The Thirteen Attributes

Moshe said no first

The Gemara (the main body of rabbinic discussion in the Talmud) tells it. Moshe went up to heaven and found God writing the words "slow to anger." Moshe asked: only for the righteous? God said: for the wicked too. Moshe said: let the wicked be lost. God said: you will soon need this. After the spies' report (the scouts Moshe sent into the Land), Moshe used those exact words to ask for mercy: You told me, even for the wicked.

A promise that does not come back empty

The Tallit prayer tells the scene in the Gemara: God wrapped Himself like a prayer leader, showed Moshe this order of prayer, and promised to forgive Israel whenever they sin and do this order before Him. Rav Yehuda, a sage of the Gemara, goes a step further: a covenant was made with the thirteen attributes, so they do not return empty.

The Name is said twice

Why does the verse say "Hashem, Hashem"? The Gemara answers in God's voice: I am the same before a person sins, and I am the same after he sins and repents. Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) agrees. For him both Names are about mercy: one before the sin, one after the person returns. The prayer repeats the Name twice, just as the verse does.

The prayer ends with Moshe's answer

After God's words, the verse says Moshe bowed at once. He asked God to go among the people, and ended: "Pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and take us as Your own." The prayer says those last words next. It then adds the same lines as the Amidah's blessing for forgiveness ("Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned") and closes with Tehillim 86:5: "For You, my Master, are good and forgiving, abundant in kindness to all who call on You."

Kindness outweighs punishment 500 to 1

Rashi does the math on the verse. God keeps kindness for "thousands," which Rashi reads as two thousand generations. The punishment reaches only the third and fourth generation. So the measure of good is bigger than the measure of punishment by one to five hundred. The same one-to-five-hundred count appears earlier in the Tosefta (an early collection of rabbinic teachings from the time of the Mishnah).

Count them: it depends who counts

The Gemara says thirteen but does not list them. Tosafot (medieval commentators on the Gemara) report that Rabbeinu Tam (Rashi's grandson, France, 1100s) counts the two Names as two attributes, and counts "iniquity, transgression, sin, and clears" as four. A book by Rabbeinu Nissim Gaon (North Africa, died 1062) skips the first Name and splits "keeps kindness for thousands" into two. The Maharsha (Rabbi Shmuel Eidels, Poland, died 1631) notes that opinions differ on the count.

You need ten people to say it

The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) rules that one person alone may not say the Thirteen Attributes as a prayer for mercy, because they are "a matter of holiness." The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily law, around 1900) adds: that means ten people. The Beit Yosef (Rabbi Yosef Karo's commentary, 1500s) gives the reason of the Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet, Spain, died about 1310): God acted as a prayer leader here. Alone, one may read them as a reading, with the tune and reading notes.

A rose with thirteen petals

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) compares the Jewish people to a rose among thorns. A rose has red and white in it, and the Jewish people have both judgment and mercy. A rose has thirteen petals, and the Jewish people are surrounded by thirteen kinds of mercy. The same passage finds the petals in the Torah's first verses: between the first "Elohim" and the next one there are exactly thirteen words. Now read the attributes again, as petals.

מה שושנה אית בה תליסר עלין, אוף כנסת ישראל אית בה תליסר מכילין דרחמי דסחרין לה מכל סטרהא

Mercy and grace are not the same thing

The Maharal (Rabbi Yehuda Loew of Prague, who died in 1609) says "merciful" and "gracious" are two different attributes. Mercy is for someone who cannot stand up to judgment: God spares him from getting what the law would give. Grace is a free gift to someone who has not earned it. The Maharal says grace is more than mercy, because mercy only keeps a person from being lost, while grace gives him something on top. Now read the two words again.

לעשות רחמים עם מי שאינו יכול לעמוד במדת הדין... נותן מתנת חנם לאדם, אף שאינו ראוי ליתן לו

Patience started after the first mistake

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (an early Chassidic master who died in 1809) says "merciful" and "gracious" were already at work before the world existed: because God is merciful and gracious, He dimmed His own brightness in order to create a world at all. But "slow to anger" belongs to the time after creation, when a person does wrong and God holds back and waits. Now read "slow to anger" again.

