What's in Your Too Hard Basket?

Answer

These days, everyone has two garbage bins. One of them is for recycling, and the other is for plain old waste. The recycling bin is where we put those items that can have another life, that can be repurposed and used again. It may be garbage now, but with a bit of work it can be transformed to something useful.

But some things just need to be thrown away, never to be seen again. Either they have no use anymore, or it's too much work to try to sanitise them for another purpose. We can't save everything. Some things just have to go.

The Jewish new year is time to get rid of our spiritual garbage. We all have bad habits, moments we regret and things we shouldn't have done. This spiritual garbage is collected over Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur is recycling day. We examine our failings and reframe them, making a negative into a positive. The very act that made me fall is now my impetus to get up. The choices that distanced me from my soul and my G-d are now bringing me closer.

But before that, we have to get rid of the toxic garbage that isn't redeemable. On Rosh Hashanah, we go to the waterside and throw away our sins that are too hard to deal with. Some mistakes can’t be fixed. Some dark moments should not be revisited. Some problems can’t be solved. But we don’t have to carry them either.

Tashlich is the too hard basket. We disassociate from those parts of our life that are not within our power to turn around, and cast them deep into the ocean, so at least they won't continue to weigh us down.

When you do Tashlich, imagine those elements of your past that you can't fix, and let them sink to the bottom of the ocean where they won't hurt anybody. Then move on to a new year, garbage-free.