'm sorry. It's got to come from the heart. So you need kavana. It has to be. Imagine when a guy says, I'm sorry. Oh, sorry. Imagine you walk over to your friend, By the way, I'm sorry. You ever try it? Let's see if the guy says, Okay, you know what? He was very sincere about that. How about hachna'ah? Got to be humble. I want to tell you the truth. The truth is, if you're honest, and as I say, the more mature you get, the more humble you become. Ma anachnu? What are we really? If you think there's a big world out there, so much and people, and, you know, people walk around, What are you? It's so silly, you know. We really, we—how much? We can't even do anything. I don't know if you realize that. We wake up early, we go to sleep late one night, the next morning we can't function. I said, that's the groiseh—you're a big guy. What are you already? You're nothing. You know, there's a certain honesty and hachna'ah and humility. When you stand by slichah, you should be very humble and say, Hashem, I'm not much. I'm in Your hands. It is what it is. U'vifrat, b'shlosh esrei midos, u'kemo shekasuv, tachnunim yedaber rash. יש שלא להבין מה שמוציאים מפיו, בלב נשבר ונדכה. ולכן, those that say, Aneinu, Avinu, Aneinu, va'aseh l'ma'an שמך, במהירות, רבונו חפוזה, לא יפה עושים. They're not doing right. It's not right to speed through slichos. וצריך לבטא בנגון ולמדן במתון. You have to slow them down. You gotta slow them down. Now, those... ואלו שאינם מעצמם, השינו ובאים לבית הכנסת השמיע במרום קול. Now, I know Chacham Ovadia is very against the whole chazzan-slichos thing. Oh, you have no idea how every year, ... I think he told us in one place, I remember reading that he said, better to stay home and daven Rosh Hashanah in your house instead of listening to chazzanim. I don't know, he was—he had this thing. Huh? I don't know. He had this thing that you can't come. Listen to what he says: הרי הם יורשים תרתי גיהנם. He says, it scares them. תרתי means a double Gehenna, double. You guys love this. This is the way he—he knows how to talk to you guys. תרתי גיהנם. ואדרבה, יוצא שכרם בהפסדם. And what does he say? Listen how he says it: סליחות, not צעקות. You want to scream? That's what he said. That's what he meant to say. It's not a concert, and it's not a screaming thing. It's a slichah. You know how you ask slichah? Softly, broken, humble. Okay, now I'm not discussing yes, no. I'm just trying to bring out a point. Understand what slichos is, okay? Slichos is humbly, softly requesting, requesting that Hashem should forgive you. וחייבים לבוא בית המדרש ... הסליחות ... מעשיו. You have to do teshuvah. Teshuva. What's the point of saying slichos? You're not doing teshuva. Why? I mean, that's the whole idea. The idea is to do teshuva. You got to do teshuva when you say slichos, you hear? And then he says, V'amaru darshi reshumot, ani l'dodi, v'dodi li. Now what does that mean? I am l'dodi, Hashem, and Hashem will be to me. So I want to tell you a beautiful pshat, and the truth is we might have to repeat it again tomorrow, because not everybody's going to listen to the end of the shiur, to the last few minutes of the shiur, so you're going to skip out one of the most beautiful things. Ani l'dodi v'dodi li. The Mishnah Berurah adds one word: Ani l'dodi, v'az. V'az. He adds one word, v'az dodi karov li l'kabel teshuvati. What does the Mishnah Berurah mean, v'az? What is he adding the word v'az? I'll tell you. There's a whole question in halacha: if a person wants to do teshuva, who does the first move? Do you do the first move or Hashem? We say, Hashiveinu Hashem eilecha. Hashem, you take us back. Hashem, you take us back. We want Hashem to do all the work, all the work. You bring us back. You take the first step. You return us.

