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When you say pre-dawn hours erev yom Kippur what time should you start by Reply
Any time after halachic midnight is good, but some are stringent to do it right before halachic dawn. Reply
why does an unborn baby need a kapara? what sins has it done? Reply
That's a good question. It is not for the unborn baby, rather the baby being an extension of the mother needs a Kapara just as the mother does. One may say that The mother and baby are one unit of two people therefore they need two Kaparas. For example, if the woman ate forbidden food while pregnant, this has been transformed into her own blood and flesh and for this, she requires atonement the food becomes blood in the woman’s heart, and also in the heart of the fetus. See Likutei Sichos vol. 22 page 59 and the footnotes there. Reply
How anyone can defend this deplorable practice is beyond me. Use coins!
צער בעלי חיים
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Handling chickens is done all the time, so surely you are not referring to that.
Shechita is the most painless way for an animal to die, so surely it's not that either.
If it's about the fact that the chickens will no longer be alive - there are bigger things to worry about. The amount of chickens used daily by US fast food chains is much, much more then the amount the entire Jewish nation needs to be able to perform kaporos....
If you are referring to the way they are transported then maybe you can bankroll a slightly better way of transportation - maybe chicken busses with seatbelts and all.
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Correction, these poor chickens are starved and inhumanely treated for days before their dead battered carcasses are disposed of into dumpsters.. this is absolutely cruel and disgusting and doubt very highly that this is what " god" wants.. smh.. Reply
Correction, they are not. I’ve worked for years in kapparos erev Yom Kippur and treated them with utmost humanity. Much more than some humans are treated by some nowadays Reply
The problem with Kapparot these days is that there is not enough time to clean and donate the chickens to charity especially when it is done last minute the day prior to Yom Kippur. If this is going to be done then there really needs to be some change here and not do Kapparot and then throw the chickens away or feed them to other chickens as feed. There are 2 parts to Kapparot. The second part of cleaning the chickens and giving them away to poor people is equally important. If both cannot be done I would say Kapparot should be done with money and not chickens. The best would be to use chickens that are already going to be slaughtered anyways like at a slaughter house so extra chickens are not killed. I know it takes effort but these extra steps are needed to complete the mitzvah. Reply
Most times the chickens are slaughtered at the site and then sent to be cleaned and packaged... Reply
Kaparot with a chicken Come on people, we eat chicken everyday and not complain about it, but when it is used to feed the poor we all get upset. They are not killing the chickens and then throwing them away they eat them or give them to the poor. The word in the Ten Commandments thou shall not kill, the true meaning in Hebrew means thou shall not murder and their is a big difference. If U have money and u want to give it to the poor G-d bless u, or a chicken, beef, or even a sandwich G-d will bless u for it, lets don't get all upset on how u want to give a gift , just give..... Reply
First Time
This year was my first time participating in Kaparot with a chicken. It really did not hit me until later that an animal died in expiation for my sins. This animal will go to feed the hungry as well, so there was an additional benefit.
The animals were treated gently, and they were calm throughout. Parents helped their children so that they did not hurt the animals, and the shochet was very caring.
Not only did this make me think about my sins this past year even harder, but it also connected me to the food that I eat, making it more meaningful when I take a bit of meat.
While I understand that many people who have not seen this may find it disturbing, it was actually peaceful. If you eat meat, then you SHOULD participate, so that you know what is done to get that chicken to your plate.
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Excellent and thoughtful comment to those, such as me, who do eat meat, as a way to get an appreciation of what is involved in getting meat to our plate. I have seen kapparot done in an inhumane way and was always disturbed by the custom. Thank you for providing the details of a more humane way to conduct this tradition. Reply
Is meat murder? Most of the Torah discusses proper ritual slaughter of animals. If you don't want to do it, don't. But to say we're sinning? I'm not sure which Bible you're reading. Reply
Re:Is Kapparot actually halacha or just a tradition?
