Wonderful Walk
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
“On Sunday, October 19, the grade schoolers and chaperons walked to the Grand River to practice tashlich – a Jewish custom literally meaning “casting away.” Every year during Rosh Hashanah observant Jews are invited to make amends for damages they have done to others in the past year and to set their intention to do better in the coming year. The tashlich ritual involves casting crumbs – symbolizing sins or shortcomings – into a moving body of water. This indicates a willingness to let go of the “bad” and make room for the “good” in the new year. Children were given handfuls of crumbs which they then tossed off the footbridge into the river. We discussed how just as the crumbs are not litter because they will feed the fish, which may eventually feed us, so too our shortcomings are not trash but something that may in some way bring strength or wisdom that we cannot now see.”