Let's talk about Tashlich
The Sea
Throwing bread into the water and reciting the biblical passage mentioning "the deep" is a reminder of the deep out of which the days of creation were formed. Thus, by going to the sea on Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate creation and are led to think of our own place in God's scheme of creation. When we contemplate these matters and repent from our sins, then they are truly thrown away, into the water, and we feel renewed on this Day of Judgement. - Moses Isserles
מִי־אֵ֣ל כָּמ֗וֹךָ נֹשֵׂ֤א עָוֺן֙ וְעֹבֵ֣ר עַל־פֶּ֔שַׁע לִשְׁאֵרִ֖ית נַחֲלָת֑וֹ לֹא־הֶחֱזִ֤יק לָעַד֙ אַפּ֔וֹ כִּֽי־חָפֵ֥ץ חֶ֖סֶד הֽוּא׃ יָשׁ֣וּב יְרַֽחֲמֵ֔נוּ יִכְבֹּ֖שׁ עֲוֺֽנֹתֵ֑ינוּ וְתַשְׁלִ֛יךְ בִּמְצֻל֥וֹת יָ֖ם כָּל־חַטֹּאותָֽם׃ תִּתֵּ֤ן אֱמֶת֙ לְיַֽעֲקֹ֔ב חֶ֖סֶד לְאַבְרָהָ֑ם אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּ֥עְתָּ לַאֲבֹתֵ֖ינוּ מִ֥ימֵי קֶֽדֶם׃
Is there any divinity save You who forgives the sins and pardons the transgressions of the remnant, Your people? You do not maintain anger forever, for You delight in love. You will return to us compassionately, overcoming the consequences of our sin, hurling our sins into the depths of the sea. You will keep faith with Jacob, showing enduring love to Abraham, as You promised our ancestors in days of old.
Rabbi Jonathan Saks: Commentary to Tashlikh from pp. 936-947 of Koren-Sacks Machzor for Rosh HaShana
It is a custom, on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh HaShana (or second, if the first is Shabbat) to go to the shore of the sea, the bank of a river, or other running stream of water, as a symbolic enactment of the words of the prophet Micah: "He God] will cast (tashlikh) into the depths of the sea all their sins" (Micah 7:19)...The first mention of the custom is in Sefer Maharil of Rabbi Jacob Moellin (d. 1425)...Many folk customs have become associated with Tashlikh, among them the custom of throwing crumbs into water as a symbolic gesture to accompany the process of repentance, begun on Rosh HaShana, as if we were "casting away" our sins. This practice was dismissed by some halakhic authorities and ridiculed by gentiles. However it is less ridiculous than it seems. Maimonides writes about the scapegoat on Yom Kippur over which the High priest confessed the sins of the people and which was then sent out into the wilderness:
"There is no doubt that sins cannot be carried like a burden, and taken off the shoulder of one being and laid on that of another. But these ceremonies are of a symbolic character, and serve to impress people with a certain idea, and to induce them to repent, as if to say: we have freed ourselves of our previous deeds, have cast them behind our backs and removed them from us as far as possible (Guide III:46)."
Read Together:
Let us cast away the sin of deception, so that we will mislead no one in word or deed nor pretend to be what we are not.
Let us cast away the sin of vain ambition which prompts us to strive for goals which bring neither true fulfillment nor genuine contentment.
Let us cast away the sin of stubbornness, so we will neither be consumed by desire for what we lack nor grow unmindful of the blessings which are already ours.
Let us cast away the sin of selfishness, which keeps us from enriching our lives through wider concerns, and greater sharing, and from reaching out in love to other human beings.
Le us cast away the sin of indifference so that we may be sensitive to the sufferings of others and responsive to the needs of our people everywhere.
Let us cast away the sins of pride and arrogance, so that we may worship God and serve his purpose in humility and truth.
(9) They shall not hurt nor destroy In all My holy mountain; For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.
מהרי׳ל
Maharil Hilchos Rosh HaShanah
There was a minhag to go on Rosh HaShanah, after the meal, and throw our sins into the sea.
לבוש
Levush Orach Chaim, 596
It was normal to go to place that had live fish. To remember that we are like these live fish, who are ensnared suddenly in a net. So are we ensnared in the abyss of death and judgement. And in doing so, we will contemplate repentance more.
The ceremony of Tashlikh survived and grew in popularity, despite significant rabbinic opposition. Some rabbis opposed Tashlikh because it makes the complex process of separating sin from our lives seem too facile, as if it is simply a matter of casting bread from our hands. But Tashlikh survived because it fulfilled a popular need… Just as fish eat our bread and what is cast away becomes nourishment, so we pray that even our sins will eventually be turned to good effect in the world.
