At dawn or early in the morning before Yom Kippur, take a live chicken, fish or money which will then be given to charity and recite...
7 Comments Posted
Reading this text brought back to memory my own old grandmother Ruchle-Leah, Maia, who was saying the prayer and performing the ritual of “Kapparot” over my head every single year. Thanks to her yiddisher life I can say I’m a Jew.
I don’t remember giving away the chicken, it would have been expensive after the hardship of finding one in Romania of the 60’s, so we eat it after Yom Kippur.
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I thiink it`s cruel nowadays to use a live chicken and swing it round one`s head...very cruel to frighten a poor chicken which is always terrified!!... There is NO REASON why we can`t say KAPPAROT with money or small coins which many people are using now, then giving it to tzdokioh\as required!!- much much better than terrifying a chicken which also has a NEFESH..remember???!!!!!
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Is this still practiced today?
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The chicken is Rotated...not swung...and it really is not cruel at all. I love animals, and was raised on a farm and had chickens of my own that I named and loved. I have never seen a chicken being handled in a harsh way as this would be a sin in itself.
You are correct on saying kapparot with money or small coins - usually wrapped in a scarf or handkerchief. That can be and is done. At our shul we have chickens brought in and they are donated to the yeshiva at the shul for the students.
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I don`t totally believe that the chickens are not terrified when they are rotated and it is totally unnecessary,..,as I "schlogg kapporos" as we say in Yiddish with coins in a handkerchief....I also hope that the live chickens were slaughtered without cruelty for you to enjoy after Yom Kippur! A Gut Yahr!
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In order to be 'kosher' the chickens must be slaughtered only by a trained shochet using a special method of slaughter, shechita (Deuteronomy 12:21). The meat would otherwise be rendered 'unclean'
As I had mentioned above, the fowl was donated to the yeshiva shul for the students meals. We did not eat the chicken nor watch it being slaughtered - we went home to begin our fast.
It is perfectly acceptable, and obviously preferable in your case because of your strong views, that you practice 'schlogg kapporos' Say someone was a practicing vegetarian, not only because of their health but because of not wanting to cause the death of an animal? What matters is the symbolism. Without repentance, it would not matter if you rotated 10 chickens or a million dollars over your head. Just like for Tashlich, we walk to a body of water, hear the shofar again, daven and then symbolically cast our sins off.
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Thank you for your shared thoughts and experiences.
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