Even those of us who enjoyed poetry class probably do not look forward to reciting every Selichos said in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah and throughout the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. The words are unique and challenging, the meaning is deep and complex, and the overall thematic approach to these tefillos can easily be lost on many of us.

For Yeshiva students, there may be an additional challenge to these weeks: Selichos can sometimes feel like an opportunity to sleep a little later and still make it to Yeshiva on time!

At the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, we have been working to change that experience. Rather than simply beginning the day with a collection of complex Hebrew poetry, each division has looked for age-appropriate ways to help students understand what they are saying and connect to the meaning behind the words.

In our Middle School, we follow the general principle of טוב מעט בכוונה מהרבות בלא כוונה—it is better to say less with understanding and concentration than to say more without it. The Middle School therefore recites a more limited selection of Selichos. Each paragraph is introduced with a line-by-line explanation, and the boys then recite it together as a group.

While this concept itself may not be novel, its impact is important. Our younger students are beginning to recognize that tefillah has meaning and structure. The words are not simply there to be recited; they express ideas, emotions, and a relationship with Hashem.

This year, we added another element to the Selichos experience.

Each morning in the High School, ten minutes before Selichos begins, Rabbi Hes, our Menahel, offers an optional pre-Selichos learning session. In just ten minutes, he highlights some of the unique tefillos of that particular morning, explaining their meaning and giving the boys something specific to focus on when they begin davening.

Perhaps most impressive is the students' response to this initiative. More than half of the boys have been showing up consistently, ten minutes early, for an entirely optional learning session before Selichos. Yes, there is the added incentive of a nice breakfast and even a grand prize raffle. But when I asked the boys what was actually bringing them in early, nearly every answer came back to the same basic idea:

“It feels good to know what I’m saying and why I’m saying it.”

That may be the real lesson.

We are not going to make every difficult word of Selichos immediately accessible. We are not going to turn medieval Hebrew hemolytic poetry into something simple and enjoyable. But we can give our students an entrance point and a daily focus point. We can help them discover that behind unfamiliar words are powerful ideas, and that understanding even a little more can transform the experience of tefillah.

Solving the Selichos struggle takes creativity, collaboration, and a willingness to meet students where they are while encouraging them to reach higher.

At the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, we are proud of the efforts being made across our divisions to help our talmidim enter the Yamim Noraim not simply saying more words but connecting more deeply to the words they say.

May those words, regardless of how we understand them, and all of our tefillos, be accepted, and may we all be inscribed in the Sefer HaChaim for a year of goodness, growth, and brachah.