מי אל כמוך נשא עון ועבר על פשע לשארית נחלתו לא החזיק לעד אפו כי חפץ חסד הוא ישוב ירחמנו יכבש עונתינו ושליך במצלות ים כל חטאותם
On the first day of Rosh Hashana in the afternoon (this year, 5784, Rosh Hashana begins on Shabbat, so the Tashlikh is postponed to the second day) it is customary to perform a ceremony called “Tashlikh”. People approach a source of water: the sea, a river, or even a pool with water. There they recite a series of prayers, including reading the text from the prophet Micha, Chapter 7: 18-19 “Who is like You, O God, who forgives sin and ignores the transgressions of his people [Israel]? [Who is like You, O HaShem,] whose anger does not last forever, because you want to forgive us and [every year] you have mercy on us anew. You ignore our sins [when we repent] and cast all our transgressions to the bottom of the sea.”
ABRAHAM ABINU
Tashlikh is a relatively new tradition. It is not mentioned in the Talmud or in the Mishne Torah of Maimonides or in the Shulchan Arukh of Ribbi Yosef Caro. The Maharil (1365 – 1427) was the first to mention it, Rabbi Ya’akob ben Moshe Levi Moelin, famous for his works recording the customs of Ashkenaz Jews in the Middle Ages. According to the Maharil, the tradition (not called yet “tashlikh”) consists of visiting a river on Rosh Hashana to remember the sacrifice of Yitschaq. The Midrash relates that when Abraham Abinu was going to Mount Moriah to comply with the Divine order, he found a river—which should not have been there—and when he tried to cross it, the water reached his nose… Despite having the best excuse to suspend the sacrifice of Isaac—which was ultimately canceled by Divine command—Abraham crossed the waters and went ahead with God’s command. Visiting the river reminds of Isaac’s sacrifice on Rosh Hashana and the unconditional willpower of Abraham Abinu to fulfill God’s word. And that is why we mention it in the Tefilot of this day many times Isaac’s sacrifice and we ask HaShem to consider the merit of Abraham’s unconditional obedience to judge us, his descendants with benevolence.
THE MYSTIC ASPECT OF TASHLIKH
Over time, and after Rabbenu HaAri HaQadosh praised this custom, the Tashlikh ceremony was adopted by practically all Sephardic communities. However, the meaning of this ritual was modified, focusing more on repentance than on the memory of Isaac’s sacrifice. The Sages of Kabbalah associated visiting the river or the sea with the Pasuk of the prophet Micha, which we mentioned above, where he says that HaShem “will throw all our transgressions to the bottom of the sea.” What does this idea mean? That when we do Teshuba, by sincerely repenting of our sins, God will completely erase our transgressions, “throwing them to the bottom of the sea”, a metaphorical and poetic expression that denotes a total elimination from the records.
THE OPPOSITION
Some famous rabbis, such as the Vilna Gaon or Rabbi Yechiel Epstein, author of the Arukh haShulkhan, opposed the Tashlikh ceremony. And the same was true of many Yemenite Jews—who strictly follow Maimonides—and the Sephardic Jews of the Spanish-Portuguese community in Amsterdam and London. Why did they oppose the Tashlikh? In some cases, like that of the Spanish-Portuguese community, for example, because they left out of the traditional liturgy, that is, of the formal prayers and the prayer book or Siddur, many of the customs come from Kabbalah. Why? Because after what happened with Shabetai Tzevi—the false Messiah who abused Kabbalah and presented it as superstition to give credibility to his false claims—they decided not to allow exposure of mystical ideas to the public, lest they be misinterpreted by the less informed people.
HOW NOT TO MAKE TESHUBA?
I believe that in the case of the Tashlikh, those fears were not unfounded! Why? Because many people innocently believe that by doing the Tashlikh “they are throwing all their sins into the sea”, and in this way, they are magically absolved of all their transgressions as if the Tashlikh were a replacement for the Teshuba. This is completely false. It is not what the prophet Micha says, nor is it what those who formulated this custom wanted to convey. The Teshuba or repentance process is very serious, and this mistaken—but very popular—view of Tashlikh trivializes it.
GENUINE TESHUBA
Teshuba is a “transformative” process through which we not only change what we do but also who we are. We dedicate Ten full days to Teshuba, from the beginning of Rosh Hashanah to the end of Yom Kippur.
I will briefly describe the main steps of true Teshuba:
1. When I hear the shofar, I must wake up from my spiritual lethargy and visualize that I am in front of God, who is my Creator and also “my Judge” (the one who evaluates whether or not it was worth creating me).
2. I must acknowledge before the Divine Court that I am responsible for my actions.
3. I must admit my mistakes and recognize my bad decisions during the past year.
4. I must also identify my bad habits, some of which are already part of my personality.
5. During the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I must make amends and make amends to those I have wronged. And apologize and apologize to those whom I offended or hurt.
6. On Yom Kippur, I must confess my bad deeds, articulating in a low voice and feeling that I am before God my mistakes, my bad habits and my addictions.
7. I must ask the Creator to forgive me and give me another chance.
8. And finally, I must decide to change and improve and plan a serious and viable strategy so that the changes are real and permanent and that my resolutions are not just empty words.
The popular implicit idea that Tashlikh replaces Teshuba is outrageous and counterproductive. How can we replace this whole process of drawing closer to God, introspection, repentance and growth with the idea that one can “throw all his sins into the sea”?
CONCLUSION
Tashlikh is a deeply rooted custom, especially in Sephardic communities, and I do not intend to question it. However, teachers and rabbinical leaders must explain in their communities that the Tashlikh does NOT magically make our transgressions disappear. We recite the Tashlikh to remind ourselves that if we take the Teshuba process very seriously, repent, and change, God will forgive all our past transgressions, and there will be no records of them. The memory of my sins will disappear “as if the sea swallowed them.”
