Who can say “I have purified my heart, I am free of sin? There is no man on earth so righteous that he never sins!” Cast away the evil you have done and get yourself a new heart and a new spirit.” Prov. 20:9
It may be a new year for our Jewish readers, and a fast may be well underway, but there are parts of Yom Kippur that aren’t quite so renewing and cleansing. Like Kaparos (also spelled Kapparot,) a cruel Yom Kippur tradition that we want to see end in our lifetime.
According to the Jewish Outreach Institute;
“The term kaparos is the root of the word Kippur, and carries the same meaning: atonement. On the eve of Yom Kippur, men take roosters and women take hens; they place the birds in their hands and whirl them around above the head, saying : “This is my substitute, this is my exchange, this is my atonement. This fowl will go to death, and I will enter upon a good and long life.” The ritual has its origins in the Babylonian exile and since that time has been condemned as pagan. After the ritual, the chicken is then slaughtered. Its entrails are given to the birds as a sign of compassion and the slaughtered chicken is given to the poor. This ritual resonates with the ancient Temple practice that originated the idea of the “scapegoat.” The sins of the people of Israel were placed on a goat that was sent to wander in the wilderness (though some say the goat was pushed off a cliff to its death). Like tashlich, the ritual of kaparos was a symbolic shedding of sins. But while tashlich is widely observed, many fewer Jews do kaparos. Because it is a custom and not a commandment, many give charity instead. If you like the physical nature of kaporos but don’t want to deal with a live chicken for ethical or sanitary reasons, you should know that in ancient times, children planted seeds early in the month before Yom Kippur and twirled the young plants over their heads in place of chickens .”
Although this option exists many, like PUPA Butchers in Brooklyn, torture chickens before slaughter on the Street in a ceremony where children and adults pull back the chickens wings , tear them apart, and swing them around and around while alive and bleeding. Various groups protesting the cruel and needless “swinging” and slaughtering of thousands of chickens in Kaporos ceremonies. Kaporos observance does not require any animals to be used.
“I am a member of the religious Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York. This year I took pictures of the deplorable conditions in which the birds were kept. I believe they receive no food or water for the week or so that they are in the possession of the retailers. They certainly receive no food or water over the Shabbat. One kapparot station had the birds outside exposed to the rain on a Shabbat through Sunday. I saw birds dead in their crates. Birds were crushed. Birds were opening and closing their mouths, probably out of thirst. The retailer who sold me my birds [to live in a sanctuary] tossed them into my box as if they were loaves of bread. The fact that most retailers didn’t even question me when I took pictures means that no one has made life difficult for these retailers. It’s time to make life difficult for people claiming to be religious and doing this to animals.” – David Rosenfeld
“Rabbi Zusya used to travel around the countryside collecting money to ransom prisoners. One night he came to an inn in which there was a large cage with all kinds of birds in it. Zusya saw that the creatures wanted to fly free through the spaces of the world. He burned with pity for them and said to himself, “Here you are, Zusya, walking your feet off to ransom prisoners, but what greater ransoming of prisoners can there be than to free these birds from their prison?” Then he opened the cage and the birds flew out to freedom.” – Rabbi Everett Gendler, The Life of His Beast
Please take a moment from your holy day (Jew or otherwise) and take action for these that cannot speak for themselves;
What should Jews and others who are concerned about the treatment of animals do?
- Please contact the Rabbinical Council of America and ask them to advocate that kapparot be carried out with money rather than chickens.
Contact: Rabbi Shlomo Hochberg, President Rabbinical Council of America
305 Seventh Avenue, 12thFloor New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-807-7888 Fax: 212-727-8452[email protected]
- Write letters to your local Jewish newspapers expressing your objection to the use of chickens for kapparot. Ask them to do an article about kapparot that examines the ceremony from the standpoint of Jewish teachings that encourage compassion for animals.
- Get involved with United Poultry Concerns , an organization that shows us how smart and lovable these birds are when allowed to be, instead of abused and slaughtered.
- Join the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos: endchickensaskaporos.com