[Avodah] Kaparos? For PETA’s Sake!

[Micha Berger]

The practice of kapparos is condemned by the mechabeir (OCh 605:1),
and the Rama's defense seems to center around the need and value of
old minhagim. The SA's condemnation is notable since the Ari supported
shlugging kaparos, and associated it with Yeshaiah 1:18 "im yihyu
chata'eikhem kashanim, kasheleg yalbinu", therefore recommending a
white rooster/chicken.

In the 1565 Venice edition, the mekhabeir calls it a "minhag shel
shetus". (Information via the On the Main Line blog.)

Kapparos raises questions of shechutei chutz -- how is it not a qorban?
The Ramban describes the kaparah of qorbanos in that the maqriv realizes
that the animal's fate should have been theirs. Doesn't that sound like
"zu khalifasi"? And if one manages to explain how the chicken is not a
qorban, how does one avoid derekh emori?

In the US, many families were forced to switch to giving tzedaqah as
qaparos. Since the Rama's defense is based on the value of preserving
mihag, I wonder if it is appropriate for those of us for whom the minhag
was perforce interrupted to restore it.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             A wise man is careful during the Purim banquet
micha at aishdas.org        about things most people don't watch even on
http://www.aishdas.org   Yom Kippur.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rabbi Israel Salanter