TASHLIKH

The term TASHLIKH תשליך means ‘casting away’. It is in this practice, usually performed on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, that the sins of the previous year are ‘cast away’. Tashlikh is taken from Micah 7:18-20, which reads:

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning the sin and overlooking the crimes
of the remnant of his heritage?
He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in grace.
19 He will again have compassion on us, he will subdue our iniquities.
You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show truth to Ya‘akov (Jacob) and grace to Avraham (Abraham),
as you have sworn to our ancestors since days of long ago.

In doing this practice, the person takes tiny pieces of bread or crumbs to symbolize their sin, and then casts them into a body of water. This casting of sin releases the hold that sin has on us, therefore opening us to receive the compassion of God once more. Therefore, in this way, let us…

- cast away the sin of deception, so that we will mislead no one in word or deed, nor pretend to be what we are not.
- cast away the sin of vain ambition, which prompts us to strive for goals which bring neither true fulfillment nor genuine contentment.
- cast away the sin of stubbornness, so that we will neither persists in foolish habits nor fail to acknowledge our will to change.
- cast away the sin of envy, so that we will neither be consumed by desire for what we lack nor grow unmindful of the blessings which are already ours.
- cast away the sin of selfishness, which keeps us from enriching our lives through wider concerns and great sharing and from reaching out in love to other human beings.
- cast away the sin of indifference, so that we may be sensitive to the sufferings of others and responsive to the needs of people everywhere.
- cast away the sin of pride and arrogance, so that we can worship God and serve God's purpose in humility and truth.

יָשׁוּב יְרַחֲמֵנוּ, יִכְבֹּשׁ עֲו‍ֹנֹתֵינוּ
Ya-shub yeh-reckm-noo, yeck-bosh a-vo-no-tay-new,
He will again have compassion on us, he will subdue our iniquities.

וְתַשְׁלִיךְ בִּמְצֻלוֹת יָם, כָּל חַטֹּאותָם.
oo-tash-likh b-mitz-lowt yahm, kahl khaut-oo-tom
You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea.