("supplication"). Penitential prayer added after the reader's repetition of the Amidah of the weekday Morning and Afternoon Service. It contains a number of devotional supplications seeking Divine mercy. It is not recited on days with any degree of festivity and in the case of the Afternoon Service is also not recited on days preceding any day of festivity. Taḥanun includes nefilat appayim, ("falling upon the face"), during which the worshiper lays his forehead on his left hand (unless he is wearing phylacteries on that hand, in which case he rests his forehead on his right hand) and recites II Samuel 24:14, which has a reference to "falling into the Lord's hands." Originally the worshiper completely prostrated himself, a custom still followed in France in the 13th century. The verse from Samuel is followed by Psalms 6:2-11 in the Ashkenazi ritual and Psalms 25 in the Sephardi. At the Morning Services on Mondays and Thursdays, nefilat appayim is supplemented by extensive prayers of a supplicatory and penitential nature. On fast days and during the Ten Days of Repentance, both the Morning and Afternoon Taḥanun prayers are preceded by the prayer Avinu Malkenu ("Our Father, our King").
The Taḥanun is not recited on the Sabbath and festivals, the New Moon, throughout the entire month of Nisan, 14 Iyyar, on Lag Ba-Omer, from the beginning of the month of Sivan until the ninth of the month (an alternative custom is until the 14th of the month), from the day preceding the Day of Atonement until the second day after Shemini Atseret (another custom is until the month of Ḥeshvan), on Ḥanukkah, Tu Bi-Shevat, Purim and Shushan Purim, and the 14th and 15th of I Adar. Nor is Taḥanun said on Tishah Be-Av, the national day of mourning for the destruction of both Temples, for the sages state that the day will eventually become a festival. In Zionist circles, it is not recited on Israel Independence Day and Jerusalem Day, since these are regarded as days of Divine deliverance. It is also not said in a house of mourning during the week of shivah, if there is a bridegroom in the synagogue within the first week after his marriage, or if the father, mohel (circumcisor), or sandak (godfather) of a child to be circumcised that day is present.
