Cast your bread …

 On Rosh Hashanah it is written.  On Yom Kippur it is sealed.  May you be inscribed in the Book of Life

.There is a ritual for the High Holy Days, a purification ritual called Tashlich.  You find a living body of water — a river, a lake, the ocean — and throw bread into the water, symbolically casting off your sins,

To be honest, I never heard of this ritual until I was an adult, when I joined a synagogue that is located across the street from a pond.  Every year, on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Rabbi would lead a small group of congregants across the street.  He’d lead us in prayer, blow the shofar, and then we’d throw the bread.

I’m not a member of a synagogue, but I still wanted to do the ritual.  So I grabbed my bag of stale gluten-free challah and headed over to one of my favorite places, Wantagh Park.

And after I had my conversation with the Almighty, I had a chance to enjoy the park.

It’s a large county park, with a public pool, picnic areas, playground, miniature golf, tennis courts, ball fields, a dog run … but the area I focus on is the marina and the waterfront walking paths.

Lots of seagulls in the parking lot.

You can see houses across the water.

A decorative lighthouse presides over a waterfront picnic area.

You can see the Jones Beach water tower and the Jones Beach Theater across the water.

The wind has shaped the trees.

There’s a lovely gazebo 

Lots of seagulls by the water too

A little fall color

No swans or geese this time (disappointing), but the monk parakeets were quite vocal, and I did capture a photo of one.

Yes, I said monk parakeets.

While most Long Islanders are surprised to see them, monk parakeets have been hanging around here since the late 60s, and have beautifully acclimated themselves to the New York City area. They’re tough, resourceful, and build massive communal nests similar to the apartments a lot of New Yorkers reside in, making them a perfect fit for the region. Also, like a lot of New Yorkers, our parakeet community is rumored to have started at JFK airport. 

Like a lot of New York families, monk parakeets made their homes in Brooklyn and Queens when they first arrived, and have since moved out to the suburbs (even while their cousins still live in the boroughs). It’s believed that these parrots first came to our area when a crate of parakeets destined for local pet shops broke in the sixties, setting all of the birds free in the process …

And last, but not least, the Vietnam War memorial