Tashlich (casting away) is a Jewish ceremony that symbolizes the casting off of sins from the previous year. It is usually performed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah but acceptable to perform any time during the fall feasts.
Gathered Together
Nehemiah (8:1) states, “All the Jews gathered as one in the street that is in front of the gate of water.” This gathering is known to have taken place on Rosh Hashanah.
What were they “gathering together” to do?
To answer this question that we must consider the emphasis and prophetic purpose of this season. The Fall Feasts are all about t’shuvah – repentance!
During the entire month of Elul, shofars are blown every day to awaken God’s people to his soon coming. The piercing blow is to create an urgency in the hearts of man to be prepared for His Messianic Kingdom, to rouse one to make peace with his fellow man and to have a repentant heart toward God.
After the conclusion of Elul, Tishri 1 starts with Rosh Hashanah (The New Year) also known as Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets). From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur an intense time of self-inspection is observe called The Ten Days of Awe.
Then, there’s the ultimate day of turning back to God. Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) as it is considered the most Holy day of the year.
Then comes Tabernacles – The Feast of Rejoicing.
It could be called The Feast of the Forgiven. A marvelous time of rejoicing!
As Christians learn about the Feasts of the Lord, we are amazed and desire to incorporate these wonderful appointments into our lives. But there is a significant aspect about the fall feast most Christians don’t comprehend – at least not yet. While Christians are quite familiar with individual repentance, we are not so familiar with collective repentance. Let’s look at Nehemiah 8:1 again.
“All the Jews gathered as one in the street that is in front of the gate of water.”
One! A collective echad!
On Yom kippur the priest laid his hands on a scape goat and transferred the sins of the nation to the animal and sent it away in the wilderness.
Sounds foreign to Christians – Sins of the nation.
Personal Salvation
As Christians we relate to the forgiveness of personal transgressions. We have a Personal Savior. This is a wonderful revelation. It’s what we know – it’s what we understand. We realized It’s the revelation of the Spring Feasts. Passover (The day Christ was crucified), Unleavened bread (when Yeshua was sealed into the grave) and First Fruits (the day of His glorious resurrection).
I have found that the Jewish community finds “individual salvation” awkward as they relate more to a “collective salvation”. Perhaps the Lord designed it this way so that we could learn from each other?
As Christians we are realizing that the Feast are all about Yeshua.
- Speaking to the Torah teachers Yeshua declared “if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. John 5:46
- Yeshua appeared to His disciples after the resurrection: and said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:44
Yes, we Christians see how Yeshua fulfilled the Passover Season and we know that Messiah sent the Holy Spirit on Shavu’ot (Pentecost) to fill and equip us with gifts from on High.
But what the fall feasts? These feasts have a historic as well as a Prophetic element. But should pray for a clearer revelation concerning this feast? Are there hidden things yet to be revealed – yet to be understood? Of course!
Perhaps the Jewish community understands these fall feasts differently than we do? Do they have a prophetic expectation based on some historic and cultural revelations we’re not privy to? Maybe we need to have some conversations!
We Need Unity
No doubt – the church has had its problems – there’s apostacy, false doctrines, wolves in sheep’s clothing. Many have become jaded, cautious and suspicious – dis-jointed in many ways.
Have you ever felt in church there seems to be some weird competition going on? They don’t always say it, but people seem to be comparing themselves with each other. Perhaps you have felt you were being weighed in the balances needing to pretend everything was ok. Like – nothing to see here – I got it all together! It’s as though hyper-spiritual people are always taking your spiritual temperature – watching your facial expressions. It’s like they are saying: “Are you sure you’re ok? Are you in sin? Do you need deliverance – are you even saved?”
Why do we feel like we need to have scripture ready to quote or say a Christian euphonism to prove you’re a part of the church club? Sometimes is just easier to avoid church. Yes, the church can be a very lonely place – maybe you have felt you just couldn’t share your heart for fear of being judged. Satan is alive and well sitting in the church pews. We all have experienced the curses that have gripped the church – Back biting, politics, competition, arrogance, pride, haughtiness, gossip, hypocrisy, judgement, arguments, church splits. These are the very vices Yeshua warned the religious leaders about.
Where’s the unity? Didn’t Yeshua pray that we be United in Him?
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one (complete in unity), so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. John 17:20-23:
Complete in unity – perfectly one. I have to say as a universal church we are absolutely lacking in perfect unity. I can also attest that many individual churches lack this perfect and complete unity as well.
The apostle Paul is no doubt referring to the revelations of unity connected to the Fall Feast in his second letter to the Corinthians (13:11)
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice!
(Rejoicing is the culmination of the season!)
Strive for full restoration,
(“The Restoration of All Things” is a marvelous promise that occurs in the actualization of the Fall Feast. “For he must remain in heaven until the restoration of all things has taken place, fulfilling everything that God said long ago through his holy prophets.” Acts 3:20-21)
Encourage one another,
(After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds {or sukkah} to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thes 4:17-18)
Be of one mind
(As our high priest, Yeshua is praying this for us – John 17)
live in peace
(the coming kingdom of God, the coming Prince of Peace).
