Kapparot
Jewish atonement ritual using chickens or money.
Kapparot is a Jewish atonement ritual performed on the eve of Yom Kippur, involving the waving of either money or a chicken over a person's head. The practice is intended to symbolically transfer one's sins to the item, which is then donated to charity. It has been a subject of both historical support and modern controversy.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Atonement ritual
- Observed by
- Jews
- Date
- Eve of Yom Kippur
- Variants
- Chicken (rooster/hen) or money
- Key supporter
- Moses Isserles
- Key opponent
- Joseph Karo
Facts from the source article.
Practice
On the afternoon before Yom Kippur, a person prepares an item to be donated to the poor for the pre-Yom Kippur meal, recites two biblical passages, and swings the donation over the head three times while reciting a short prayer three times. In one variant, a live rooster is used for men and a hen for women; the prayer expresses hope that harsh divine decrees be transferred to the bird. After the ritual, the chicken is slaughtered according to kosher laws and given to charity. Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov taught that the chickens are not a source of atonement themselves but serve to raise awareness of one's sins, motivating repentance. In another variant, a bag of money is swung and then donated to charity.
Historical controversy
The ritual was approved by Asher ben Jehiel and his son Jacob ben Asher, and supported by Kabbalists such as Isaiah Horowitz and Isaac Luria, who recommended a white rooster. The Mishnah Berurah agreed with Isserles, though it supported using money instead of a chicken if slaughter might be problematic. Yaakov Chaim Sofer later approved the custom for Sephardi Jews as well.
Animal cruelty controversy
Some Jews oppose using chickens for kapparot based on tza'ar ba'alei chayim, the principle against cruelty to animals. PETA claims over two-thirds of slaughtered birds are thrown in the trash, while organizers say they donate the chickens to feed the poor. In 2005, caged chickens were abandoned in rainy weather in Brooklyn, New York, and some were rescued by the ASPCA; Jacob Kalish was charged with animal cruelty for the drowning deaths of 35 chickens. Jewish animal rights groups have picketed public observances in Israel. Proponents in the United States argue the practice is protected by freedom of religion, citing the 1993 Supreme Court decision in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, which upheld ritual animal sacrifice for Santería adherents.
More in Animal Festival Or Ritual
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced