A Night of Selichot in Jerusalem: The Practical Guide

There is one night in Elul when Jerusalem looks like nowhere else on earth. Between midnight and three in the morning, when the new city has already gone quiet, the Western Wall fills up. Not the way a venue fills - the way a river fills: people keep arriving, and every time it looks as though there is no more room, there is.

Anyone who has lived here for years and has never been to Selichot (the penitential prayers recited in the weeks before the High Holidays) at the Kotel after midnight is missing the most Jerusalem thing there is. And this guide is not about when Selichot are said - that is on our Selichot page. It is about how to do it right.

What happens when

August 14 - the first of Elul. The Sephardi and Mizrahi communities begin. From here on there are Selichot every night.

Saturday night, September 5 - the Ashkenazi communities begin. From then until Rosh Hashanah is the peak: the plaza fills every single night.

September 11-13 - Rosh Hashanah 5787. The nights leading up to it are the busiest of the year.

September 20 - the eve of Yom Kippur, the last night.

Which rite you hear where

This is the part nobody tells you, and it is what turns the night from "we were at the Kotel" into an experience.

Selichot in the Mizrahi rite are sung as piyyutim - liturgical poems - in Arabic-style maqam modes, with a cantor, a choir and sometimes instruments. They run longer, they are far more musical, and anyone who is not used to them will find themselves listening rather than praying, which is perfectly fine.

In Jerusalem you can hear several different rites on the same night, each in its own synagogue - Moroccan, Aleppan, Yemenite and Babylonian (Iraqi). That is exactly what a good Selichot tour does: it moves between three or four of them.

The Ashkenazi rite is shorter and concentrated on the supplication texts. If you came to hear piyyutim, go to a Sephardi synagogue. If you came to pray, the choice is yours.

The Kotel: what to know in advance

The plaza fills from the bottom up. Arrive at 00:30 on a crowded night and you will be standing at the back, seeing nothing. Arrive at 23:30 and you will be sitting.

Parking - do not even try. On the peak nights the approaches to the Old City are closed off, the parking lots around Jaffa Gate and Dung Gate shut early, and the street itself turns into a walking route. The answer is the light rail to Damascus Gate, or to the Central Bus Station and a night bus from there, or parking in Rehavia and walking 25 minutes downhill. That walk, incidentally, is half the point.

Dress - the plaza is a place of prayer. Shoulders and knees covered, and a kippah (skullcap) for men, available at the entrance. And in Jerusalem in Elul the nights turn noticeably cold after midnight - bring a layer.

With children - you can, and it is an experience that stays with them. But not on the nights right before Rosh Hashanah. Pick a night in the middle of Elul, when the plaza is full but you can still move.

Before: where to eat

All kinds of people come to Selichot at the Kotel and to the Selichot tours - religious, secular, tourists, and people who simply wanted to see the city at that hour. But there is one practical fact worth knowing in advance, whoever you are:

What is open in the market beforehand is almost all kosher. What is open in the city after midnight is almost all not. If kashrut (Jewish dietary law) matters to you, that means the meal happens before. If it does not, you simply have more options in both directions.

Either way, the place to eat beforehand is Mahane Yehuda Market.

The Nachlaot tour sets out from the plaza of the Gerard Behar Center on Bezalel Street - 450 metres from the market. In other words: you eat in the market and walk five minutes to the meeting point. It is no accident that the tour starts there - it is the same neighborhood.

What is open in the market at those hours:

• BeerBazaar (3 Etz Chaim St) - until midnight on weekdays, kosher. Local beers, and if there are four of you, this is the place.
• Meat Time - until midnight, kosher.
• Helen Bakery - 18:00 to 23:00, kosher. For something light beforehand.

And just beyond the market, the same walking distance from the meeting point: Steakiya on HaDekel St (kosher, until midnight) and Sela at 17 Shamai St (kosher, until 01:30 on Thursdays).

If your tour leaves from Mishkenot Sha'ananim - David 16 is the nearest kosher option, and Vaniglia at the First Station is open until 23:00. The Turkish Knafeh stand in the same complex is open until 02:00, and anyone who knows will tell you that knafeh - a warm cheese pastry in syrup - at midnight before Selichot is a combination that works.

And if you are on the "Selichot Among the Antiquities" tour from Jaffa Gate - Notre Dame Rooftop is open until 22:30, and the view of the city walls from up there at sunset is worth arriving early for on its own.

The tours

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation runs five different Selichot tours, each with its own departure point and character - from "Ptach Lanu Sha'ar" ("Open the Gate for Us"), which sets out from Mishkenot Sha'ananim, to "Mima'amakim Keraticha" ("Out of the Depths I Called You"), which begins in the Western Wall Tunnels. They all end at the plaza, and that is the idea: you reach the Kotel at the end of a story, not as a tourist.

The nightly schedule and the prices are published close to the start of Elul. The full breakdown, with durations and departure points, is on our Selichot page.

A practical note: these tours sell out. On the nights before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur they close weeks in advance. If you want to do a tour, book in August, not September.

After: what is open at two in the morning

You come out of the plaza at two, and suddenly realise Jerusalem is not built for this. These are the places whose posted hours really do run past one:

Within walking distance of the Old City:

• Bar Yanai - Sunday to Saturday, 18:00 to 03:00. Half a kilometre from Jaffa Gate, the closest of them all.
• Bar HaSira (2 Ben Sira St) - all week, including Shabbat, until 04:00.
• The Sira Pub (4 Ben Sira St) - until 03:00 on weekdays, until 05:00 on weekends.
• Ivo Meat Burger - until 03:00, and until 05:00 on Thursdays. For when you are hungry rather than thirsty.

If your tour ends in Nachlaot:

• HaKasta - until 05:30, all week. The latest-closing place in the city.
• Barrel & The Tap (33 Hillel St) - until 02:00, until 04:00 on weekends.
• Focaccia Bar - until 02:00, every day.

None of these are kosher. Anyone looking for kosher at that hour will find there is almost nothing - Sela at 17 Shamai St is open until 01:30 on Thursdays, and that is about as late as the city gets. That is the one real reason to consider eating beforehand.

Bottom line

One night in the middle of Elul, not under the pressure of the night before Rosh Hashanah. Arrive at 23:30, not 00:30. Leave the car in Rehavia and walk down. Hear one rite you do not know. And know in advance where you are sitting afterwards.

All the Selichot events, tours and performances are on the Selichot page, updated daily throughout Elul.