Kapparot

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Kapparot ritual on the eve of Yom Kippur

Kapparot (

PETA has made the claim that more than two-thirds of all the slaughtered birds are simply thrown in the trash, while the kapparot organizers claim that the sites donate the dead chickens to feed the poor.[1]

Etymology

Lithograph of Kapparot, late 19th/early 20th century

Kapparah (כפרה), the singular of kapparot, means "atonement" and comes from the Semitic root כ־פ־ר k-p-r, which means 'to cover',[2] the derived meaning being one of covering or blotting out sin.

Practice

The Shochet with Rooster by Israel Tsvaygenbaum, 1997

On the afternoon before

Psalms 107:17–20 and Job 33:23–24
, and then swings the prepared charitable donation over one's head three times while reciting a short prayer three times.

Using a rooster

roosters for kapparot before Yom Kippur
, circa 1983.

In one variant of the practice of kapparot, the item to be donated to charity is a

rooster. In this case, the rooster is swung overhead while still alive. After the kapparot ritual is concluded, the rooster is treated as a normal kosher poultry product, i.e., it is slaughtered according to the laws of shechita
. It is then given to charity for consumption at the pre-Yom Kippur meal. In modern times, this variant of the ritual is performed with a rooster for men and a hen for women.

In this case, the prayer recited translates as:

This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement. This rooster (hen) will go to its death, while I will enter and proceed to a good long life and to peace.[4]

Using money

In a second variant of the practice of kapparot, a bag of money is swung around the head and then given to charity.[5]

In this case, the prayer recited translates as:

This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement. This money will go to charity, while I will enter and proceed to a good long life and to peace.[6]

Sources

The practice of kapparot is mentioned for the first time by

Talmudic period.[7] Jewish scholars in the ninth century explained that since the Hebrew word גבר[8]
means both "man" and "rooster", a rooster may substitute as a religious and spiritual vessel in place of a man.

Historical controversy

Joseph ben Ephraim Karo in the Shulchan Aruch. According to the Mishnah Berurah
, his reasoning was based on the caution that it is similar to non-Jewish rites.

The Ashkenazi rabbi

Lithuanian Jews as well. The Mishnah Berurah only supports the use of money (i.e., not a chicken) if there might be a problem with the slaughter due to haste or fatigue.[10]

In the late 19th-century work Kaf Hachaim, Yaakov Chaim Sofer approves of the custom for Sephardi Jews as well.

Animal cruelty controversy

Some Jews also oppose the use of chickens for kapparot on the grounds of tza'ar ba'alei chayim, the principle banning cruelty to animals.[11]

On Yom Kippur eve 2005, a number of caged chickens were abandoned in rainy weather as part of a kapparot operation in Brooklyn, New York; some of these starving and dehydrated chickens were subsequently rescued by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.[12] Jacob Kalish, an Orthodox Jewish man from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was charged with animal cruelty for the drowning deaths of 35 of these kapparot chickens.[13] In response to such reports of the mistreatment of chickens, Jewish animal rights organizations have begun to picket public observances of animal kapparot, particularly in Israel.[14][15]

Proponents of the animal kapparot ritual in the United States argue the practice to be constitutionally protected as an exercise of freedom of religion in the United States, which is further supported by a 1993 Supreme Court of the United States decision in the case of Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. In that case, the court upheld the right of Santería adherents to practice ritual animal sacrifice, with Justice Anthony Kennedy stating in the decision, "Religious beliefs need not be acceptable, logical, consistent or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection" (quoted by Justice Kennedy from the opinion by Justice Warren E. Burger in Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division, 450 U.S. 707 (1981)).[16] However, the Supreme Court's principal concern in its decision was that the City of Hialeah specifically targeted a religious ritual, curbing the religious rights of a specific community, which conflicts with the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

See also

References

  1. ^ "URGENT: Tens of Thousands of Chickens to be Slaughtered in Ritual Killing".
  2. ^ "Strong's Concordance Lexicon entry for kaphar (Hebrew word #3722)". Rancho Santa Margarita, California: Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 2011-08-19. to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch
  3. ^ Shulchan Aruch Rama Orach Chayim 605:1
  4. ^ The Complete ArtScroll Machzor: Yom Kippur, p.4
  5. ^ Strum, Andrew (2002). "The Ancient Origins of an Obscure Egyptian Jewish High Holy Day Custom". Historical Society of Jews From Egypt. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved 2011-08-16. ... alternatively been practised with coins which are then donated to charity.
  6. ^ The Complete ArtScroll Machzor: Yom Kippur, p.4
  7. ISBN 9780812218626
    .
  8. ^ Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern -1998
  9. ^ Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 605:1
  10. ^ Shulchan Aruch O.C. 605:1
  11. ^ "THE CUSTOM OF KAPPAROT IN THE JEWISH TRADITION". Archived from the original on 2012-12-24. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  12. ^ Horrigan, Jeremiah (2005-10-22). "Abandoned chickens saved from death". Times Herald-Record. Archived from the original on 2010-06-06. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  13. ^ "Abuse Most Fowl; Chicken-death Bust". New York Post. 2005-11-10. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  14. ^ Sela, Neta (2006-09-28). "Rabbis cry 'fowl' on ritual use of chickens". Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  15. ^ Neroulias, Nicole (2010-09-08). "Activists cry foul over ultra-Orthodox chicken ritual". The Oklahoman. Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-08-30. Some efforts, though, have been made to point out that the ritual is not religiously required and can instead be performed with money.
  16. ISBN 978-1-4283-4059-6
    .

External links

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