DIY Tashlich

I didn't go to my shul's tashlich ceremony on Rosh Hashanah because of the weather, so I did my own tashlich in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I said my own prayers in English and cast my sins into a nearby lake. (I used matzo meal—advertised as a "perfect substitute for breadcrumbs"—because I didn't have any breadcrumbs.) It wasn't quite the same as doing tashlich with a synagogue congregation, but it was personally meaningful. And while I might've been alone at the lake, I'm not on my own when it comes to taking tashlich into my own hands.

California-based LEHKEEROOVERS (which stands for Lively Enthusiastic Happy Kosher Ethical Raw Organic Optimistic Vegan Equal Rights Sympathizers, of course) organized a hike, vegan potluck, and tashlich event at Temescal Canyon in the L.A. area. One participant said:

As we cast our crumbs at the waterfall, I saw the beauty of Judaism overwhelm the beauty of nature. ... Anyway, this was the first time I mixed Judaism and nature and I am better off for it.

Greg Rothman, a Jewish vegetarian I met on my 2007 Birthright trip, put his own spin on things. When we were looking at Judaica items in the Old City of Jerusalem, I kept joking that I wanted to find a vegan shofar. Greg, a cycling enthusiast, came up with the unique idea of using "ram's horn" handlebars from a bike in place of a ram's horn. Greg e-mailed me the other day to say:

Did you get a chance to call in the new year with some drop bars? I pulled mine right off of my fixie bike and grabbed some molding dumpstered bread off of my friend's table and had an impromptu last-minute tashlich.

There you have it, folks. heebnvegan has talked about celebrating the High Holidays with punk rock shows, coverage on other blogs, raw mock gefilte fish and sprouted lentil salad, a vegan "ram's horn," and tashlich (with matzo meal, moldy bread from a Dumpster, and a nature hike). This completes heebnvegan's High Holidays coverage, just in time for Sukkot.