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We say vidui three times in selichos. Many words are uttered in a relatively short time. How can we do this in a meaningful way that is not "vidui peh"?

I have heard tell of one of the gedolei Torah that in the vidui of everyday Tachanun, he said only one word of the “oshamnu, bogadnu” prayer. Is that a derekh for non-gedolim?

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    You could always switch to the Chabad selichos nusach, which says "ashamnu" only once per day... :)
    – Alex
    Commented Sep 22, 2011 at 14:46
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    @Alex, I assume you're kidding. The particular nusach one uses would (for most people) have the force of minhag, no?
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Sep 22, 2011 at 16:45
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    @msh210: actually, there are halachic precedents for switching nuschaos - after all, there was such a change when Chassidus came along and advocated Nusach Ari, where until then pretty much all European Jews used Nusach Ashkenaz. The whole issue is discussed in various halachic works (will have to look for sources). But yes, in this case I was kidding.
    – Alex
    Commented Sep 23, 2011 at 3:45
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    I asked a LOR He said he only says one set of oshamnu
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Commented Sep 23, 2011 at 12:08
  • @AvrohomYitzchok I have heard that is Minhag haGra as well.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Sep 10, 2012 at 16:58

2 Answers 2

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  1. Learn the meaning behind the vidui before saying it.
  2. Buy a sefer that translates them or an interlinear siddur, and daven from that.
  3. Write your own commentary to them whilst learning the meanings.
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    Moshe Yitzhak, thanks for the suggestions and welcome to the site. I hope you stick around and enjoy it.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Nov 9, 2011 at 18:15
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"Better a small number of prayers with concentration, than many without concentration." (Shulchan Aruch OH 1:4) "If... one estimates that he will not be able to concentrate for a large number of prayers, and [therefore] says only a few but with concentration, Hashem considers it as if he... said many prayers with concentration" (Mishna Brurah there)

In practice, I think this means to say vidui (and all of selichot) at the pace which allows you to concentrate best. And don't worry if you end up saying only part of the words. (But make sure what you do say is the important parts, for example I would think that the paragraph ending "aval anachnu veavoteinu hatanu" and a single "ashamnu" paragraph are key things to say)

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  • Welcome to Mi Yodeya Shlomo! Thanks for the answer.
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Sep 29, 2017 at 17:33
  • Yes. I had always understood OH 1:4 as referring to Tikkun Chatzos from the earlier seifim but I accept that it can be taken as an independent halocho.
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Commented Oct 1, 2017 at 13:17
  • @AvrohomYitzchok not according to this moreshesashkenaz.org/mm/samples/MachzorYomKippurSample.pdf page 12
    – Joshua Pearl
    Commented Oct 15, 2017 at 9:44
  • @JoshuaPearl Kedarkom bakodesh.
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Commented Oct 16, 2017 at 16:44
  • @AvrohomYitzchok I don't understand what that means
    – Joshua Pearl
    Commented Oct 16, 2017 at 18:49

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