Guide
Penitential Prayers Invoking the Thirteen Attributes
3rd–13th Centuries
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.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
God Teaches Moses How to Pray
b. Rosh Hashanah 17b
And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed (Exodus 34:6). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Were it not [explicitly] written in the verse, it would be impossible to say this, [as it would be insulting to God…
Primary Source
A Rabbinic Penitential Prayer from the Cairo Geniza
Not with goodness and not with [worthy] deeds do we come to You;
poor and impoverished we knock upon Your door.
You…