Veshav Hashem Elokecha es shvuscha. Klal Yisrael. It's a pasuk in Tanach says that Hashem tells Klal Yisrael, Shuvah eilai, v'ashuvah eilecha. So what is Hashem saying? Who takes the first step? You. Say the Rishonim, it's a stalemate. We think Hashem should take the first step and take us back. And Hashem says, No, you have to take the first step, and then I'll come back. The Koshnitzer Maggid used to say that's the pshat in the end of Eicha. At the end of Eicha we say, Lamah lanetzach tishkachenu, taazveinu lorech yamim. What does the word netzach mean? So simply it means lanetzach forever, lnetzach netzachim, forever and ever. Why forever are you forsake us? Says Koshnitzer Maggid, there's also another implication. The word netzach can mean to win, lnatzeach. It's a stalemate. We both have an opinion, we both stand our ground. So we ask Hashem, Lamah lanetzach? It's about winning. Who should win this standoff? Tishkachenu lorech yamim. You are the father. You take the first step. You're right. You're right. Hashem, you are saying we should take the first step. We say, Hashem, you should. When both of us are standing very stubborn in our ground, so we say, Lamah lanetzach? It's about winning. Tishkachenu lorech yamim. It can go on for a long time. Hashiveinu Hashem eilecha vnashuvah. Just take us back, and that's all. Beautiful, huh? So what is Elul? Ani ldodi vdodi li. Mishnah Berurah adds, vaz dodi karov. Then what does that mean? You take the first step, and then Hashem. In Elul, you need to take the first step. That's what I think the Mishnah Berurah means. V'az dodi karov li, then, then. Okay. If you notice, what are the Sofei Teivot? U'mal Hashem Elokecha et levavcha v'et levav zarecha. Yes, that's what it means, Sofei Teivot. The beginning is ani l'dodi. You take the first step, and then Hashem right away comes in, u'mal Hashem Elokecha et levavcha. The end is He does most of the work. The Shaarei Teshuva says that you take the first step, and then Hashem helps you more than you could ever imagine. And that's why, sofe. The end. What's the end? U'mal Hashem Elokecha. Hashem takes care of, Hashem does all the returning. Now, let's finish one more halacha, and we will stop. Ein hayachid yachol lomar shloshesrei midos shel pasuk Vaya'avor. A yachid cannot say Vaya'avor. Why? Because shloshesrei midos needs a minyan. It's a davar shebikedusha. Aval ba'al ha'amim derech kria b'alma, which is always the famous eitzah. They give you an eitzah in case you don't have the minyan, so you read it like in the parsha, in the Chumash. You take out the Chumash, and you read it, but that's b'ta'amei hakriah. It should look like I'm reading it from the Chumash as kriat haTorah. So if you don't have a minyan, a lot of times, selichos, they don't have the minyan, what you do is—now I want to tell you something interesting. There's a very famous, in the back of the Gemara—the Gemara, it's brought—the Mebuchatcha also brings it l'halacha. Let's say a person is mesupak about a certain bracha, if he has to say it or doesn't have to say it. Or, for example, for example, it's Rosh Chodesh, he missed the day of—I'm sorry, he missed the time to say Kiddush Levana. So what do you do? He says, take out the Gemara and read it in the Gemara where the Gemara brings the whole bracha. You see? So when you read it from the Gemara, then you have it, so too by Yud-Gimmel Midos, in case you don't have a minyan, which means you're not allowed to say it b'yechid, the device given is yes. Rabbi, just at one o'clock at night, would it be best? If a person, is it preferable for him to pray at home at 1 a.m. or come to minyan? I would say it's better to come to minyan. I understand better to do with the minyan. I know. I was going to tell him that. First I'm telling you about the slichos. Slichos is the Yud-Gimmel Midos, which is the main thing of the slichos. That's better to do minyan. Now there's other things you could do by chatzos. You could do Tikkun Chatzos. Definitely, if you're able, you should think about Elul and Churban Habayis all the time, you see? So the more the better. Yes, if you're able, if you're up at one o'clock, the only problem is I don't know how it works. If you're able to be up at one, will you be here for the minyan for slichos? They have at one o'clock. Baruch Hashem l'olam.

Amen, amen.