Tashlikh
Encyclopedia
Tashlikh is a long-standing Jewish
practice
usually performed on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah
, the Jewish New Year
, however it can be said up until Hoshana Rabbah. The previous year's sins are symbolically "cast off" by reciting a section from Micah that makes allusions to the symbolic casting off of sins, into a large, natural body of flowing water (such as a river
, lake
, sea
or ocean
).
The name "Tashlikh" and the practice itself are derived from the Biblical
passage recited at the ceremony: "You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
The first direct reference to tashlikh is by Rabbi Jacob Mölin in Sefer Maharil where he explains the minhag
("custom") as a reminder of the binding of Isaac
. He recounts a rabbinic midrash
about the binding in which Satan
, by throwing himself across Abraham
's path in the form of a deep stream, endeavored to prevent him from sacrificing Isaac
on Mount Moriah
. Abraham and Isaac nevertheless plunged into the river up to their necks and prayed for divine aid, whereupon the river disappeared.
Mölin, however, forbids the practise of throwing pieces of bread to the fish in the river, especially on the Sabbath
(on which carrying is forbidden). This shows that in his time tashlikh was duly performed, even when the first day of Rosh Hashana fell on the Sabbath, though in later times the ceremony was on such occasions deferred till the second day. The significance of the fish is explained by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz
(Shelah 214b): (1) they illustrate man's plight, and arouse him to repentance: "As the fishes that are taken in an evil net" (Ecclesiastes 9:12); (2) as fishes have no eyelids and their eyes are always wide open, they symbolize God, who does not sleep.
Rabbi Moses Isserles
co-author of the Shulchan Aruch
(the "Code of Jewish law") explains: "The deeps of the sea saw the genesis of Creation; therefore to throw bread into the sea on New-Year's Day, the anniversary of Creation, is an appropriate tribute to the Creator" (Torat ha-'Olah 3:56).
, ("shell [profane soul]"), has caused many non-kabbalists to denounce the custom. In their view the custom created the impression among the common people that by literally throwing their sins they might "escape" them without repenting and making amends. The Maskilim
in particular ridiculed the custom and characterized it as "heathenish." A popular satire from the 1860s was written by Isaac Erter
, in his "Ha-Ẓofeh le-Bet Yisrael" (pp. 64–80, Vienna, 1864), in which Samael watches the sins of hypocrites dropping into the river. The Gaon of Vilna also did not follow the practice.
view this ceremony as acceptable and laudable. It is opposed by the Dor Daim
and by a small group of followers of the Vilna Gaon
in Jerusalem. Nor is it generally practised by Spanish and Portuguese Jews
.
Many Jews in New York City
perform the ceremony each year in large numbers from the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. In cities with few open bodies of water, such as Jerusalem, people perform the ritual by a fish pond or a mikveh.
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
practice
Minhag
Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, Nusach , refers to the traditional order and form of the prayers...
usually performed on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...
, the Jewish New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
, however it can be said up until Hoshana Rabbah. The previous year's sins are symbolically "cast off" by reciting a section from Micah that makes allusions to the symbolic casting off of sins, into a large, natural body of flowing water (such as a river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
, lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
, sea
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...
or ocean
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
).
The name "Tashlikh" and the practice itself are derived from the Biblical
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
passage recited at the ceremony: "You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
Maharil
Most Jewish sources trace the custom back to Rabbi Jacob Mölin (Germany, d. 1425) in his Sefer Maharil. Some clues as to an earlier origin are:- JosephusJosephusTitus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
("Antiquities" 14:10, § 23) refers to the decree of the Halicarnassians permitting Jews to "perform their holy rites according to the Jewish laws and to have their places of prayer by the sea, according to the customs of their forefathers". - The ZoharZoharThe Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
, the most important book of Jewish mysticism, states that "whatever falls into the deep is lost forever; ... it acts like the scapegoatScapegoatScapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
for the ablution of sins" (Zohar, Vayikra 101a,b). Some hold that this is referring to tashlikh.
The first direct reference to tashlikh is by Rabbi Jacob Mölin in Sefer Maharil where he explains the minhag
Minhag
Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, Nusach , refers to the traditional order and form of the prayers...
