Tashlich at Turtle Rock - Susan Schnur & Anna Schnur-Fishman

Illustrated by Alex Steele-Morgan
Kar-Ben Publishing, 2010
$17.95
TPPL
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: White

On one of the school days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, my whole school goes by bus to Reid Park. Here, in the middle of the desert, is a huge green, treed park, complete with streams, pond, and even trickling waterfall. This is where we celebrate Tashlich.

I am new to Judaism, learning as I go in the Hebrew day school where I teach secular studies. I so enjoy listening to the blowing of the shofars every morning during the month of the high holidays, and I throroughly enjoy throwing away my sins. I'd never ever heard of Tashlich before, and knew next-to-nothing about even the most important Jewish holidays. So when I saw this book I couldn't wait to read it -- it means something to me now. And perhaps if a book like this had been available when I was a kid, I wouldn't be in the dark about so many aspects of Jewish culture.

Susan Schnur, a rabbi, writes this story of a family spending Rosh Hashanah afternoon hiking through the woods to Turtle Creek to shed their sins. Each family member - mother, father, brother, sister, has something special to be thankful for, a promise they want to make for the year to come, and a bad habit they was to rid themselves of. It's an interesting story for a young child. And it makes me realize what a wonderful tradition this family has created.

Wouldn't it be great if we could take one special custom or celebrations from many different cultures, the ones that might have special meaning to us, to make them our own? I plan to add this one to my hoard....well, my hoard of one.....I do celebrate the Day of the Dead. Two cultures, to great traditions.

Alex Steele-Morgan's painting are simple, colorful, and lovely. Actually, it might even be pastels. I can see the texture of the canvas through the colors.

For every family that celebrates diversity!