Things You'll Need:
- Jewish calendar
- Piece of bread
- Body of water
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Step 1
Check your Jewish calendar to find out when Rosh Hashanah falls, since you will participate in Tashlikh on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Find a calendar at Hebcal.com (see Resources below).
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Step 2
Ask friends and family or fellow synagogue members if there will be a group gathering to perform Tashlikh. In many large cities with Jewish populations, Tasklik is a fun group gathering. Performing it on one's own can be a powerfully contemplative act, however.
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Step 3
Performing it on one's own can be a powerfully contemplative act, however.
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Step 1
Take a piece or loaf of bread (or other piece of food) to a body of water. In Jewish mystic lore, it is believed that whatever is flung "into the deep," or into a body of water, is lost forever. If possible, find a running stream or deep lake to enhance the idea of your past year's sins being cleansed from you, disappearing.
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Step 2
Throw the bread into the water to symbolize the sins of the past year being shed from you, so that you can enter the new year pure and unburdened by past mistakes.
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Step 3
Shake the hems of your clothing if you wish to follow the Tashlikh tradition of shaking off any demons that may be clinging to your garb. Some Jewish sects take issue with this step in the Tashlikh ritual, but it's engaged in by many people of the Jewish faith around the world.
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Step 1
Begin your New Year with a renewed sense of faith and conviction, knowing that as you participate in Tashlikh, you symbolically make a new start. Keep in mind that many modern psychologists speak to the powerful effects of ritual, so Tashlikh needn't merely be an homage to ancient tradition, but can be a catalyst to a powerful year.
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Step 2
Go home, and at sundown light the Rosh Hashanah candle.
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Step 3
Say the candle-lighting blessing.
