What is Rosh Hashanah?

Humanistic Jews see Rosh Hashanah as a time for renewal, reflection, and new beginnings. Our focus is on the affirmation of human power and human dignity. Rosh Hashanah is a time to consider the possibilities for change, improvement, and happiness that we can create for ourselves as human beings. Acknowledging human courage and independence, we can achieve human dignity.

Humanistic Jewish communities have adapted many of the ceremonies that are part of the rabbinic celebration of Rosh Hashanah. As the first day of the Jewish year, Rosh Hashanah marks a turning point, a separation between what was and what will be. It offers a time for Humanistic Jews to pause in their daily lives and reflect on their behavior and renew their commitment to their highest values. The creative liturgies used by Humanistic Jewish communities on Rosh Hashanah reflect these themes.

Many Humanistic communities sound the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, evoking memories of a time when the blasts of the ram's horn called the Jewish community together in times of danger. Today, the shofar summons Jews around the world to a celebration of renewal, reflection, and commitment to values in action. The ceremony of Tashlikh allows Humanistic Jews to reflect on their behavior, to cast off behaviors we are not proud of, and to vow to be better people in the year to come. Some Humanistic Jewish communities incorporate the writing of New Year's resolutions into their Tashlikh ceremonies.

(Source: Society for Humanistic Judaism website)

What is Tashlikh?

Unlike most rituals, the ceremony of Tashlikh appears not to have been shaped through rabbinic teachings but rather, by the popular zeal of the people to reach out to God.

Tashlikh traditionally occurs on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah. The ceremony entails walking to a body of water that preferably flows with fish and reciting certain Psalms. Some—to the chagrin of a multitude of rabbis--have the custom of throwing bread into the water or of shaking crumbs out of their pockets. No one has definitively been able to trace the origins of this ritual.

Today, tashlikh not only survives, it thrives. Every year pictures of masses of Jews gathering to perform this ritual cover the pages of the local newspapers. Yet, throughout its history, tashlikh has been the subject of much criticism. From the very first time that this custom was mentioned, in the work of the fifteenth century German scholar, R. Jacob Moellin (Maharil), the practice of the people was criticized by a leading rabbinic sage.