Tashlich
From Meh Hadash
By Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer
It is
customary on the first day of Rosh HaShanah,
to go to a moving body of water, a place where there would be fish, and to cast
our sins into the water. Well, we cannot really cast our sins into the water,
so we come equipped with breadcrumbs that we toss into the water as symbolic
representation of our wrong doings. It is can be a social experience, with
whole groups of people going to the waterfront and together casting away their
transgressions. It can be a very private experience as well, a chance for personal
reflection and contemplation.
New and
creative ceremonies have also developed around tashlich, since there is very little of a
fixed text or service. Tashlich is not done on Shabbat, so if the
first day of Rosh HaShanah falls
on Shabbat, tashlich is postponed until the second day of
Rosh HaShanah. Actually, tashlich can be done any day between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur (except Shabbat).
We try to go to a moving body of water, an ocean or a lake or a river or a stream,
so our sins symbolically can be swept away. But when those are unavailable,
people do tashlich in all different ways. I have heard of places where they do tashlich with
the water from a hose. In
Interestingly,
tashlich
is among those folk practices that became accepted custom, over the
objection of many Rabbis. (Kol nidre
is another such example.) Some Rabbis objected on the grounds that one
should not feed the fish on yom tov, or
that tashlich might lead to carrying on
Shabbat. Others considered tashlich to
be superstitious and primitive, and were afraid that the practice would lead
gentiles to laugh at the Jews.
While
looking foolish in the eyes of gentiles was (and maybe still is) a real worry,
in some eras the fears were far more serious. Objections were raised to the
practice of tashlich lest it lead to accusations of Jews poisoning the wells or
cursing the water and from there to pogroms, a very real possibility. Truly we
are blessed that those are not among our fears and concerns when we do tashlich here.
Is tashlich primitive
and superstitious? Perhaps that depends on how literally we understand it. As
my students pointed out, this custom bears a resemblance to the Yom Kippur
practice of the High Priest putting his hands on the head of a goat
(scapegoat?), confessing all the sins of the people of
Out in
nature we have the opportunity to experience a different kind of awe and appreciation
than we do in services. Whether we go alone or in a group, tashlich is an opportunity for us to consider
what practices or habits we personally have that we do not want to have, and to
leave them in the water for the fish. Tashlich is an opportunity for individual
introspection, by the edge of the water, where the air and our minds are clear.
May the beginning of the new year go smoothly for all of us, and may the Rosh HaShanah season leave us changed and different.