Image of the Week: Tashlich
© D. Yael Bernhard
Next Friday evening brings the beginning of the year 5784 on the Hebrew calendar. The wheel of time turns, and we begin again a cycle that has endured for millennia. Over the centuries, Rosh Hashanah – literally meaning "head of the year" – has been celebrated with diverse and changing traditions. Pictured here is one such tradition, known as Tashlich, in which we symbolically cast our sins into water in order to leave them behind along with the old year.
This particular tradition is only about 700 years old – relatively new in the context of Jewish history – and entails reciting a prayer from the Book of Micah and throwing bread crumbs into flowing water. The crumbs are invested with the kavanah (spiritual intention) of the prayer. The line of Hebrew from the prayer shown in this river reads "And you shall cast into the depths of the sea all [your] sins." Tashlich means "you shall cast."
Jews all over the world gather by water on this day to fulfill this custom. For religious families, it's a chance to get outside in between synagogue services and connect to nature. Those who live near a coast find their way to the seashore. Others stand by small streams or lakes. I chose a river for my illustration because its downstream flow perfectly symbolizes the passage of time. The changing color of the river also expresses this idea. Casting our iniquities away, our positive intentions are carried forward into the future. Silent and dignified, the great blue heron stands as witness to this act.
The Jewish "high holidays" are all about taking moral inventory and engaging in teshuvah – literally "return," as in repenting and returning to one's original self and purest nature. In Judaism there's no interlocutor between an individual and their Creator; rather, we are guided by liturgical texts to account for ourselves, both in solitary reflection and group recitations. As we do this each year, we notice how we've changed over the years – and how we haven't.
The family shown here is fictitious, imagined as European immigrants arriving in America about a century ago. Like a cutout of a sepia photograph, three generations stand together in silence, each person gathering their thoughts about what they wish to discard and how they hope to do better in the coming year. The sun is beginning to set, and I imagine this family soon heading home for Rosh Hashanah dinner.
I experimented in this painting with separating its parts into different color palettes. I would have liked to carve the image as a linoleum block and print it by rolling different colors of ink onto different parts of the block. Alas, there wasn't time – but I still allowed myself to think in a "printerly" way, as I often did in my twenties and thirties when I was printing linoleums blocks, etchings, and monoprints. I first learned printmaking at the Art Students' League of NY back in the late 1970s and early 80s. It was a big influence in my formative years as an artist, and taught me to think and design in bold, graphic terms.
5783 wasn't an easy year for many people, and I'm happy to leave it behind and look forward to a better year ahead. Next Saturday I'll stand by a stream and listen to the mingling voices of the current, then open my palm and watch my humble offering disappear into its liquid folds. Will the crumbs feed the fish, get stuck in the weeds, be plucked by a bird, or pass downstream to eventually reach the sea? I'll never know – and that's okay, for the future is out of our hands, even as we're promised a fresh start.
Tashlich is the first image in The Jewish Eye 5784/2024 Calendar of Art. The original painting, acrylic on canvas, is for sale. Please inquire for more information if you're interested.
The Jewish Eye 5784/2024 Calendar of Art is available in my webstore ($20 with shipping included) or on Amazon ($16.95). If you buy it from Amazon, please consider writing a review!
You can view the entire calendar here.
To all my Jewish readers, Shana tova u'metukah – a good and sweet new year!
D Yael Bernhard
children's books • fine art • illustration
