Early Rabbinic Penitential Prayers (Seliḥot) for Yom Kippur

Confession of the High Priest

Whereas the biblical description of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16) focuses primarily on rites of sacrifice and purification performed by the high priest in the tabernacle, the rabbinic tradition elaborates on the penitential aspect of the day. Although they lived and wrote after the destruction of the Temple, the rabbis took paticular interest in Leviticus 16:21, in which the high priest confesses the sins of the community and transfers them onto the head of a goat that is then banished to the wilderness. The Mishnah, the Tosefta, and the Palestinian Talmud specify and discuss the wording of the high priest’s confession. 

Individual and Communal Confession

Leviticus 16:21 also serves as the basis for the rabbinic requirement to make verbal confession of sins (Vidui) on Yom Kippur even after the destruction of the Temple. Leviticus Rabbah and the Babylonian Talmud offer a variety of views on how this confession is to be worded, in some cases providing only the initial phrase of the prayer. Fuller versions of the confessions of Rav and Samuel mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud appear in medieval sources.

Penitential Prayers Invoking the Thirteen Attributes

The rabbis treat Exodus 34:6–7, the proclamation of God’s mercy and compassion (which they enumerate as thirteen divine attributes) as the centerpiece of, and prooftext for, their Yom Kippur penitential prayers. A manuscript found in the Cairo Geniza provides an early example of a prayer based on that model. 

For later, poetic penitential prayers for Yom Kippur, see ’Ashamnu mi-kol ‘am (More Guilty Are We Than All Other Peoples) and ’Ana habet u-r’eh (Please, Look and See!).