Money for the Merciful

With Yom Kippur just around the corner, we’d like to urge all our Jewish readers to speak out against the killing of chickens for kapporos.

Kapporos is a sacrificial ritual that takes place on the eve of Yom Kippur. This ritual is sometimes performed by swinging a live chicken around the head three times and then slaughtering the terrified, abused bird. In Brooklyn alone, 50,000 chickens are killed every year during kapporos ceremonies.

Rabbi Joseph Karo, who composed the Shulchan Aruch (an important codification of Jewish law), wrote that killing an animal for kapporos is “a foolish custom.”

Using money instead of live chickens to perform the kapporos ritual is an acceptable substitute for outdated chicken sacrifices, which all compassionate Jews should condemn.

After all, you can’t expect forgiveness and mercy when you have blood on your hands.

Written by Shawna Flavell