Because or many years I only had Ashkenazi synagogues and Chabad Houses nearby I collected some Ashkenazi documents, one being the Philip Birnbaum Selihoth from the Hebrew Publishing Company. Mine is © 1952.
Now that I'm close to Sefardi congregations I have a small book of s'lihot from the Sucath David publishing house with a © of 1993.
There are some differences between the two approaches to s'lihot.
The most obvious is that Sefardim and Mizrachim recite s'lihot from the second day of Elul until the day before Rosh haShana, Shabatot excluded. For Ashkenazim, according to the Birnbaum book, the custom is to begin recital of selihoth Saturday night midnight, four days before Rosh haShana unless the first day of Rosh HaShana falls on Monday or Tuesday, "it is customary to begin a week earlier." Four days is the Ashkenazi minimum.
The Birnbaum Selihoth jumps right into the service, starting off with ashri with no mention of ברכות השחר that opens the Sucath David book.
The Sfardi book continues with the tikunim (Rachael and Leah) for tikun hatzot which I find a bit backward, at least for most U.S. congregations that don't start s'lihot until about an hour before dawn. It finally gets to ashri after ברכות השחר, תקון חצותת, פתיחת אליהו, וקדיש על ישראל.
S'lihot traditionally are said before dawn. In some places, a 4 a.m. start time is customary, and in these places, tikun hatzot after ברכות השחר might work out OK.
The Sucath David is considerably longer than the Birnbaum s'lihot, even excluding ברכות השחר, תקון חצותת, ופתיחת אליהו This may be a bit misleading since I notice that the Birnbaum is "selihoth for the first day." I wonder why I only have Day 1. Sucath David covers all the days of the week - Sunday through Friday - but does identify a block of six prayers by day-of-week. Sucath David also includes התרת נדרים, תפילות בית עלמין, השכבות, בקשות and ודוי גדול .
Monday we'll start s'lihot at 5:35 a.m.
The funny thing about s'lihot is that you see people at the "early" service who rarely show up for a weekday שחרית minyan.
It's serious business, s'lihot, but at the same time there is a "flavor" - at least among the Sefardim and Mizrachim - that make it enjoyable.
It may be hard to open the eyes at such an early hour, but it is worth it for the soul.
