Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to go down to the water and toss our bread crumbs or seeds or dissolving rice paper as symbols of casting out our sins. While this time can be contemplative and a wonderful viseral catharsis, it can also feel awkward to do as a group. It can be hard to think on the spot of what you are casting away, and it can be hard to measure year to year if we have made progress.

Tonight, we will write letters to ourselves and next year on selichot we will reopen them. Your letter should be your apologies to yourself and to God. At this point, I hope you have done your due diligence to make teshuvah to the people in your life that you have hurt, or you will do so in the coming ten days before Yom Kippur. This letter cannot make teshuvah for you to others. It is personal and private, and expressing your regret to yourself for hurting someone else is not teshuvah. However, even after proper teshuvah is done, there can be lingering hurts and regrets, and those are okay to put in this letter. Write down any way that you've missed the mark on being your best self in the past year, and how you want to see yourself grow in the coming year.

Then we will seal this in an envelope and put them someplace safe. I will remind you next year before tashlich to find and open them to see how you succeeded in growing and bettering yourselves.

While the adults are writing their letters, the children may begin their honey-search!


Booklet Section: Looking Back / Tashlich