## Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 1 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/1) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** TAḤANUN: PLEADING WITH GOD This section of the prayers, known as *Taḥanun*, “plea,” is a return to private prayer, which began with the silent Amida. The siddur preserves a careful balance between the two ways in which we address God: as individuals with our personal hopes and fears, and as members of a community whose fate and aspirations we share. First we pray individually (the silent Amida), then communally (the Leader’s Repetition), then individually in *Taḥanun* again. Knowing that our time in the direct presence of the Supreme King of kings is drawing to an end, we approach Him directly, seeking, as it were, a private audience. Our voices drop; we whisper our deepest thoughts; we express our feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability. We know we are unworthy: we say nothing in our defense except that we have absolute faith in God. The word *Taḥanun* derives from the root *ḥ-n-n* meaning, “to show favor, to be gracious, to forgive.” What differentiates *Taḥanun* from other modes of prayer is the extent to which we emphasize our failings and our lack of good deeds. We express our dependence on God’s unconditional grace and mercy. *Taḥanun* is the chamber music rather than the symphony of the soul, and it has a unique intensity of tone. The practice of following public prayer with private intercession goes back to Temple times. After the daily sacrifice, “The Levites sang the Psalm [of the day]. When they reached the end of each section [the psalm was divided into three parts] they blew the shofar and the people prostrated themselves” (*Tamid* 7:3). Some communities continued the custom of prostration, with faces to the ground, even after the destruction of the Temple. We preserve a trace of that gesture by resting our heads on our arms and covering our faces as we say Psalm 6. The Leader’s Repetition of the Amida stands in place of the daily sacrifice, which is why we subsequently “fall on our faces.” The custom of attaching special significance to Mondays and Thursdays is also ancient. Already in the Second Temple period, Mondays and Thursdays were days on which the pious would fast. According to tradition, Moses began his ascent of Mount Sinai to receive the second tablets on a Thursday and descended forty days later on a Monday (the 10th of Tishrei, Yom Kippur). The second tablets were a sign of God’s forgiveness. Hence, these days were seen as “days of favor.” They were also market days when people would come from villages to towns. Congregations were larger; the Torah was read; law courts were in session. The heightened atmosphere was the setting for more extended penitential prayer; therefore, on Mondays and Thursdays, *Taḥanun* is longer. One of the classic biblical instances of supplication was Daniel’s prayer on behalf of the exiles in Babylon (Daniel, chapter 9). Sections of that prayer, together with other verses from the prophetic books and Psalms, form the core of these paragraphs. There are three sections, each containing eighteen mentions of God’s name; thus we say them quietly, standing, as if they were forms of the Amida. A tradition, found in the Geonic literature, dates these prayers to the period of persecution under the Romans, when three exiles crossed the Mediterranean, found temporary refuge and then suffered renewed oppression. Some passages may have been added in the wake of the Gothic and Frankish persecutions in the seventh century. Their mood bespeaks the tears of Jews throughout the centuries of exile who experienced persecution, expulsion, humiliation, and often bloodshed at the hands of those amongst whom they lived. Even in times of freedom, we continue to say these prayers, keeping faith with our ancestors and remembering their tears. What is remarkable about the prayers is the absence of anger or despair. If we ever doubt the power of prayer to transform the human situation, here we find an answer. Despite being treated as a pariah people, Jews never allowed themselves to be defined by their enemies. They wept and gave voice to pain: “God, see how low our glory has sunk among the nations. They abhor us as if we were impure.” Yet they remained the people of the covenant, children of the divine promise, unbroken and unbreakable. Prayer sustains hope, and hope defeats tragedy. In these profound and moving words, Jews found the strength to survive. With its intense penitential mood, *Taḥanun* is not said on days of festive joy; nor is it said on the Ninth of Av or in the house of a mourner. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 2 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/2) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** וְהוּא רַחוּם *He is compassionate*: Penitential prayers woven from a variety of biblical texts, from Genesis and Exodus, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Joel, Lamentations, Daniel and Psalms. Lacking a Temple and sacrifices, we offer God our tears in their place: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and humbled heart, God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:19). ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 3 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/3) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** וְעַתָּה *And now*: A prayer uttered by Daniel (9:15–19) in the first year of the reign of Xerxes, when he foresaw that the desolation of Jerusalem would last for seventy years. Fasting, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, he pleaded to God to forgive the people and bring an end to their suffering. These words play a key part in the Seliḥot (penitential prayers) on Fast Days. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 4 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/4) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** אֲנַֽחְנוּ הַחֹֽמֶר *We are the clay and You are our Potter*: A verse from Isaiah (64:7) which became the basis of one of the liturgical poems on *Kol Nidrei* night. The passage weaves together three appeals to God’s compassion: (1) we are Your children and You our Parent: have mercy on us as a parent forgives a child; (2) we are Your creation and You are our Creator: save us as an artist saves his most precious works of art; (3) we are Your witnesses, bearers of Your name: therefore save us for the sake of Your name. Let not the nations say, seeing our suffering, “Where is God?” ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 9 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/9) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** הַפּוֹתֵֽחַ יָד *You who hold out an open hand*: God’s forgiveness stretches beyond strict retribution: “I do not desire the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live” (Ezek. 33:11). ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 12 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 12](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/12) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** וַיֹּֽאמֶר דָּוִד *David said to Gad*: Words spoken by David during a moment of crisis (II Sam. 24:14). The king had sinned by taking a census of the people. God, through the prophet Gad, offered him a choice: famine, war, or punishment directly from heaven. David replied: it is better to be punished by God than suffer the cruelty of man. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 14 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 14](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/14) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** יהוה, אַל־בְּאַפְּךָ תוֹכִיחֵֽנִי *LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger*: A psalm of intense emotional power, spoken out of fear’s heart of darkness. **שָׁמַע יהוה תְּחִנָּתִי** *The Lord has heard my pleas:* from the deepest pain, strength is born, when prayer becomes the ladder on which we climb from the pit of despair to the free air of hope. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 17 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 17](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/17) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** הַבֵּט מִשָּׁמַֽיִם *Look down from heaven*: These heart-rending words were already known in Europe in the eleventh century, and recall the terrible persecutions Jews suffered during the early Middle Ages. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 23 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 23](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/23) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** וּבְכָל זֹאת *Yet, despite all this*: After the Holocaust, the concentration camp at Theresienstadt was excavated. A hidden room was discovered, which had served as a secret place in which the prisoners would pray. On one of its walls were written the words: “Yet, despite all this, we have not forgotten Your name. Please do not forget us.” ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 28 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 28](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/28) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל *Guardian of Israel*: A three-verse prayer set in motion by a phrase from Psalm 121: “See: the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” An example of early liturgical poetry, it has the same structure as the poem preceding the morning Amida, “Rock of Israel! Arise to the help of Israel…” and the prayer said on the Ten Days of Penitence, “Remember us for life, O King who desires life…” In each case every verse contains four phrases, all ending with the same word (Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen). The prayer was transferred from the penitential prayers known as SeliḤot to the Daily Service. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 34 [Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Weekdays, Tahanun 34](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Weekdays,_Tahanun/r/34) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:** וַאֲנַֽחְנוּ לֹא נֵדַע We do not know: A line taken from the prayer of King Jeho­shaphat when the nation was confronted by a coalition of hostile powers intent on war (II Chr. 20:12). Our custom is to stand after these words. Abudarham explains that this is because – like Moses pleading on behalf of the people – we have prayed in every posture, sitting (before the Amida), standing (during the Amida), and “falling on our faces” (during *Taḥanun*). We have exhausted the repertoire of prayer and do not know what else to do. We stand at this point to signal that our private supplications have come to an end.