מדות רחום וחנון היו קודם בריאת העולם... אבל מדת ארך אפים הוא אחר הבריאה

The verdict itself can clear you

The Sefat Emet (Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, the Rebbe of Ger, who died in 1905) explains what "abundant in kindness" adds. Ordinary kindness goes beyond what the law requires. "Abundant" kindness, he says, is bigger: God can be kind inside the law itself. On Yom Kippur the verdict itself clears the Jewish people, because the judgment shows that the wrong is not part of what they are. It is on the outside, like dirt on something clean, and it can be washed off. Now read "abundant in kindness" again.

ורב חסד הוא גודל חסדיו של הקב"ה שיכול לעשות חסד עפ"י המשפט עצמו

A lovely form, but ugly deeds

Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (a leading teacher of Kabbalah in Tzfat, who died in 1570) opens his book Tomer Devorah, on acting the way God acts, with a warning. A person should be like his Creator. But if you are like God only in your body and not in your deeds, people will say, "a lovely form, but ugly deeds." The real likeness is what you do. His own list of thirteen comes from Michah 7:18-20, a second list, but the idea fits this prayer. He adds that the way you act below opens that same kindness above.

שאלו ידמה בגופו ולא בפעלות הרי הוא מכזיב הצורה ויאמרו עליו צורה נאה ומעשים כעורים

Can I say the Thirteen Attributes if I am davening alone?

Only as a reading. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) says a person alone may not say them as a prayer for mercy, since they are holy words that need ten people, but may say them as a reading. The Mishnah Berurah (a law commentary from around 1900) explains: with the Torah-reading tune (the trop). The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) quotes the Chida (a leading 1700s rabbi) that the trop is the main way, and concludes this is best during the prayer service.

Are there other ways for a person alone?

Ben Ish Hai (a Baghdad rabbi of the 1800s) rules that a person alone says them in the trop, like reading the Torah. For his own practice when davening alone, he writes that he looks at the verse in the siddur and thinks it without saying it. He also cites a handwritten book: a person alone may say them in the Aramaic translation. The Kaf HaChaim adds that outside the prayer service it is best for a person alone not to say them at all, and anyone who does should use the trop and finish the whole verse.

The minyan is racing through it. Do I have to keep up?

You do not have to rush. The Kaf HaChaim quotes a ruling that it is forbidden to say the Thirteen without paying attention to them. If the congregation finishes while you are in the middle, you may keep going: Ben Ish Hai rules that it still counts as reading them with the congregation, because you started with them. He also suggests counting the Thirteen on your fingers, the way some count the eleven incense spices when they say that passage, to help you focus.

Is there a right way to say "Hashem, Hashem"?

Pause slightly between "in the name" and "Hashem," and between the two Names. The Magen Avraham (a 1600s commentary on the Shulchan Aruch) gives the first from older books; the Kaf HaChaim adds the second. On bowing, customs differ. The Kaf HaChaim says to bend slightly at "Hashem, Hashem," since right after the Thirteen the Torah says Moshe bowed. Ben Ish Hai says to bend slightly at "Vaya'avor" and stand straight at "Hashem, Hashem," and reports that the Beit El kabbalists in Jerusalem bend slightly at both.

Who says "Vaya'avor": the chazzan, or me too?

Siddur Sefard marks that line "congregation and chazzan," so the whole minyan says it. The Kaf HaChaim reports that some held the congregation does not say it at all and starts only at "Hashem, Hashem." He disagrees, based on the Ari (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the 1500s kabbalist of Tzfat): the congregation says it quietly with the chazzan, then starts saying it out loud from "Hashem, Hashem."

Can I say Selichot by myself?

Yes, without the Thirteen. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, whose notes give Ashkenazi practice) writes that a person alone should not say Selichot (prayers for forgiveness) or "Vaya'avor." The Mishnah Berurah says later authorities were puzzled, since Selichot are just pleas, and agreed a person alone may say them without the Thirteen. The Kaf HaChaim notes that the Taz (a 1600s commentator) is stricter about Selichot that mention the Thirteen, but quotes an earlier book that common practice allows them.

Can I say the Thirteen at night?

Not before halachic midnight (the middle of the night), except on Yom Kippur. The Magen Avraham, quoting the Ari's writings on prayer, and the Mishnah Berurah both rule that no Selichot and no Thirteen Attributes are said before then. This is why Selichot wait until after midnight. Ben Ish Hai adds a case from the afternoon: if you reach the confession at Mincha after the twelve hours of the day have ended, say the confession only and skip the Thirteen.