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The Tradition of Tashlich-”Casting Away”

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September 21, 2006

About This Editor: Karen has enjoyed her many varied experiences in corporate business management, dance education, and preschool assistance. She hopes to write about these past lives-and more-from her home in Pittsburgh, PA, where she lives with her husband, daughter, and 3 cats.

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Some of you who follow my writings are already aware that I have a mixture of Judaic and Christian spirituality in my life. With the Jewish New Year approaching, I found myself thinking about a tradition done on Rosh Hashana. It’s called Tashlich, or “casting away” one’s mistakes and sins into moving water.

It’s a beautiful concept: gather small stones or pebbles (or corn, if there are nearby duck and geese) and visualize them as the last year’s worth of transgressions. As you toss them into a creek, stream, or larger body of moving water, imagine those “bad actions” being removed from your record, leaving you with a clean slate for the new year ahead. Before this is done, one should apologize to others for any hurts done, and forgiveness should be requested from them. Likewise, forgiveness should be forgiven to those who ask. It is only after acknowledgements, apologies and forgiveness can one have sins to “float away”.

And what if someone will not forgive you? It’s said that if a person asks three times for forgiveness and is not given it, they are absolved anyway. (After all, there is not much more a person can do to make things right!)

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is a serious, introspective time, but one that is also celebratory for the chance at a fresh start. L’Shana Tova to all of you enjoying this Holiday Season, and may you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year!