Rosh Hashanah’s most memorable moments are not confined to the synagogue.

The Tashlich waterside ceremony provides an informal venue for friends to exchange Shana Tova greetings, and also offer a heartfelt prayer for a better year for our brethren in Israel and elsewhere.

We’ve experienced a very emotional summer. The Gaza Disengagement didn’t just involve soldiers and settlers in Israel; it affected us all.

Thousands of people cried, protested and were uprooted, but there was little violence.

At times, soldiers and settlers even prayed and studied together, embracing, comforting and consoling each other!

Our people’s deep love and bond to the Land of Israel shone through the anguish; obviously more unites us than divides us. We are guided by morals and values, compassion and kindness, even in a most painful and difficult situation. At the end of the day we’re still family.

Tashlich opens broader horizons then just “casting sins into the sea” (Micah 7:19), for Tashlich is more than just disposing a pocketful of sins. Historically, Jewish Kings were coronated at a stream to symbolize continuity through the flow of time. At Tashlich we yearn for Moshiach and Redemption when G-d Will Reign Supreme, a time of tranquility when “none will not harm or destroy, for the whole world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9)