[Avodah] Kaparos? For PETA's Sake!

[Shoshana L. Boublil]

> From: "Prof. Levine" <llevine at stevens.edu>
> Subject: [Avodah] Kapparos? For PETA?s Sake!

> IMO, there is no question that what is going on
> in with this practice in many places is, to put
> it mildly, problematic. Someone wrote to me
> saying that he saw 20 cases of chickens that were
> left in front of a yeshiva over Yom Kippur last
> year all filled with dead chickens. They had died
> as a result of not being fed and the elements.

This is truly horrifying, and it makes it clear why the issue of chickens as 
kapparot, at least in the States is problematic.

Here in Israel, my in-laws use chickens, but in a very different manner.

Several days before Yom Kippur, the chickens are chosen for them at the 
Shochet's factory, after saying kapparot for the whole family, the Shochet 
takes care of them, like any other chicken for consumption.  Several of the 
chickens are sent to local yeshivot and the others go home for consumption, 
for Erev Yom Kippur.

I haven't checked the origin of the custom, but it's at least generations 
old.

Shoshana L. Boublil