For a discussion on the origins of this custom see the comments on
The Custom of Kaparot
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To Jennifer An important point is that we eat the chicken. Whether or not you are pro meat consumption is an entirely different story. These chickens are bred to be slaughtered. Kapparot has nothing to do with it. Once you accept the fact that the chicken will be eaten, the fact that it is swung around someone's head three times is not cruel at all. Reply
Please explain... Please forgive my ignorance; I am not Jewish. I am simply a compassionate person who wants to prevent the suffering of animals. Can someone please explain to me why some Jewish people choose to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal rather than use money for this ceremony? If the ritual can be performed without harming an animal, why wouldn't you choose this alternative? As for the comments above that "it is of utmost importance to treat the chickens humanely," I want to know how it can be considered "humane" to slit the throat and drain the blood of someone who wanted to live? And don't most religions teach us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us? What about "Thou shalt not kill"? Is there an asterisk next to that commandment that excludes animals? Finally, would we do this to a cat or a dog? The law does not protect chickens in the same way, but if this were done to a cat or a dog, felony cruelty charges might apply. Please explain so that I can understand. Thank you. Reply
I’m here reading about this tradition as well. People I know to be righteous participate in this ritual. I questioned it for many of the same reasons you raise.
So to your points: the Torah lays out laws on how to treat humans and how to treat animals. Not all animals are kosher, and even those that are must be killed in a particularly painless way such that they remain kosher.
Killing an animal for food is not a sin. Kosher animals must be killed painlessly and exsanguinated. Jews avoid anything that feeds a blood lust.
The chickens used in this ritual are bred to be eaten. There is nothing wrong with doing it yourself.
To call that murder implies all human carnivores are either murderers or accessories to murders. This is incorrect in any context: Murder must be of a human being.
When you change the animal, the rules change too, appropriately. We ride horses, while we don’t ride cats. Judaism does not conflate things that are different.
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Chicken vs. Bird Why do people use chickens if money is completely acceptable and can be less expensive? Reply
Is Kapparot actually halacha or just a tradition? Where does Kapparot actually originate? Is this an actual commadment or just a tradition that developed? Reply
Tsaar baalei chaim
Chicken are the first mistreated birds of our century. We worked in Israel raising chickens. My husband could not
take the word selektsia to separate male from female chicken.
We need rahmanut, compassion, do tshuva and give tsedaka. We should stop this practice.
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Kaparot=unnecessary cruelty?
From Judith's and others' remarks it is obvious that the statement "the slaughtered birds are donated to a charitable organization" is not well-enough understood.
It should be emphasized that the chicken is eaten after cleaning etc. It is usually donated to and eaten by the poor and needy. This was always the case as far back as this custom goes.
Not only is the chicken-meat eaten, but we are suggested to feed the unwanted innards to other animals, as the article states!
Also, "waved around one's head" may sound brutal, but I have seen it done with the hands on the chicken's wings and not at the feet and the bird was completely calm. It can be done sensitively.
So, in other words, the point of this custom is not to kill some poor animals, rather to visit a place most people will never go to - the slaughterhouse. We eat its products, but we don't want to see it done. So as Jews, one time a year, we are to observe the process and identify with these animals.
Feel the chicken's pain!
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"Also, "waved around one's head" may sound brutal, but I have seen it done with the hands on the chicken's wings and not at the feet and the bird was completely calm. It can be done sensitively."
But..."Feel the chicken's pain!" seems a contradiction in statements. I am Jewish, I believe Kapporot to be necessary, however, since my 1st Kapporot I have chosen to donate $$ to charity. I do not believe that chickens are waved overhead in a slaughter house, and from what I observe, the loud sounds and hectic movements of the people scares the chickens and for sure the overhead waving scares them. Fear is painful, especially holding by the feet, and the cortisol and other death hormones I'm guessing are not good for us to eat. Would this practice, if all behaviors are combined be a kosher slaughter? I do not go near the public gathering for Kapporot, I just can't watch scared animals and the lack of proper actions to them.
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Animals make noise. Just like humans speak.
You don't know what scares a chicken.
Shechita is the most painless way for an animal to die.
'The term "death hormone" is not a scientifically recognized term. There is no known hormone that specifically causes death.'
P.s. cortisol isn't the main stress hormone for chickens.
P.p.s I assume a vegan, if not no business writing that...
