Re: tachlis

[Hayyim Feldman <hf...>]

"tachlis" has been straightened out in this thread - that it means
purpose/end/conclusion, rather than task, and that it's Ashkenazi
pronunciation of Hebrew, rather than being a Yiddish word.

But...  

>Whoever started this thread, I think you mean <tashlikh>, not "tachlis",
>-- the ritual of taking the lint in one's pockets (<tash>, <tashn>) and
>throwing them into a body of water. 
>
>Wolf

"tashlich" does not come from a reference to pockets ("tashn"), but is
another Hebrew word, meaning to cast off.  It's usage in this context
comes from the Biblical prophet Micah, who asks HaShem to "tashlich
bim'tzulos yam kol chatosom" - to cast our sins into the depths of the
sea.  

The sea, being the original "mikveh", purifies from sin and renews. 
HaShem is called "the mikveh of Yisroel", which in its original Biblical
context means "the hope of Israel" ("mikveh" being, in another form, the
same word as "tikveh", as in "Hatikvah").  But in the Y.K. liturgy it
means "the one by-immersion-in-whom Yisroel is purified".

Note that the resentful prophet Yonah, in the Y.K. haftarah reading for
mincha, was cast into the sea for being the "sin" that brought the storm
upon the endangered ship to Tarshish.  He was, famously, swallowed by a
fish.  When we do tashlich, we choose a body of water in which there are
fish.  (When I useta go fishing with my dad, we'd bait the hooks with
bread crumbs.)  Fish are traditionally considered to be free of sin, since
the judgment of the Flood that drowned all the land animals (who had
become vicious) didn't apply to them. 

What does all this have to do with Jewish music?  Um, sorry.  But do see
below...

>I did, indeed, mean tashlikh, or tashlich, but, my fingers transposed
>themselves and I didn't catch it until after I sent it.  Of course, like
>many other things, you can't take it back then.  I meant to correct it,
>but honestly didn't want to call attention to my mistake, so there you
>are. 
>
>Lori

Perhaps some humble pie crumbs?  (I could use some myself.)

May the Only One renew us all,
-Hayyim

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Who by fire, who by water
  who in sunshine, who in the nighttime
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial
  who in your merry merry month of May          -Leonard Cohen,
    who by very slow decay                      "Who By Fire" (1974)
And who shall I say is calling?
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