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Rockland County Health Officials Again Monitoring Kapparot Ritual Site

By Howard M. Friedman

The Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur begins Sunday evening. Again this year, the Rockland County (NY) Health Department is giving close attention to the site where Orthodox Jews are carrying out the pre-Yom Kippur ritual of kapparot-- the symbolic passing off of sins by circling a live chicken above one's head three times. The chicken is then slaughtered, and donated for food for the needy. According to today's Lower Huson Valley Journal News, for the third year in a row authorities have found sanitary code violations by Moshe Lefkowitz who is bringing some 11,000 chickens to a site in front of a former drive-in move theater in Rockland County, New York. The tradition of kapparot is controversial, both in terms of its theology and its treatment of animals. Many Orthodox Jews substitute funds equal to the value of the chicken, using that in the ceremony and then donating the funds to charity for the poor. (Background.) [Thanks to Vos Iz Neias? for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on September 22, 2009 (boomark / email).