Tashlich is a Rosh Hashanah custom in which participants walk to a body of flowing water, ideally one containing fish, and symbolically cast away their sins, often using breadcrumbs or pocket lint thrown into the water while reciting verses from the biblical book of Micah about God casting sins into the depths of the sea. It is a folk custom rather than a legally mandated commandment, and its performance varies between communities.
Facts
Practice
Who Performs ItHouseholders, those living in the world 1 As a folk custom rather than a legally mandated commandment, tashlich requires no ordained officiant; it is performed by any adult Jew, individually or with family, often walking together to the water after synagogue services. Practitioner DetailPerformed by individuals or families gathered together at the waterside, with no priestly or rabbinic office required to lead it 1 ObligationRecommended and meritorious, not required 2 FrequencyPerformed once yearly, on Rosh Hashanah itself or, in many communities, deferred to the second day when the first falls on the Sabbath, since carrying items such as breadcrumbs is customarily avoided on the Sabbath. Use
OccasionThe afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, deferred to the second day where the first day falls on the Sabbath 1 Meaning
Literal MeaningTashlich means you will cast or you will throw in Hebrew, the imperative echoed directly from the Micah verse recited during the rite, so the ritual's own name is lifted straight out of the very verse it performs. 1 Origins
Place of OriginTashlich is first attested in written sources from fourteenth and fifteenth century Ashkenazi communities in German speaking Central Europe, arriving considerably later than Rosh Hashanah's other, Talmudic era observances, and spread from there to other Jewish communities in the centuries that followed. 1 Historical OriginThe custom is first attested by name in the late medieval Ashkenazi world, credited to the fifteenth century authority known as the Maharil; it appears nowhere in the Bible or the Talmud as a formal rite, only its recited verse does, which is part of why some of its accompanying folk customs were later debated by rabbinic authorities. 1 Attributions
PurposeEnacts symbolically the casting away of sin at the year's turning point, drawing on Micah 7:19's image of God casting Israel's sins into the depths of the sea 1 Attestation
Earliest AttestationFirst described in writing by the fifteenth century German rabbi Jacob Moelln, known as the Maharil, whose recorded customs are a principal source for Ashkenazi practice 1 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 3 Current StatusA living folk custom observed across Ashkenazi and, in adapted form, other Jewish communities today, not codified as a required commandment 1 Standing as a Comparative CategoryA standard analytic category in the study of religion 1 Connections
Addressed To
Tashlich is a Rosh Hashanah prayer ritual addressed to God, symbolically casting away sins.
Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)
Belongs to Tradition
Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)
Related To
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition
Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.), Macmillan Reference USA, 2007View the Source 2. Tashlich (Wikipedia)
3. Tashlikh (Wikipedia)
Lead section on current practice
Tashlikh or Tashlich (Hebrew: תשליך "cast off") is an customary Jewish atonement ritual performed during the High Holy Days on Rosh Hashanah for Ashkenazi Jews.
In Group: Jewish Sabbath and Festival Rites, Introduction, sentence 1
Tashlikh or Tashlich (Hebrew: תשליך "cast off") is an customary Jewish atonement ritual performed during the High Holy Days on Rosh Hashanah for Ashkenazi Jews.
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