L'shanah Tovah

Happy New Year to all my Jewish family and friends! Rosh Hashonah is a time of spiritual reflection and reckoning -- a time to take stock, make amends, build bridges, and mend rifts. Today I'm feeling blessed to live in a beautiful place, surrounded by people that I care about and who return the favor. Life is good.

My favorite part of Rosh Hashonah is Tashlikh, an ancient ritual that involves throwing breadcrumbs (or whatever "schmutz" you have on hand) into a body of water, and reciting a few prayers. During this ritual, you symbolically "toss away" your cares, troubles, emotional baggage... and prepare to start a fresh new year with a clean slate.

Today we celebrated Tashlikh with a few close friends at a beach near our house in Half Moon Bay. It was a gorgeous, crystal-clear sunny day, and we each scattered our "schmutz" into the gentle waves and meditated on aspects of our lives that we want to let go of. Afterwards, we sat on the warm rocks, watching our kids play in the waves, and formulating "action plans" to put into practice the wishes we'd made. Turning prayer and meditation into concrete action is SO very Jewish. It was a perfect way to kickoff the New Year.