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Kaparot For the past 2 years 2011-2012, I along with other volunteers have collected 700 chickens each year and fed the homeless and needy in the Los Angeles area. This was done to complete the Holy Ritual. I am honored and humbled to witness this most sacred event and grateful to offer the fresh chicken to feed the poor. Reply
Kipparot KIpparot with money is practiced at my house..I feel it is a necessary ritual to practice at this time of year..If we start leaving out parts of our religion, one day there will be none left..I make every attempt to keep Judaism complete as it was for our Fathers of old.. Reply
kapparot
Jewish law prohibits needless cruelty to animals. Kapparot, which includes the needless suffering of animals, violates Jewish law. This is a sin. How can you be forgiven for your sins by committing yet another sin in causing needless suffering to an animal?
We are taught that forgiveness of sins comes with repentance for the sin, not with hurting another living creature. Better to give money to a charity.
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For starters, kaparat does not violate jewish law, but completely abides by it. The torah allows us to slaughter animals, the way we slaughter animals is completely painless, and actually most humane - more than anywhere else - non jews will shoot the animals, and the like, which causes much more pain. so anytime you eat meat, the animal went through the same process if it's kosher meat, if it's not kosher, it went through an even more painful process.
The torah also allows us to eat meat since after the flood. Also, the entire world and everything in it was created so we can serve g-d and make a dwelling place for him down here.
In addition, these chickens are going to be killed for meat anyway, so we are not increasing the deaths of the chickens, but just killing many at once, instead of that same amount throughout a longer period of time. And you can't call it cruelty, because we're not killing them just for this - people eat the meat.
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Rambam The Rambam was Maimonides, not Nachmanides. Reply
mentioned in the talmud " It is not mentioned in the Talmud at all" - see tractate Shabbos 81b Rashi s.v. hai parsisa Reply
So if you are spiritually transferring your sins onto a chicken and then giving the chicken for someone to eat, than spiritually, would not your sins then be transferred from the chicken to the person eating the chicken?
The se'ir la'azazel was sent into the desert and pushed over a cliff after the sins of Israel were placed upon it. The goat was not slaughtered and than given for people to eat. The sins placed on the goat were representative of giving Israel's sins to satan.
So wouldn't my sins being placed on the chicken be given over to the person eating it as Israel's sins were given to satan?
A person cannot sin by eating another's sins; one sins only by doing that which is forbidden to them. Kapparot are not meant to "carry off" the sin, but to atone for the person by reminding them of their own mortality. The sin offering in the Temple achieved a similar function, and it was eaten by the Kohanim (priests). By donating the slaughtered foul to charity, we achieve atonement through doing acts of kindness. The Kapparot ceremony places us in a mode of humility and of giving, and this is how sin is removed. Regarding the goat for Azazel (scapegoat), see our article "ACHAREI-KEDOSHIM: The Scapegoat."
By doing Kaparat, you aren't actually transferring your sins to the chicken, rather you are merely demonstrating that what is done to the chicken really should happen to us, and that will bring us to do teshuvah.
If you could just get rid of all your sins once a year by simply doing kaparat, why would anyone refrain from sinning(?) people would just sin as much as they wanted, no one would keep any of the mitzvos, do kaparat before Yom Kippur, and then go back to doing whatever they wanted(?)
Rabbi Brownstein -
Thank you for your response. Just to be clear - I understand how a person sins.
My question was not about if a person can sin by eating the chicken used in the Kapparot ceremony. My question was - if a person's sin's that are placed onto the chicken can be transferred "spiritually" and the sins "spiritually" effect the poor person who is eating the chicken?
I understand how the Kapparot ceremony works. But, wasn't the sin-offering the Kohanim had to perform a 'very specific - spiritually holy and pure ceremony' - ordained by Hashem Himself, which they needed to do in order for the atonement to be accepted and the sins voided - PRIOR to consuming the animal? So, that 'spiritually' the sins are gone and no longer on the animal?
Of course one cannot sin by eating another's sins, but the object of Kaparot being to escape from the consequences of one's sins by performing the ritual, doesn't it stand to reason that those consequences will have to be borne by the person receiving and eating the chicken?