The Sins That Sink

Posted on September 27, 2025 by First.One.Through

On Shabbat Shuva, the Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the haftarah proclaims:

“You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea..”
— Micah 7:19

That verse frames the season. At the start of the Ten Days of Repentance, we gather by a river or lake for Tashlich, casting crumbs into the current as a sign of casting off our wrongs.
It is not superstition but a declaration of hope: the sinner is not the sin; the two can be parted.

Jonah’s Descent

At the other end of the Ten Days, on Yom Kippur afternoon, we read the story of Jonah — the counter-story.

Jonah fled from God’s call aboard a ship. A storm raged over the ship until the sailors, reluctantly, cast him overboard, and suddenly the sea grew calm. By all natural expectation, Jonah should have floated. Instead, he sank. He recounts:

“The waters closed in over me;
the deep engulfed me;
weeds were wrapped around my head.”
— Jonah 2:5

Jonah could not separate from his defiance; he was dragged to the bottom with it.

Then God sent the great fish — not as a punishment but as a chamber of mercy, a hollow where Jonah could face his failing, pray, and be restored to life. The fish shows that even in the depths, repentance is still possible.

“Jonah Thrown to the Whale” by Johannes Sadeler I, circa 1582. In the background, another ship can be seen sailing in calm waters, showing that the boat with Jonah was targeted for punishment. Jonah’s head faces the roaring sea, accepting his fate.

Two Fish, One Lesson

Many have the custom to recite Tashlich at a stream that has living fish. Some suggest it is a symbol of good luck while others suggest that the fish “consume” the symbolic sins, carrying them away like a scapegoat.

Placed against the story of Jonah, the image deepens: the fish in the stream greet us at the gates of the Ten Days; the great fish of Jonah meets us at their close. The small fish beneath the ripples hint at an easy parting from our minor failings; the great fish is the last-chance refuge for those who waited too long.

The High Holiday season sets the choice before us:

At the opening, we can cast our sins away and watch them sink while we stand free on the shore. At the closing, if we still cling to them, we risk being dragged under — yet even then there is mercy, a chance to pray and rise again.

The waters of Micah and Jonah teach the same truth: our sins can drown without dragging us under — if we will let them go.

Let us all attempt to separate ourselves from sin, and cast them into the depths of the water and be blessed with a new year of health and opportunity.

“Jonah Spat up by the Whale” by Johannes Sadeler I, circa 1582, with the sun seemingly rising in the background to highlight Jonah living to see a new day. Jonah stares at the heavens seeing that the storm has passed.

For The Sins of 5784…

Posted on October 11, 2024 by First.One.Through

For the sin of donating to my antisemitic alma mater;

For the sin of laughing hysterically at the Hezbollah pagers explosions;

For the sin of not doing enough to get rid of antisemitic members of Congress;

For the sin of not doing all I could to get rid of an antisemitic “charity” in my backyard;

For the sin of not lobbying my government to label Hamas a terrorist group;

For the sin of not lobbying my government to defund the United Nations;

For the sin of failing to educate children that the oppressor/oppressed narrative does not excuse people to act immorally;

For the sin of allowing myself to get pulled by the empathy swamp regarding Gaza to condemn Israel’s defensive war;

For the sin of not clearly calling out ‘woke’ profound antisemitism;

For the sin of not signing petitions to defund and abolish UNRWA;

For the sin of allowing ‘Intifada’ to be normalized;

For the sin of not calling out the antisemitic genocidal intent of Gazans;

For the sin of rewriting history;

For the sin of not demanding the firing of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres;

For the sin of watching Israel slowly get demonized and isolated without doing anything;

For the sin of not reporting antisemitic incidents;

For the sin of not believing people’s comments about Jews;

For the sin of pretending that Palestinian leadership does not want the destruction of Israel;

For the sin of excusing chants against Jews in ways I would never excuse similar chants against other groups;

For the sin of believing the whataboutery and red herrings of allies and preferred media;

For the sin of believing in the decency of my neighbors too much; for believing in them too little;

For the sin of seeking too few allies; for seeking too many allies;

For the sin of pardoning my government for not fighting enough for the Jewish people;

For the sin of talking about Israel at work too little; for talking about it too much;

For these things related to the Jewish world, please pardon us

For the sin of waiting for someone else to say Psalm 119 in Tehillim chat groups;

For the sin of doubling up my recitation of the same Tehillim chapter on different WhatsApp groups;

For the sin of taking two handfuls of mints at restaurants;

For the sin of not mentoring enough young people;

For the sin of not putting ‘AsAJew’ people who put Jews directly in harms way in herem;

For the sin of not defending AIPAC from ridiculous slander;

For the sin of claiming anti-Zionism is not antisemitism;

For the sin of dressing up extremist and divisive positions as merely “progressive”;

