3) Rosh Hashanah, Cast thy bread: Tashlikh

Rosh Hashanah includes a ceremony known as Tashlikh or cast off. On the afternoon of the first day people go to water such as the sea, a river or a pond and recite a prayer (Micah 7:18-20, Psalm:185-9, Psalm33, Psalm 130 and Isaiah 11:9). Then bread crumbs or whatever is in ones pockets is thrown into the water. The focus is a symbolic casting away of sins based on the passage, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea”(Micah 7:19).

In context the casting of sins into the sea is a day of deliverance (the day), when the covenant with the fathers of Israel is remembered,

According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things. The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retains not his anger for ever, because he delights in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:15-20)

Therefore the action of 'casting off' prefigures what will be done, not what is occurring now.

Cast thy bread

So to what does the casting of bread crumbs on water now point to? There is a remarkable parallel in some practical advice from Solomon,

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou know not what evil shall be upon the earth. (Ecclesiastes 11:1-2)

This has a few levels of understanding.

Firstly, bread is good fish bait apparently. Trout and other river fish like it. Feeding fish will allow the fish to grow and with bread bait after many days one may catch the well-fed fish.

This is also picture, where 'bread' is intimately related to the things that sustain ones own life and the 'waters' are the mass of people around us. What it says is that if we give of the things that sustain us we will find the things that sustain us after many years. The implication is that at the time the casting might seem to be without benefit, even wasteful, but that whatever is “wasted”, or given away, will be found after many years.

It is a picture of how if we give to others while expecting no return we will later benefit after many years. In addition the advice is that our help be given without reservation to a number of people, as an insurance against an evil time. Over time there has been a equation between 'bread' and 'money', but we need to be wary, as we might buy bread with money but 'money' is not 'bread'.

For the analogy to be fulfilled, somehow our action must parallel giving food, or victuals, to fish.

The key as to what is meant and what is to be done is explained in the clear instruction to “give a portion to seven”. People are to give a 'portion' which means an allotment, part or inheritance.

For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. (Deuteronomy 32:9)

There is no record in the Law of a requirement to give people food. Instead there is something quite remarkable. If one had a field or a tree, one was to not take all but leave the gleanings for the widow, fatherless and stranger. In other words to share the increase of the field, which is the God-given food. In addition there is a provision of lending without usury and without a hope of return,

For the LORD thy God blesses thee, as he promised thee: and thou shall lend unto many nations, but thou shall not borrow; and thou shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God gives thee, thou shall not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shall open thine hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wants.

Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shall surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou give unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou put thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shall open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. (Deuteronomy 15:6-11)

It is to be noted that one did not give, but one loaned.

In both in lending to others and not taking all the increase God has given, there is an element of 'casting bread' without hope of return. However lending matches exactly the requirement to “give a portion”.

It is well known that there is no point in giving money or food to help another. There is a saying that 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime'. Recently a celebrity wrote, “The best development programs help people to help themselves”with,

initiatives such as education and skills training, agricultural development and access to finance, technology and markets.

At their core, these projects work because they are all about empowering people - giving a community a hand-up, not a handout. They're about teaching a person to fish rather than giving them a fish. They're about setting up a community to succeed and stand on its own two feet.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-best-development-programs-help-people-to-help-themselves-20100905-14vy2.html

The point is to that we loan to make it possible for another to live in their lot, in their inheritance. To give to others a heritage, or a inheritance, of learning and skills. When a person teaches another they pass on knowledge and skills which is the same as giving them an inheritance.

Loan and forgiveness of debt

In addition under the Law the loan or debt was 'forgiven' every seven years and after seven of the seventh year of debt release (49 years) then the poor returned to their inheritance, to their portion.

For a just man falls seven times, and rises up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. (Proverbs 24:16)

In this we can see how a person may be in debt seven times, forgiven each time and finally return to their inheritance. We see the parallel of the seven lots of debt forgiveness in Peter's question

Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? (Matthew 18:21)

In terms of financial debt this implies a lifetime of over 50 years. But the answer Yeshua gave was one that relates to a debt in a relationship. In relationships we are to forgive the debt against us an uncountable “until 70 times seven”.

