On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, after morning services, it's customary to go to a body of water and perform the ritual of tashlich, in which we throw breadcrumbs or pieces of bread into the water as a symbolic releasing or casting-away of our mistakes from the previous year.

There are elaborate liturgies for tashlich. In my community this year, we'll use a simple one-page sheet which contains a brief explanation, this prayer, one song, and a shofar call. The pdf is enclosed, below; and here's the prayer. Feel free to use/share if this speaks to you -- I ask only that you keep my name and URL attached, as always.

(This prayer has also been crossposted to Ritualwell: A Prayer for Tashlish at Ritualwell. Thank you, Ritualwell folks, for giving us such a wonderful open-source compendium of ritual materials!)

A Prayer for Tashlich

Here I am again
ready to let go of my mistakes.

Help me to release myself
from all the ways I've missed the mark.

Help me to stop carrying
the karmic baggage of my poor choices.

As I cast this bread upon the waters
lift my troubles off my shoulders.

Help me to know that last year is over,
washed away like crumbs in the current.

Open my heart to blessing and gratitude.
Renew my soul as the dew renews the grasses.

And we say together:
Amen.

One Page Tashlich [pdf] (82kb)