There will be two Neighborhood Tashlikh Rituals with BWC Community following Rosh Hashanah Services, at 3:00pm on Saturday, September 12th. Please sign up on this spreadsheet by Wednesday, September 9th so we can plan for attendance and know how many ritual guides to bring. For those south of the river, join us at Jamaica Pond Beach in JP, and for those north of the river, join us at Reservoir Beach in Arlington.

At the sites, we will toss into the water pebbles, cracked corn, oats, rice, birdseed, frozen peas, chopped lettuce, or sliced grapes. These foods are similar to natural foods ducks will forage for on their own and better for them than breadstuffs.

The in-person ritual will last 30-45 minutes, so if you don’t want to/are unable to/ stand for that long, please bring a folding chair.

Everyone welcome, children & families, especially!

TASHLIKH — a chance to throw things … into the water. We suggest bringing pebbles (or the above foods) to throw because bread, even challah, is not good for the ducks and geese.

TASHLIKH — (You shall cast away) is based on biblical passages – most notably from Micah (7:9) “You will hurl all of our sins into the depths of the sea”.  The traditional word for “sin” is “khet”.  A more modern translation  goes back to “khet’s” original meaning.  That is from archery, and means – “to miss the mark”.   We throw pebbles into the water to represent our “sins” and those burdens, regrets, disappointments, old thinking, missed opportunities, excuses, or rationalizations that interfere with our living full lives. At the same time, we embrace hope to do better and set our intentions on hitting our marks in the coming year.