Tashlich is a ritual practiced on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. From the Hebrew word for “casting off”, it’s a practice of gathering at a body of water, enumerating your sins of the past year out loud and symbolically “casting” them off by tossing pebbles or bread crumbs into the water.

Our congregation has held a tashlich ceremony at the Duck Pond in Attleboro on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah for as long as I can remember. Last year, as this year, we were traveling during the holidays and couldn’t join in. Thanks to the miracle of the internet, we have been able to participate in High Holiday services which have been online because of Covid.

This year we were able to join with the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation for their tashlich service. Thank you Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner for graciously welcoming us in. The weather forecast was predicting thunderstorms, so we weren’t sure if tashlich would even happen. But the weather held and it wasn’t until we were driving back that the downpour started with streaks of lighting filling the sky. It’s still raining and thundering as I write this.