For the sin of believing that the Biden-Harris administration has been effective at controlling the nation’s borders;

For the sin of believing in Kamala Harris the moment she became the presidential nominee when I had believed her utterly incompetent for three and one-half years;

For the sin of not believing that Donald Trump is a megalomaniac;

For the sin of wasting time debating Trump-Harris for hours, when I live in a deeply blue or red state;

For the sin of not speaking to as many Holocaust survivors as possible;

For the sin of thinking about Israel too much; for thinking about it too little;

For the sin of not volunteering for community security service;

For the sin of not fighting to neuter harmful “Jewish” charities;

For the sin of obsessing about peace in a time of war;

For the sin of not thinking about the hostages in Gaza every day;

For these sins related to community, please pardon us

For the sin of giving away the Wordle answer to someone who hasn’t completed it;

For the sin of watching Instagram videos of dogs while in bed instead of paying attention to my spouse;

For the sin of using ChatGPT to make R-rated content;

For the sin of not writing to the media when they print something full of antisemitic lies;

For the sin of believing The New York Times;

For the sin of reading The New York Times and not writing to them about every article related to Israel;

For the sin of not contacting Marvel to ensure that antisemitism and anti-Israel narratives don’t flood the screen;

For these sins related to media and social media, please pardon us

For the sin of playing the lottery weekly without my spouse’s knowledge;

For the sin of letting dishes soak when it’s my turn to clean up;

For the sin of “borrowing” a Netflix account;

For the sin of believing in my children too little; for believing in them too much;

For the sin of not visiting parents enough;

For these sins related to family, please pardon us

For the sin of blogging instead of exercising;

For the sin of reading emails while driving;

For the sin of sneaking desserts at 5AM;

For these sins related to health, please pardon us

For the sin of not subscribing to blogs I enjoy;

For all these things, please pardon us

For The Sins Of 5783…

For The Sins Of 5782…

For the Sins of 5780…

For the Sins of 5777 of…

For The Sins Of 5782…

Posted on October 4, 2022 by First.One.Through

… for following directions from Waze with more obedience than any Torah commandments;

… for being upset that we don’t skip enough piyutim and selichot in synagogue;

… for coming to synagogue during the week wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt;

… for completing morning services at home in 360 seconds;

… for re-watching Key & Peele skits on my phone during breaks in davening;

for these sins and thoughts related to prayer services, please pardon us

… for the sin of cursing the gardener and coveting my neighbor’s lawn;

… for using COVID as an excuse for not going to shiva visits;

… for not killing lanterbugs on Shabbos;

… for sincerely asking for forgiveness and begrudgingly giving it;

… for taking the final aluminum tins from Amazing Savings right before the holidays;

… for not speaking up loudly against anti-Semites because they were Jews or from my political party;

… for embracing anti-Semites and their positions in the belief that I will be spared while fellow Jews are carted away;

… for not rallying behind institutions that fired anti-Zionist teachers;

… for not calling out anti-Semitism from other minorities, for fear of being called a racist;

… for not visiting the Temple Mount in Jerusalem;

… for believing that calls for violence are covered under free speech;

… for not doing enough to stop more anti-Semites from becoming members of Congress;

… for not protesting my government’s funding Palestinian agencies that still actively promote terrorism;

… for falsely believing that Tikkun Olam will stop the spread of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism;

… for screaming at ignoramuses like Whoopi Goldberg rather than educating them;

… for continuing to subscribe to anti-Semitic media which peddles the ‘powerful Jew’ myth;

… for deliberately weakening Jewish institutions with lawsuits and public declarations, rather than finding a way to improve them from within the community;

for these sins and thoughts related to community, please pardon us

… for allowing my children to attend colleges with rampant anti-Semitism;

… for visiting countries on vacation that fund anti-Israel NGOs and condemn Israel at the United Nations;

… for not listening to kids’ recommendation to invest alongside Pelosi, and for listening to them about investing in crypto;

… for calling my uncle a crazy racist and my niece a lazy woke-tard;

… for still not having a proper name for my in-laws, after many years of being married;

… for not calling my parents enough, even when they remind me of that fact constantly;

… for pretending I’m preoccupied when my spouse asks for something I’m not interested in;

… for telling my spouse to change attire; for not listening to spouse’s recommendation on attire; for listening to spouse’s recommendation on dress; for being late to events because of attire;

for these sins and thoughts related to family, please pardon us

… for the arrogance of believing that people read my postings including annoying Wordle scores;

… for believing Shabbos calories don’t count;

… for thinking I’m younger than my age, and not living each day fully;

… for internalizing that living my best life means selfish overindulgence;

… for trying to do too much; for trying to do too little;

… for not spending more time with family, friends, community and You;

for all these things, please pardon us