The Tashlich - Prospect Park, Brooklyn

The Tashlich ritual marks the end of summer and the start of the Jewish new year, when the sins of the previous year are washed away by tossing pieces of bread into a body of flowing water. On a bike ride at the end of a late summer day in beautiful Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, I saw a family of the Hasidim group of Jews performing the ritual, which dates to Medieval Europe and is based on an Old Testament passage: "You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Coasting to a stop, I observed a ceremony, in 21st century Brooklyn, that is the same now as it was at summer's end, 600 years ago.

by: Dave Wyman