He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and you will cast (tashlikh) all their sins into the depths of the sea. (Michah, 7: 19.)

Tashlikh. Unlike most rituals, the ceremony of Tashlikh appears not to have been shaped through rabbinic teachings but rather, by the popular zeal of the people to reach out to God.

Tashlikh traditionally occurs on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Ha-Shanah. The ceremony entails walking to a body of water that preferably flows with fish and reciting certain Psalms. Some--to the chagrin of a multitude of rabbis--have the custom of throwing bread into the water or of shaking crumbs out of their pockets. No one has definitively been able to trace the origins of this ritual.

Today, tashlikh not only survives, it thrives. Every year pictures of masses of Jews gathering to perform this ritual cover the pages of the local newspapers. Yet, throughout its history, tashlikh has been subject to much critique and dismissal. From the very first time that this custom was mentioned, in the work of the fifteenth century German scholar, R. Jacob Moellin (Maharil), the practice of the people was criticized by a leading rabbinic sage.

Maharil writes, “When the people walk to the rivers on the Holiday, they should not carry any food with them in order to throw it to the fish so that the people may rejoice in seeing the fish, for this action is a desecration of the Holiday.” Despite this admonition, the practice continued. The same warning appears hundreds of years later in the commentary of the Mahatsit Ha-Shekel to the Shulkhan Arukh, who calls this custom a “terrible custom (minhag garua).” Indeed, as a young child I distinctly remember my own rabbi issuing the same warning in front of the entire synagogue. Nonetheless, many continued and continue to follow this aspect of the ritual.

In fact, some rabbis held the entire practice of tashlikh in disdain. Of the great sage the Vilna Gaon it is said, “He would not go to the river to say tashlikh.” In 1936 a scholar was so convinced that the custom of tashlikh would be wiped out by the force of rabbinic disapproval that he wrote: “The Halakhah, the arch-enemy of superstition, will ultimately be the cause of the complete abolition of the Tashlik (sic) ceremony which in spite of all rationalizing interpretations and symbolic meanings given to it has its roots in ancient heathen superstitions.”

This last statement points to the source of the discomfort of some scholars with this custom. They view Tashlikh as a backward custom that aims to appease Satan or a Sea God. These scholars mock the view that one can actually cast away their sins into the water like bread into the sea.

Fighting against such cynicism, many rabbis struggle to explain in a meaningful fashion the symbolism of Tashlikh. Yet, no answer proves decisive, as the ritual eludes a complete understanding. To offer some examples of rabbinic explanations: R. Moses Isserles, in the sixteenth century, suggests that when one sees a sea, one realizes the greatness of God and the limits of man; this realization provokes humility and penance. The author of the Shenei Luhot Ha-Berit writes that since fish always have their eyes open, they symbolize our hope that God will open His eyes to our repentance. Others have noticed that Judaism generally favors prayer near water. Thus, according to the Midrash, prophecy usually comes upon the prophet near the water. So too, as Josephus and Philo indicate, there is a long history of Jews praying near the water. As R. Jacob b. Asher writes in his commentary, Baal Ha-Turim (Gen. 16: 7), “It is very fine to pray near water.”

In my opinion, the beauty of tashlikh comes precisely from its popular roots. People praying inside all day, confined to a strict liturgy, burst forth at the end of the day and take in the beauty of God’s world. Eyes resting on flowing water absorb the impact of God upon this world in a manner far surpassing the greatest sermon. Similarly, ears and noses require no textual knowledge in order to take in the sounds and smells of sea life; all are able to participate equally in tashlikh, from the uneducated to the scholarly. Finally, in a manner far greater than most prayer services, tashlikh requires the active, physical exertion of its participants.

Tashlikh is the cry of the masses, the prayer service of the people. With the ritual of tashlikh, the Jewish people cry out: Let God hear the prayer of our hearts, eyes, hands, and feet!

Shmuel Herzfeld