Kaparot
Its tradition on the morning before Yom Kippur to do Kapparot (expiation). Many do it with chickens or money.
Kaparot with Chickens
According to the traditional custom, one takes a white chicken – a rooster for a man, a hen for a woman, and at least one of each gender bird for a pregnant woman. During the ritual the bird is swung three (3) cycles over the head. The bird is then ritually slaughtered, and the blood of the animal is covered over with dirt as a solemn and rare mitzvah using the brachia (“Baruch... al kisui madam be'afar”). Covered over as a sign of respect, commanded by Torah. (Leviticus 17:13)
Kaparot with Money
As people began to centrally urbanize, it became much less possible for many communities to sustain this tradition with chickens; getting so many live and appropriate birds was not always possible. And furthermore, rushing to perform so many of these kosher slaughters before the holiday often left a lot of problems with improper attention being paid to shechitah – to proper kosher slaughtering practices. For this reason many communities began to use money in place of the birds. Money which could be given to the poor to fulfill this mitzvah.
1) Take $18, $36, $54 or some numerical equivalent of Chai, according to your means and hold it in your right hand.
2) Recite the following paragraph with fervor.
3) Recite this paragraph. Every time you say the words in red you swing the money in your right hand around your head.
4) Repeat step (2) and (3) two more times.
5) Take the money and put it in the tzedakah box. If you don't have a tzedakah box at home you can donate that amount at www.jewishpines.com/donate
Wishing you a year of blessing and peace and may this substitute be your atonement and may you be sealed in the book of life.
According to the traditional custom, one takes a white chicken – a rooster for a man, a hen for a woman, and at least one of each gender bird for a pregnant woman. During the ritual the bird is swung three (3) cycles over the head. The bird is then ritually slaughtered, and the blood of the animal is covered over with dirt as a solemn and rare mitzvah using the brachia (“Baruch... al kisui madam be'afar”). Covered over as a sign of respect, commanded by Torah. (Leviticus 17:13)
About Kaparot