("custom") as a reminder of the binding of Isaac
Binding of Isaac
The Binding of Isaac Akedah or Akeidat Yitzchak in Hebrew and Dhabih in Arabic, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah...
. He recounts a rabbinic midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
about the binding in which Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
, by throwing himself across Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
's path in the form of a deep stream, endeavored to prevent him from sacrificing Isaac
Isaac
Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
on Mount Moriah
Moriah
Moriah is the name given to a mountain range by the Book of Genesis, in which context it is giv. the location of the sacrifice of Isaac. Traditionally Moriah has been interpreted as the name of the specific mountain at which this occurred, rather than just the name of the range...
. Abraham and Isaac nevertheless plunged into the river up to their necks and prayed for divine aid, whereupon the river disappeared.
Mölin, however, forbids the practise of throwing pieces of bread to the fish in the river, especially on the Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
(on which carrying is forbidden). This shows that in his time tashlikh was duly performed, even when the first day of Rosh Hashana fell on the Sabbath, though in later times the ceremony was on such occasions deferred till the second day. The significance of the fish is explained by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz
Isaiah Horowitz
Isaiah Horowitz, , also known as the Shelah ha-Kadosh after the title of his best-known work, was a prominent Levite rabbi and mystic.-Biography:...
(Shelah 214b): (1) they illustrate man's plight, and arouse him to repentance: "As the fishes that are taken in an evil net" (Ecclesiastes 9:12); (2) as fishes have no eyelids and their eyes are always wide open, they symbolize God, who does not sleep.
Rabbi Moses Isserles
Moses Isserles
Moses Isserles, also spelled Moshe Isserlis, , was an eminent Ashkenazic rabbi, talmudist, and posek, renowned for his fundamental work of Halakha , entitled ha-Mapah , an inline commentary on the Shulkhan Aruch...
co-author of the Shulchan Aruch
Shulchan Aruch
The Shulchan Aruch also known as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most authoritative legal code of Judaism. It was authored in Safed, Israel, by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later...
(the "Code of Jewish law") explains: "The deeps of the sea saw the genesis of Creation; therefore to throw bread into the sea on New-Year's Day, the anniversary of Creation, is an appropriate tribute to the Creator" (Torat ha-'Olah 3:56).
Opposition to the custom
The Kabbalistic practise of shaking the ends of one's garments at the ceremony, as though casting off the klippahQliphoth
Qliphoth/Qelippot, alternatively Klippot/Kellipot etc. refers to the representation of evil or impure spiritual forces in Jewish mysticism.In the Kabbalistic spiritual cosmology, the Kelipot are metaphorical "shells" surrounding holiness...
, ("shell [profane soul]"), has caused many non-kabbalists to denounce the custom. In their view the custom created the impression among the common people that by literally throwing their sins they might "escape" them without repenting and making amends. The Maskilim
Haskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
in particular ridiculed the custom and characterized it as "heathenish." A popular satire from the 1860s was written by Isaac Erter
Isaac Erter
Isaac Erter was a Polish-Jewish satirist.He was born at Janischok, Galicia. The first part of his life was full of struggles and hardships...
, in his "Ha-Ẓofeh le-Bet Yisrael" (pp. 64–80, Vienna, 1864), in which Samael watches the sins of hypocrites dropping into the river. The Gaon of Vilna also did not follow the practice.
Mainstream acceptance today
Today, most mainstream Jewish denominationsJewish denominations
Jewish religious movements , sometimes called "denominations" or "branches", include different groups which have developed among Jews from ancient times and especially in the modern era among Ashkenazi Jews living in anglophone countries...
view this ceremony as acceptable and laudable. It is opposed by the Dor Daim
Dor Daim
The Dardaim or Dor daim , are adherents of the Dor Deah movement in Judaism. That movement was founded in 19th century Yemen by Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ, and had its own network of synagogues and schools.Its objects were:...
and by a small group of followers of the Vilna Gaon
Vilna Gaon
Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman Kramer, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew acronym Gra or Elijah Ben Solomon, , was a Talmudist, halachist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic Jewry of the past few centuries...
in Jerusalem. Nor is it generally practised by Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
.
Many Jews in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
perform the ceremony each year in large numbers from the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. In cities with few open bodies of water, such as Jerusalem, people perform the ritual by a fish pond or a mikveh.