The Anti-Kapparot Demo in Jerusalem

We had a PETA-like protest in Jerusalem just before Yom Kippur and I managed to remember belatedly to download these pictures that I took while shopping at Machaneh Yehuda market/shuq.


the motley crew:




and in the back there, the "slaughtering field" of the chickens:

Kapara. Oops.

Religious Rite's Messy Remains Leads To $3000 Fine

MONSEY, N.Y. (AP) ― An organizer has been fined $3,000 for leaving a mess on a suburban county's property after conducting an ancient Jewish ritual that involves slaughtering chickens.

Moshe Lefkowitz told the Rockland County Board of Health Wednesday that the fault lay with his 18-year-old son.

(Note: This is NOT his son)



Some 11,000 live chickens were on hand at the onetime Rockland Drive-In in Monsey for the kapparot ceremony in September. Some Jews conduct the rite ahead of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. Kapparot entails prayer, symbolically casting away sins by swinging a live chicken overhead, slaughtering the birds and giving them or donations to the poor.

Rockland health inspectors said the former drive-in was coated with chicken remains, insects and trash after the ceremony last year.

And this is a bit funny:

Have You Seen My Chicken...?
by Rabbi Simon Jacobson

I lost my chicken the day before Yom Kippur. You may be wondering why that is a problem...

Read on.