Shana Tova!

Just a quick lunchtime post to wish a Happy New Year to anyone who's celebrating today! This year, in honor of Rosh Hashanah (also possibly in honor of the fact that I am really crunched for time, but what else is new, hey I am a voluntary resident here in Forbes's 2nd most stressful city in the country - oh those poor Chicagoites - ), I thought I'd pass along a perennial favorite that a friend posts on the NYCKayaker list every year around this time. Need not be Jewish to enjoy!

Rosh Hashanah (Tashlik) *
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**Tashlik is a propitiatory rite, the name of which is derived from the passage (Micah vii. 18-20) recited at the ceremony. In illustration of the sentence "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," it is customary to congregate near a running stream on the afternoon of New-Year's Day, when Micah vii. 18-20 is recited and penitential prayers are offered.

To start the new year with a clean beginning, Tashlik involves the ritual and symbolic casting of our year's accumulated sins into the waters, allowing us to purify our hearts and souls for the new year. Usually this involves walking with one's family or congregation to the banks of a river or the sea, and casting pieces of bread (symbolic sins) into the water to be washed away.

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*WHAT **ELSE** TO BRING*:

1) Plenty of accumulated sins to throw (you have three more weeks to
accumulate these if you need extra time and sins),

2) A readiness to start the new year with an open heart.

3) Bits of bread to cast into the waters

*OTHER INFORMATION **AND** SUGGESTIONS*:

Occasionally, people ask what kind of bread crumbs should be thrown.
Here are suggestions for breads which may be most appropriate depending
on your specific sins and misbehaviors this past year.



For ordinary sins.....................White Bread
For erotic sins.........................French Bread
For particularly dark sins........Pumpernickel
For complex sins.....................Multi-Grain
For twisted sins......................Pretzels
For tasteless sins....................Rice Cakes
For sins of indecision..............Waffles
For sins committed in haste....Matzoh
For sins of chutzpah................Fresh Bread
For substance abuse..............Stoned Wheat
For use of heavy drugs............Poppy Seed
For petty larceny......................Stollen
For committing auto theft........Caraway
For timidity/cowardice.............Milk Toast
For ill-temperedness...............Sourdough
For silliness, eccentricity.........Nut Bread
For not giving full value............Shortbread
For jingoism, chauvinism.........Yankee Doodles
For excessive irony...................Rye Bread
For unnecessary chances........Hero Bread
For telling bad jokes/puns........Corn Bread
For war-mongering...................Kaiser Rolls
For dressing immodestly.........Tarts
For causing injury to others......Tortes
For lechery and promiscuity.....Hot Buns
For promiscuity with gentiles....Hot Cross Buns
For racist attitudes.....................Crackers
For sophisticated racism...........Ritz Crackers
For being holier than thou..........Bagels
For abrasiveness........................Grits
For dropping in without notice......Popovers
For over-eating............................Stuffing
For impetuosity............................Quick Bread
For indecent photography...........Cheesecake
For raising your voice too often....Challah
For pride and egotism.................Puff Pastry
For sycophancy, ass-kissing.......Brownies
For being overly smothering........Angel Food Cake
For laziness...................................Any long loaf
For trashing the environment.......Dumplings