Wantagh temple marks Rosh Hashana with Reverse Tashlich beach cleanup

To celebrate Rosh Hashana in a unique way, members of Temple B’nai Torah gathered on a rainy Sept. 29 for a beach cleanup at Jones Beach State Park.

Thirteen members of the Wantagh temple spent around two hours picking up garbage — cigarette butts, glass bottles, remnants of plastic toys and more — with trash pickers and collecting it in buckets. According to temple members, the cleanup was part of an innovative environmental Jewish ritual known as a Reverse Tashlich.

In Jewish tradition, Tashlich is performed on the High Holy Days, when people symbolically cast away their sins by throwing breadcrumbs or pebbles into a body of water — a river or an ocean. Rona Kauffman, co-chair of Temple B’Nai Torah’s Social Action/Social Justice Committee, explained that Tashlich encourages people to reflect on their past and resolve to start anew.

“This is a time when you think about what you did last year and how you can improve in the future,” Kauffman said. “We go to the waterway and cast our sins into the water.”

The committee focuses on how the temple can be environmentally conscious, because taking care of the environment is part of Jewish tradition. This year, the committee initiated a Reverse Tashlich, during which sins are, metaphorically, taken out of the water, with beach refuse a fitting representation.

“We realized, why are we throwing our sins into the sea when we should be taking our sins out of the waterways?” Kauffman said.

The concept was originated by Repair the Sea, a nonprofit Jewish organization in Tampa, Florida, that raises awareness of the threats that aquatic environments face and encourages action to address them. For several years, communities around the globe have collaborated with the organization to help clean waterfronts.

The event on Sept. 29 was part of Repair the Sea’s seventh annual worldwide Reverse Tashlich. According to the organization’s website, some 4,000 Jews and allies in 23 countries took part in waterfront cleanups last year. Kauffman noted that this was the first year the temple participated.

It collaborated with the South Shore Estuary Reserve Program, a state initiative focused on protecting Long Island’s water quality and marine habitats. Sally Kellogg, the reserve’s program implementation specialist, joined temple members two Sundays ago.

“It’s always nice to get out of the office and see people doing good things,” Kellogg said.

While Jones Beach is generally well maintained, Kauffman said, there’s still plenty of refuse, which, Kellogg added, is often the result of littering or wind redistributing the contents of waste bins.

She noted that microplastics — particles less than 5 millimeters in size— negatively impact the environment. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, those particles can pass through water filtration systems and end up in the ocean, posing a potential threat to aquatic life. Kellogg explained that toys, plastic bags, water bottles and plastic from old docks can break down into microplastics, wash into the oceans and disrupt the aquatic food chain.

For Kauffman, the Reverse Tashlich of a beach cleanup helps participants be more aware of how much they use recyclable materials and what more they can do to help the environment. Kellogg said that there are many opportunities to take part in beach cleanups, such as those organized by the South Shore Estuary Reserve, the state parks and the Town of Hempstead.

Kellogg encourages even casual beachgoers to help the environment. “Even if you’re just on the beach for a fun little walk and you see a bottle cap, it’s important to pick it up and place it in the trash,” she said. “That one little bottle cap can cause havoc. Every little bit helps.”