Tashlich Twenty Four

 How did I meet Mimette? 

To quote our beloved Rabbi Bernstein of blessed memory: "I'm glad you asked!"

Mimette and I study the Torah together through an online yeshiva. She has always looked to me like she lived in Cape Town - and how do Capetonians look? I can't put my finger on it, but ..... there's just somethng....

    Imagine my surprise, when I was giving some books away, that I discovered she lives just up the road from me!

    So now we cherish our Friday mornings together as a very beautiful and special gift from Abba.

    Which led to the most amazing Tashlich service I have ever been part of!

    On the Tuesday before Rosh HaShannah - which was on Wednesday - my dear friend dropped some items here for me that I could add to my table to make it extra special. Her daughter, Karlie, was also in the car, and when we asked her if we were going to throw bread in the water, she thought it was the most hilarious thing she had ever heard and said, "Nooo!"

    We assured her we were really going to do that, which caused her to laugh the loveliest belly laugh I have ever heard. And the expression of absolute incredulity on her face was priceless!

    So that was Tuesday afternoon. By Thursday afternoon, the 2nd day of Rosh HaShannah, Karlie's anticipation and, dare I say, impatience, waiting for this whole bread-in-the-water-thing, was at its peak.

    I packed some broken bread bits into two of my favourite plastic containers - one for Tasha and one for Karlie - and we drove down to a local picnic spot at the river. It was so beautiful. Father God even gave us a whole group of ducks to be part of the ceremony.

Tasha and Karlie shared the readings with Mimette and I - they both read so beautifully, voices like birdsong.

    By the time we got about halfway through the 3rd page, Karlie, who was standing next to me, and who I had asked to hold the two containers with bread, began clanging them together. A signal went off in the back of my mind, but I left it there, trying to hurry through the last of the reading, as I could feel the impatience next to me. I mean, the poor girl had been waiting for 2 days already!

    Suddenly, just as I was finishing the last line of the last paragraph, movement next to me caused me to lift my eyes from the page - to see my two plastic containers with the bread in them, flying through the air, launched from Karlie's hands, landing in the wet river sand. My eyes grew large and my mouth made a big O. Just for a second. Then I realised what had happened. This dear child was so eager to throw her sins away - like she had been preparing for for a whole 48 hours - she could simply not wait any longer. She even went a step further and threw the klipah away too! Mazeltov Karlie!

    Tasha was taking great care to throw every piece of bread into the river, even getting down on her haunches. It was such a beautiful sight to see the Spirit of God working in the hearts of these two beautiful human beings. She was unhappy about the dishes lying in the mud and wanted to go fetch them, but we convinced her not to, as she would be covered in mud. Then Mimette wanted to do acrobatics and the splitz to go and fetch my dishes. I just shook my head and giggled. We left the klipahs and the bread right there in the mud for all to see that we had cast our sins away (symbolically).

    Here we are all posing together in great joy after the ceremony:

Tasha is the eldest daughter and she is a representative for Downs' Syndrome, speaking up for those who can't speak for themselves. Mimette and Tasha help our city's DS people.

Karlie and her mom also work together to help those with Autism in our city.

These three are very active in this regard. If you would like to help or be involved in any way, please reach out to me and I will put you in touch with Mimette. She and her husband are wonderful parents to these two beautiful girls.

May all of us be inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life!