And the God of love and peace will be with you
(The God who is Love, will tabernacle with you)
Paul tells the Ephesians
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. 2 Corinthians 13:11
(The ultimate destruction of this barrier happens absolutely when we learn as Christians how to love each other first. This phenomenon began in the 1st century – but the Church got boastful, and the Jews were offended. We have been disconnected until now.)
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:12
(If that is what the goal is- to be completed or perfected according to Yeshua’s prayer in John 17 – why don’t we strive to accomplish this)?
When we begin to love one another then it is God perfecting us.
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
Unity is a focus of the season. Psalms 133:1
(This Traditional Jewish song – Henei Ma Tov is sung at this season on Simchat Torah – the extra day that is tagged on to the Sukkot season – day of rejoicing with His Word!
The Church is a Nation!
The church is called a “peculiar people and a holy nation”. We may be peculiar! But really do we identify as a holy nation? He wants us to also know Him in love – as our father, as a family. We are a community of family members– we share the same spirit (the same baptism) –we drink of the same Spiritual Water.
And so, could we go so far to say – the fall feast unites God’s people.
After the official separation of wheat/tares and sheep/goats at the end time, the Church will fully realize agreement but until then we must foster unity.
We sheep who drink from the same water – who share the same Spirit are just on different places of the same path – the same path – the same spirit – the same goal – the same family. Some of us are “children” in the faith – some of us old sages – some capable and self-motivated– others needing guidance and encouragement.
Once we were not on the same path – Even as believers in Yeshua, we have stumbled in the past (even in this past year)- Most of us have faced moments when we wish we could “start over,” or at least expunge some of our worst sins and faults.
Forgive Yourself
As I have ministered to so many over the years, I have found that I haven’t allowed myself the same grace as I’ve given others. One day I realized the child in me needs me to forgive her. I’ve learned I can’t really know God’s love until I forgive and love myself. It’s the first step to unifying the body of Christ and ultimately the Christian and Jewish communities who are waiting for Messiah to bring His perfect Kingdom!
God is now weaving a tapestry. A tapestry of forgiven people who must forgive themselves. Complete and perfect love.
Micah 7:19, which says, “He will take us back in love; He will atone for our iniquities. You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea”.
The “sea of forgetfulness” is a phrase that refers to the idea that God forgives sins so completely that they are no longer relevant to that person’s past
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” Psalm 103:12.
This verse is a statement of God’s complete forgiveness of sins, and that once sins are removed, they will never be held against a person again.
For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins. Hebrews 8:12
We are all on the Earthship together – and it’s a fallen dark world. We need to help and encourage one another. It’s not easy walking in this dark world when temptation and evil are lurking around the corner every day. We need to lock arms- embolden one another. There is darkness and Light – we must choose the Kingdom of Light. The Nation of Light!
Because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments 33 and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the nation.” Leviticus 16:29-34
Our High Priest is the intercessor for the kingdom – the Holy nation – the community and family of God.
Gathered together
The unified community gathers together to perform Tashlich beside an earthly body of water. this watery entity represents a Heavenly picture – The Spirit hovering over the waters.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was barren, with no form of life; it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness. But the Spirit of God was moving over the water. Gen. 1-2 CEV
Have you ever wondered what lurks under dark waters? Humanity is often represented in Hebrew by a sea (teaming with life) or mankind symbolized by fish of the sea.
Mayim (water) starts and ends with the Hebrew letter mem with a yud (sometimes 2 yuds in the middle which represents the Hand of God at work). Mem has several related meanings: “waters,” “people,” “nations,” “languages,” and “tongues”. The mem in its most ancient form bore a resemblance to waves of water. As such, Mem represents the sea of Torah, the ocean of Talmud, knowledge, wisdom and a sea of people.
We all swim in the darkness of our world. Evil lurks under rocks and in deep depths and hidden caves. The Hand of God gathers us into an echad – even in this dark world. He makes us a community founded on His Love and we begin to learn to swim and interact with one another in one mind (the mind of Christ) and in one accord.
Many species of fish swim in an echad – a school, twisting and turning as one unit. Together they look like a much bigger fish which often scare predators away. It’s true that many fish swimming together can reduce the individual fish’s chances of being caught by a predator. We need each other!
The goal of Tashlich is to collectively cast our sins far away from us. A piece of bread representing our sin is cast into the waters. Our sins are taken away into the depths of the sea.
Therefore, we must die to your old self, the first adam and allow God to cleanse us from all righteousness. Delivering our us as a new creation born of Living Water from the depths of darkness.
Let your old weak and sinful “self” die. Let it go – throw it in the sea to be taken away – to be buried in a watery grave never to be found again.
Welcome to the Nation of the first born!