From Mahzor Lev Shalem, page 177
האי פרפיסא - עציץ נקוב שזרעו בו ובתשובת הגאונים מצאתי שעושין חותלות מכפות תמרים וממלאין אותם עפר וזבל בהמה וכ"ב או ט"ו יום לפני ר"ה עושין כל אחד ואחד לשם כל קטן וקטנה שבבית וזורעים לתוכן פול המצרי או קיטנית וקורין לו פורפיסא וצומח ובערב ר"ה נוטל כל אחד שלו ומחזירו סביבות ראשו שבעה פעמים ואומר זה תחת זה וזה חליפתי וזה תמורתי ומשליכו לנהר:
This parpisah- It is a perforated flower pot in which people plant. In the responsa of the geonim I found that they made baskets with palm leaves and filled them with dust and dung. And 22 or 15 days before Rosh Hashanah they would make one of these for every minor in the home. And they would plant in it, Egyptian bean or another legume and they call it "porpisah". After it sprouts, on Rosh Hashanah, each takes his or her own and spins around his/her head seven times and says: "This is instead of this, this is my replacement, this is my exchange" and then flings it into the river.
(א) מַה שֶּׁנּוֹהֲגִים לַעֲשׂוֹת כַּפָּרָה בְּעֶרֶב יוֹם כִּפּוּרִים לִשְׁחֹט תַּרְנְגוֹל עַל כָּל בֵּן זָכָר וְלוֹמַר עָלָיו פְּסוּקִים, יֵשׁ לִמְנֹעַ הַמִּנְהָג. הַגָּה: וְיֵשׁ מֵהַגְּאוֹנִים שֶׁכָּתְבוּ מִנְהָג זֶה, וְכֵן כָּתְבוּ אוֹתוֹ רַבִּים מִן הָאַחֲרוֹנִים, וְכֵן נוֹהֲגִין בְּכָל מְדִינוֹת אֵלּוּ וְאֵין לְשַׁנּוֹת, כִּי הוּא מִנְהַג וָתִיקִין.
(1) That which [people] are accustomed to perform kapparah before Yom Kippur by slaughtering a rooster on each male and to say verses over it, you should prevent the custom. Ramah: And there are those from the Geonim that write about this custom, and similarly it is written from many Achronim [Rishonim], and so is the custom in all these countries [Ashkenaz] - and you shouldn't change, for it is an ancient custom.
The ritual of Kapparot symbolizes the transfer of sins from the sinner to some other object or being. In this respect, it is lik ehte ritual of Tashlikh on Rosh HaShanah, or the ancient Yom Kippur ceremony of the scapegoat (Leviticus 16). Whereas this ceremony has been performed using a chicken—later eaten at the meal—today is more common to use a small sum of money, bundled into a cloth and circled over the head of the individual as the worlds of the ritual are recited. The money is then contributed to tz’dakah, in the fulfillment of the ancient promise that acts of charity can save us from the severity of any decree against us.
From Mahzor Lev Shalem, page 199
זה חליפתי, זה תמונתי, זה כפרתי. זה הכסף ילך לצדקה, ואני ואכנס לחיים טובים ארכים ולשלום.
This is in my stead. May this be my substitute; may this be my atonement. This money will go to tz'dakah, that I may enter the path to a good, long life, and to peace.
Kapparah Liturgy from Mahzor Lev Shalem
(טז) רַבִּי יַעֲקֹב אוֹמֵר, הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה דּוֹמֶה לִפְרוֹזְדוֹר בִּפְנֵי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. הַתְקֵן עַצְמְךָ בַפְּרוֹזְדוֹר, כְּדֵי שֶׁתִּכָּנֵס לַטְּרַקְלִין:
(יז) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, יָפָה שָׁעָה אַחַת בִּתְשׁוּבָה וּמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה, מִכָּל חַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. וְיָפָה שָׁעָה אַחַת שֶׁל קוֹרַת רוּחַ בָּעוֹלָם הַבָּא, מִכָּל חַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה:
(16) Rabbi Yaakov says: This world is like a hallway before the world to come. Fix yourself in the hallway so you may enter the drawing room.
(17) He would say: One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the time in the world to come. And one hour of pleasure in the world to come is better than all the time in this world.
We learned there in a mishna that Rabbi Eliezer says: Repent one day before your death. Rabbi Eliezer’s students asked him: But does a person know the day on which he will die? He said to them: All the more so this is a good piece of advice, and one should repent today lest he die tomorrow; and by following this advice one will spend his entire life in a state of repentance. And King Solomon also said in his wisdom: “At all times your clothes should be white, and oil shall not be absent from upon your head” (Ecclesiastes 9:8), meaning that a person always needs to be prepared. Similarly, Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said the following story as a parable to this lesson: The situation is comparable to a king who invited his servants to a feast and did not set a time for them to come. The wise among them adorned themselves and sat at the entrance to the king’s house. They said: Is the king’s house missing anything necessary for the feast? Certainly the king could invite them at any moment. The fools among them went to attend to their work and said: Is there such thing as a feast without the toil of preparing for it? While the feast is being prepared, we will attend to other matters. Suddenly, the king requested that his servants come to the feast. The wise among them entered before him adorned in their finest clothes, and the fools entered before him dirty. The king was happy to greet the wise ones and angry to greet the fools. The king said: These wise servants who adorned themselves for the feast shall sit and eat and drink, but these fools who did not adorn themselves for the feast shall stand and watch. There is a similar outcome for people who think that their day of death and judgment is far away and do not prepare themselves for it.