The Rema on Kapparos

Typically before Yom Kippur, Rav Yosef Karo, the Mechaver, the author of the Shulchan Aruch, is quoted all over the J-blogosphere as objecting to Kapparos. Most of us are Ashkenazim, and it is very important to note the comment of the Rema that immediately follows (Orach Chaim 604):

Some of the Ge'onim wrote about this custom and many of the later authorities also wrote about it. It is also the custom in all of these [the Ashkenazi] countries, and one should not change it because it is a custom and a tikkun.

So, as the Rema writes, it is a venerable custom and the halachic tradition which has come down to most of us approves of it. As far as other common objections are concerned, I have never noticed that the "ze chalifasi" part bothers the chickens very much. The shechita part is like any other chicken shechita: it is over in a second, and it is the same thing that happens to any other kosher-slaughtered chicken.

If you are queasy about witnessing chicken slaughter, as far as I know it is perfectly OK to do Kapparos with money, but too many people are approaching the subject without intellectual integrity. If you are trying to write about it without actually ever having seen it, there is a good chance that you are not describing it accurately. The chicken is not "swung" or "twirled," but rather moved in a fairly sedate circle over the person's head. Then the person who performed the ceremony waits in line to have the shochet shecht the chicken.

That's it. A well-organized public Kapparos is not a spectacle of poor suffering Chickenity, but rather a ceremony that gives humans a chance to combine introspective self-improvement with charitable giving.

Gemar chasimah tova to everybody.

Tags: Kapparos, Rema, Mechaver, Judaism, Yom Kippur

Reader Comments:

Your point is valid.

However, there are other reasons to avoid doing kapporos with chickens, beyond that of the Rashba (because of darkei haemori) that have been expressed by later Ashkenazic authorities, which are applicable in some cases, such as 1) The shochet may be pressured, stay up all night, etc., causing sheila of unkosher slaughtering (if I recall correctly the Chofetz Chaim mentions this concern), 2) Sometimes chickens are reused or are not given to tzedokkoh as promised, 3) questions of tzaar baalei chaim when the chickens may be mistreated.

These problems may be more prevalent today, when it is often done in a large city environment, than in the small shtetl of years ago.

So the bottom line is, that those who eschew chickens and instead just do it with currency, have on what to rely.
anonymous | 10.01.06 - 7:47 am | #

Since you mention Darchei Ha'emori--the idea that the ceremony will appeal to people as an occult practice--that seems to me to be the least of anyone's worries nowadays.

As far as your other reasons are concerned, I said "well organized."
Big cities also make choices available.
Yitzchak Goodman | Homepage | 10.01.06 - 9:53 am | #

" Since you mention Darchei Ha'emori--the idea that the ceremony will appeal to people as an occult practice--that seems to me to be the least of anyone's worries nowadays."

If something is derived from that it is problematic, despite not living among Emori today.

Re 'well-organized' - the fact is that many are not done too well, outside the ivory tower.
anonymous | 10.01.06 - 1:43 pm | #

If something is derived from that it is problematic, despite not living among Emori today.

The idea comes up that insisting on a white chicken is darchei ha'emori. (See the Nosei Keilim.) That seems to imply that otherwise the custom is fine.

the fact is that many are not done too well, outside the ivory tower.

That's true of a lot of things. Be selective. Gut gebentched yahr.
Yitzchak Goodman | Homepage | 10.01.06 - 4:31 pm | #