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HaRav Netanel Levihim –
When is the best time to say Selihot? Can I say it at Night?
Maran in Shulhan Aruch, (Orah Haim siman 581) writes that the minhag is to recite Selihot by Ashmoret from Rosh Hodesh Elul until Yom Kippur. The reason for reciting Selihot is based on the Pirkeh DeRabbi Eliezer, which writes that this was the time Moshe Rabbenu went up to ask Hashem for forgiveness for the sin of the golden calf, and brought down the second luhot on Yom Kippur, when Hashem said the final words of ‘vesalahti kidvarecha.’ Therefore, these forty days became a time of seeking mercy for Bnei Yisrael.
The time of Ashmoret is from midnight until dawn. During this time is a time of favor and mercy. If someone couldn’t say it then, they still may say it before Shaharit, or even before Minha, but it doesnt have the same status as one that says it between midnight and dawn (Yehave Da’at 1:46).
However, once night falls, the Sha’ar HaKavanot (1:54) writes, that Selihot should not be said in the first half of the night, until hatzot. This is cited by the Magen Avraham (Orah Haim 565:5), that Selihot with the thirteen middot should not be said at all before midnight. One of the reasons given is that the midat hadin dominates through the night, and Selihot may not be effective — and may even be harmful — until after hatzot halayla, when the midat harahamim appears. (See Yalkut Yosef Yomim Norayim page 36)
Hatzot (midnight) is calculated precisely twelve hours after the hatzot of the day. The hatzot of the day is determined by the sixth sha’ah zmanit between sunrise and sunset. (Hazon Ovadia, Yomim Noraim, page 3.)
If a talmid haham would be adversely affected by the early wake-up and cannot say Selihot at the proper time, he should at least try to do so on some nights during Elul — such as Mondays and Thursdays with a tzibur — especially during the Aseret Yemeh Teshuva. (Hazon Ovadia, ibid, page 8.)