Tashlikh

What it is

Tashlikh belongs to the High Holy Days, the season that opens with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. The Hebrew word means to cast off, and the rite takes its name from a verse in the book of Micah, said aloud at the water, in which God is asked to throw the people's sins into the sea. Those who come to the water come as penitents. They recite that passage and, if they wish, further prayers. The gesture of casting stands for putting wrongdoing behind them. Some Judaeo-Spanish-speaking communities give the day the name faldas, from a phrase about shaking out one's clothes.

Origins and history

Jewish sources usually connect the custom with Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin, known as the Maharil, who died at Worms in 1427 and wrote about it in Sefer Maharil. He read it as a recollection of how Isaac was bound: a midrash tells of Satan blocking Abraham's path as a deep stream, so that Abraham and Isaac waded in up to their necks and prayed until the water vanished. The usual impression, then, is that the rite is no older than the fourteenth century and came from the Jews of Germany. Older hints are sometimes claimed. Josephus mentions permission for Jews of Halicarnassus to pray by the sea, the Zohar likens the deep to a scapegoat, and some read that as an early sign.

How it is kept

A family or a congregation goes together to a large natural stretch of moving water, such as a river, a lake, the sea or an ocean, on the opening day of Rosh Hashanah, in the afternoon. One person leads and the others join in the reading from Micah, adding prayers if their custom includes them. The casting is symbolic: sins are pictured leaving the penitent and sinking into the deep. Some present also throw small pieces of bread, which several rabbis say halakha does not permit. The timing can shift, to the second day if the opening day is also Shabbat, or to a later occasion, no further than Hoshana Rabbah.

What it means

Teachers have offered several readings. Isaiah Horowitz, who lived from 1555 to 1630 and wrote the Shelah, gave the earliest known account of why fish matter. Fish are caught in a net, as people are caught by their deeds, and fish never close their eyes, which points to a Creator who never sleeps. Moses Isserles of Kraków, who died in 1572, said the depths of the sea show that one Creator made the world and holds it in check, for instance by keeping the seas from flooding the land. Going to the water on the anniversary of creation, he taught, prompts repentance.

Disputes and today

Not everyone has welcomed the rite. A kabbalistic habit of shaking the edges of clothing, as if to throw off the qlippoth, or shells, drew criticism from Jews outside kabbalah, who feared that ordinary people would think sins could be tossed away without regret or repair. The maskilim mocked it, and Isaac Erter wrote a satire in the 1860s with Samael watching the sins of hypocrites land in a river. The Vilna Gaon opposed it, and the Shulchan Aruch HaRav forbids feeding wild animals on Jewish holidays. Still, most mainstream movements accept it today. Spanish and Portuguese Jews generally do not keep it, the Yemenite Dor Daim reject it, and those who follow the Vilna Gaon, chiefly in Jerusalem, do not.

How Tashlikh is kept

A family or a congregation goes together to a large natural body of moving water, a river, a lake, the sea or an ocean, on the opening day of Rosh Hashanah, in the afternoon. Someone leads and the rest join in the reading from Micah, with further prayers if their custom adds them. The casting is symbolic: the sins are imagined leaving the person and sinking into the deep. Small pieces of bread are thrown by some, a practice several rabbis say halakha forbids. The rite can be postponed, to the second day if the opening day is Shabbat, or to a later date, no further than Hoshana Rabbah.

When and where

The rite belongs to the High Holy Days. Its usual slot is the opening day of Rosh Hashanah, in the afternoon. Ashkenazi practice moves it to the second day if the two coincide with Shabbat, while Sephardi practice does not. Many congregations allow it on later days as well, up to Hoshana Rabbah.

Tashlikh is kept wherever Jewish communities live. In New York City, crowds go to the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges each year. Where open water is scarce, as in Jerusalem, people use a fish pond, a cistern or a mikveh. In Kurdistan, Jews jumped into the water; in Galicia they threw branches in; in India the rite served matchmaking.

What Tashlikh means

For those who keep it, Tashlikh enacts a hope rather than a transaction. The water stands for the depths of the sea into which God is asked to throw the people's sins. Fish, never closing their eyes, are read as a sign of a Creator who watches always. The deeps are read as proof of one Creator who made the world and keeps the seas in their place. Worshippers come as penitents, wanting the year to open without the weight of what they have done wrong.

Days Tashlikh is marked

Questions people ask about Tashlikh

See also

Yom KippurThe holiest day in Judaism, dedicated to fasting, prayer and atonementRosh HashanahThe Jewish New Year marked by shofar horn blasts, prayer and sweet foodsHanuman JayantiA Hindu festival marking the birth of Hanuman with prayers, readings and offeringsMuharramThe sacred opening month of the Islamic year, observed through remembrance and fasting

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Tashlikh on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.