6035 – Sing it Right!
Q. Dear Rov Shlit”a. In Shul, I often hear a friend sitting next to me who recites the Thirteen Middot, which is often said in the upcoming days of Elul, always with the tune the way the Torah is read in Shul. Is there a source for that custom?
A. The above is an opinion of the Shulchan Aruch 565: 5, which mentions one should not recite the Thirteen Middos unless they are recited with the “derech keriah be’alma,” or with the cantillations and tune common to the Torah reading. (Palagi, Ruach Chayim 131:1; Ben Ish Chai, Ki Tisa 1:9; Rav Pe’alim 1:11; and Kaf HaChayim 131:23. See also Chazon Ovadia, Yamim Nora’im, p. 27; Yalkut Yosef, Yamim Nora’im, p. 33; and Torat HaMoadim, Yamim Nora’im, p. 8. This is unlike Ohr LeTzion, vol. 4, 1:2, which states that one should omit the Thirteen Middot entirely.
See next question.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a
Answered by: Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Published: August 8, 2026