To lend to a person, then, was to allow them to obtain a release from debt, give them freedom to maintain a productive life until their debt was cleared.

This point is made clear, in that God did not accept any gifts on his altar while he was annoyed at the people for not forgiving the debtors.

Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which has been sold unto thee; and when he has served thee six years, thou shall let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. (Jeremiah 34:13-17)

On this one issue alone the nation was rebuked and went into captivity. Quite simply, forgiving financial debt was about freedom, and none of God's people who were made free were to be enslaved because of debt. It pointed to the nation being made free in service to God, not being enslaved to serve humans.

Thus Tashlikh or to cast off acts out how one may be blessed. We are to lend to others without interest and when they can't repay at the end of seven years to forgive the debt. There is a powerful lesson in this, for everything we have, even our life is a loan. And there is no person who can repay that loan or clear the debt. Yet if we 'cast off' to free others debts, our greater debt is forgiven us.

But there is more as none of the above quite fit the analogy perfectly.

A gift

Giving to a charity might be like leaving the corner of the field, as there is no effort. Some think that giving is a good work that gives them points, a work of righteousness. But if the giving is not without hope of any return, then it might be seen as a gift to God: to a God who is our Judge.

Thou shall take no gift: for the gift blinds the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. (Exodus 23:8)

If giving is to 'bribe' as a good work to cover sins at judgement then it's not good at all, and will work against us. If a person ignores the words of Yahweh and then seeks to appease him by 'good works' of the easy work of giving money to charity, how is this not a bribe to pervert God's judgement?

Judges and officers shall you make in all your gates, which the LORD thy God gives you,..and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shall not wrest judgment; you shall not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. (Deuteronomy 16:18-19)

There is huge a difference between a covetous person giving a little of ill gotten gains to God, and the righteous who gives without thought it is a good work,

He covets greedily all the day long: but the righteous gives and spares not. The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind? (Proverbs 21:26-27)

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)

Before bothering to give to others as a good work, we need to practice mercy and to know God, as these works will lead to giving good gifts to others (not ones that may harm them). And for sure if we give money, we personally won't get anything back. The idea of Karma is not supported by the Bible, as proven by the life of Joseph, Moses, David and Job and these are only a few of all the examples that show a pattern that people may suffer for their righteousness.

Even if we loan without interest, we may indeed establish another's freedom and their inheritance, but the loan is not likely to come back to us in the same form.

There is only one thing we can cast out to people and get back the very same thing we cast later. The thing 'cast on waters' is also called a “portion”. It is common to speak of the “Torah portion”.

The bread and the inheritance

The 'bread' cast on water is a symbolic analogy (Solomon's advice is not that we literally cast bread on water!). Bread is about what sustains our life. We are told nobody lives by bread alone, but that our only true bread is the Word of Yahweh.

And you shall remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou would keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knew not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shall also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so the LORD thy God chastens thee. (Deuteronomy 8:2-5)

It is by this bread, that of words including words of rebuke, we live.

Every person must cast out this 'bread' of the words out of the mouth of Yahweh onto the waters, the people around them. It is this bread and this bread only that can give 'a portion' or an everlasting inheritance to others. Not only that but if we cast onto the sea and spread the word of Yahweh to sustain others, it comes back to us when there is evil on the earth. Job illustrates this point as he upheld others, and in a time of suffering and evil needed others to strengthen him.

And at the end if we have cast out the bread of life on the waters and given a portion to others, then when we are taken out of this bondage, out of the Egypt of this age, and then,

he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19).

The end of this is our portion, to inherit the promises.

Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:20)

The Fathers were promised to possess the land they walked in. The meek who follow Yeshua are promised to inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). For those that are dead there is resurrection, and for all judged worthy, everlasting life in our lot, or portion, on earth.

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