What is Tashlikh?
On Rosh Hashana afternoon, it is customary to go to the banks of a river or any flowing stream of water to perform Tashlikh. In some communities, it is traditional to recite a passage from the book of Micah (7:18-20) and from Psalms (118:5-9) before casting bread into the water to symbolize the casting away of our sins.
The name Tashlikh is derived from the book of Micah 7:19: יָשׁ֣וּב יְרַחֲמֵ֔נוּ יִכְבֹּ֖שׁ עֲוֺנֹתֵ֑ינוּ וְתַשְׁלִ֛יךְ בִּמְצֻל֥וֹת יָ֖ם כׇּל־חַטֹּאותָֽם / God will have compassion on us, forgiving our iniquities; and hurl (v’tashlikh) all of our sins into the depths of the sea.
This ceremony continues the theme of our prayers and hopes on Rosh Hashana. We pray that God will forgive our shortcomings on this day of judgment and take us back in love and with compassion. As we celebrate the birthday of the world, we embrace new beginnings and possibilities.
We perform this ritual at the water’s edge. Water plays an important role in Jewish tradition. In the Creation story, we read of the primordial waters that existed before earth itself and God’s spirit hovering over those waters. The waters bring forth the first living things formed during Creation. Prophetic visions occur by the water. People sit by the waters of Babylon and weep. Flowing water symbolizes life, Torah, purification, renewal, and hope.
The Climate Moment of Right Now
This year as we perform Tashlikh, we invite you, with the additional kavanah below, to reflect on the moment we are now in and to take note of the precariousness of our lives. Just as we are utterly dependent upon God for sustaining our existence, we are also utterly dependent on the stability of our climate to live.
Let us move from the blasts of the shofar towards our own commitment to individual and communal pathways for climate action. As we open our eyes to the urgency of this moment, let us join together in spirit with those marching in the streets of New York City this weekend calling for a sustainable future for all.
Kavanah: Connecting to the Climate Moment of Right Now
We invite you to recite this additional Kavanah / Intention while standing at the water’s edge before casting bread into the water:
This year, as we cast away our sins while standing at that liminal place where the habitats of land animals like us and the water creatures converge, let us take stock of planet Earth and of all of her living creatures.
Let us grieve for the skies filled with smoke, the parched ground and sweltering heat in many corners of the world, the fires and floods that sweep away lives and homes, the melting glaciers and rising seas, and the most vulnerable communities unfairly impacted across the globe.
Here at the water’s edge, we remember God’s spirit sweeping over the primordial water as God set out to create our beautiful and complex world teeming with life and possibility.
Created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God, let us assume our rightful role as active partners with God and as shomrei ha’adamah, protectors of the earth.
Let us now choose to face the challenges before us and step into this moment with power and resolve, individually and communally. Let us turn our inaction into action, our indifference into determination and through each step, our despair into hope.
And may God respond:
כִּֽי־מֵ֥י נֹ֙חַ֙ זֹ֣את לִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֣ר נִשְׁבַּ֗עְתִּי מֵעֲבֹ֥ר מֵי־נֹ֛חַ ע֖וֹד עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ כֵּ֥ן נִשְׁבַּ֛עְתִּי מִקְּצֹ֥ף עָלַ֖יִךְ וּמִגְּעׇר־בָּֽךְ׃ כִּ֤י הֶהָרִים֙ יָמ֔וּשׁוּ וְהַגְּבָע֖וֹת תְּמוּטֶ֑ינָה וְחַסְדִּ֞י מֵאִתֵּ֣ךְ לֹא־יָמ֗וּשׁ וּבְרִ֤ית שְׁלוֹמִי֙ לֹ֣א תָמ֔וּט אָמַ֥ר מְרַחֲמֵ֖ךְ יְהֹוָֽה׃
For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for just as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more flood the earth; so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains may move and the hills shake; but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be taken away - says God, who has taken you back in love. -Isaiah 54: 9-10
Jewish Climate Action Network NYC
Thank you to Rachel Landsberg, Jeff Levy-Lyons and Ace Leveen for developing the Kavanah. For those of you who would like to study Jewish texts related to climate, we have the following dates set aside to learn about Jewish holidays from a climate perspective with Rachel Landsberg: September 27, November 29, April 15 and June 3. Please join us at monthly JCAN meetings on the second Tuesday of each month. Learn more at jcan-nyc.org; email us at info@jcan-nyc.org.