Tossing bread into the ocean on the Jewish New Year

On Sunday, hundreds of Jews in LA will walk to the beach. There, they will throw handfuls of bread crumbs into the water, symbolically casting all the sins of the past year upon the tides.It’s a tradition called Tashlich, and it’s one of the more delightful rituals of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.Please provide a valid email.

By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story Not everyone goes to the ocean — any body of “living waters” will do. That means anything with a natural flow through it can be used for Tashlich.

A river, a spring, a lake — all qualify.(A swimming pool does not.)Water is a symbol of life, and purification, in the Jewish tradition.

Many Jewish rituals involve immersion in water — which is, in turn, the source of the Christian sacrament of baptism. California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!But at Tashlich, we do not immerse our bodies.We let go of the past.I have fond memories of many years of walking to the beach in front of Gladstone’s restaurant in Pacific Palisades, pre-fire, with Ziploc bags full of bread, and a growing brood of children in tow. There, bemused, bikini-clad beachgoers would watch us as we gathered in our finest clothes near the water’s edge, or climbed the rocks on the breakwater, reciting prayers and psalms before chucking our crumbs into the sea.Hundreds of people would make their way to the sand, over the course of the afternoon, often accompanied by a rabbi or cantor carrying a shofar — the horn of a ram or kudu, which is sounded at the New Year as a call to the faithfu...