Special Report
The Price of Atonement
Thursday, September 9, 2010. An angelic four year old looks up with trepidation: suspended above his head is a screeching, writhing rooster. The child recoils as the bird claws the air inches from his forehead, but his father holds him down and croons: “Let the man bless you, so the bird will carry your sins, and you’ll be written in the book of life.”
The man holds the fowl by its wings and winks mischievously. Though obviously fearful, the child brightens.
“It won’t poop on me?” he whispers, eyeing the blood- and feces-spattered plumage.
The man laughs: “It only poops on bad boys. Are you a bad boy?”
Determined now to prove his innocence, the child stands still as the bird, clasped by its wings, is swung round and round over his head.
“This is my exchange. This is my substitute. This is my atonement: this bird shall die, and I will enter a long, blessed and peaceful life,” the man recites in Hebrew. The child’s eyes are fixed upon his face: his solemn expression, the incomprehensible chant and the bird’s piteous cries imbue the moment with a sense of primal, ancient magic, imprinting a lasting memory.
This religious rite is held on a busy public intersection in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Among throngs of bird-handling practitioners, a small group of animal rights activists chants: “Use money, not chickens!” and “Cruelty to animals is forbidden by the Torah!”
The celebrants of the bird-swinging ceremony had tolerated demonstrations throughout the week, but now that the High Holy Day of Yom Kippur, the sacred Day of Atonement, is mere hours away, the protesters’ presence in their midst is becoming increasingly offensive.
As night falls, the crowd’s mood darkens. “You don’t belong here. Leave us alone!” someone finally bursts out. “Our rabbis and God will determine our customs – not you. Go home, PETA!” another cry follows. Since the animal abuse investigation that led to the closing of the large AgriProcessors kosher slaughterhouse in 2004, and the consequent arrest of the prominent Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin, a deep enmity exists between PETA – the activist organization of People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals – and the Jewish Orthodoxy. With the mention of their name the situation escalates.
“Man-Haters! Anti-Semites!” shouts rise.
“You care about animals more than you do about people!”
A few agitated members of the crowd advance – one adolescent draws alarmingly near to the demonstrators, swinging the shrieking bird as if it were a sling. A woman standing in the front of the group gasps and throws her hands up with alarm as the birds’ talons whirr by her eyes. The policeman monitoring the ceremony rushes forward just as the youngster’s friend pulls him back: “They’re just a bunch of hippies! Ignore them.”
Kapparot – or “compensation,” in Hebrew. Swung by its wings over a person’s head and then slaughtered, the fowl substitutes for the worshiper in bearing God’s judgment. This bizarre, ancient and controversial custom is mentioned nowhere in biblical sources.
Some Jewish scholars dismiss it as a pagan rite, erroneously adopted by the Israelites during their exile in Babylon, a custom that should be abolished. Others speculate that it originated with the ceremonial “scapegoat” used in the high temple, and following the temple’s destruction in 970 BC and the decentralization of Judaism, transformed into a personal ritual in which the goat was replaced by a chicken, a more common and affordable household animal. The custom was passed through the generations, taking root particularly with the persecuted Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, where preserving tradition was akin to survival.
Having survived the centuries, Kapparot are widely accepted today, though the interpretation of the rite has changed: Chabad members clarify that the ceremony is not meant to literally transfer guilt to the fowl, but rather to instill awe. Rabbi Shea Hecht, head of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education and a central organizer of Kapparot in Brooklyn, New York, explains that it’s the slaughter which delivers the actual spiritual impact: at the sight of the blood rushing from the bird’s gashed neck, the spectator instinctively acknowledges that he, too, is mere flesh and blood, as vulnerable and as helpless at the mercy of God.
According to The Code of the Ritual on the Chabad website, when using a fowl for Kapparot, it should be healthy and whole. It must be treated humanely, as to not inflict unnecessary suffering upon the animal, which is prohibited by the Torah. After the kosher slaughter – a swift and painless procedure – the meat is traditionally donated to charity, in accordance with Judaism’s condemnation of unnecessary killing or wastefulness. These noble codes were easily adhered to in 19th century Europe, where each village used its own few homegrown chickens. But with the growth of the centralized religious neighborhoods in New York, this last decade marked the transformation of an innocent practice into a lucrative operation of industrial proportions.
Humane?
October 16, 2005: a passerby came across dozens of crates, partially hidden by a plastic cover, in an empty lot on Coney Island Avenue, containing hundreds of chickens abandoned without food, water, or proper shelter, dozens of which had drowned in the rain.
September 2006: 750 parched chickens were found in tightly-packed crates, slowly dying in the heat of an empty garage. All over Brooklyn similar cases of neglect and abuse were reported during the last five years: Who by fire, who by water, who in the sunshine, who by night time. The recurring instances of leftover chickens, abandoned after services of Yom Kippur were completed, drew PETA’s attention. In July 2007, a month before the Jewish High Holidays, PETA investigator Philip Schein sent a formal complaint to the Commissioner of New York’s City Department of Health, Thomas R. Frieden, addressed also to Rabbi Weiss, Head of Brooklyn’s Kosher Law enforcement division, reporting numerous health violations and animal abuse cases during, as well as after, the Kapparot rituals of 2005-2006. Footage from a hidden camera was attached.
“Thousands of chickens are poorly kept and roughly handled in the ceremony, then sacrificed in a makeshift slaughter area on a central public street… these massive slaughters have been taking place without any regulation or enforcement,” the document opens. The footage reveals a grim sight: the chicken crates are stacked high one on top each other, and the tightly-packed birds, some already dead and decomposing, are soaked with excrement from the crates above. The untrained staff and volunteers handling the birds, as well as the practitioners holding them, are not wearing gloves. The video shows enormous volumes and a frantic pace of slaughter, due to which birds whose throats were only partially slit are hastily stuffed into garbage bags to suffocate along with the dead. The knee-high piles of carcasses were periodically stuffed into garbage bags, and only after hours in the sun were loaded onto the van which hauled them to a processing factory upstate.
“The projected lapse of time between slaughter and processing, in which the meat went unrefrigerated,” the document remarks, “is alarming.”
Rotting carcasses, swarming with flies, littered the street for days after the event.
Problems surrounding the modernized rite of Kapparot have been pointed out from within the religious community for years. KIS –the Kashrus Information Service – has repeatedly issued public warnings of health, kashrus and moral violations regarding certain Kapparot sites since 2004, caused by the lack of any formal supervision. KIS strongly suggested that like any other Jewish food establishment, the slaughter should be overseen by a “Mashgiach,” a kosher supervisor. But Kapparot are a traditional rite, not a food establishment per se. The event’s organizers have no formal responsibility over the quality of the meat they donate: the responsibility lies solely upon the establishment that serves it. For this reason, many charities – such as Tomchai Shabbos of Borough Park, an institution which regularly distributes food to the needy – flatly refuse meat from Kapparot.
“The mass-production nature of the modern-day Kapparot may explain the laxity regarding animal abuse and wastefulness, but it does not justify it… This could lead, god forbid, to a desecration of the name of God,” the religious newspaper Hamodia printed in 2007, in response to PETA’s report.
Following the religious elite’s wave of outrage, an emergency committee of leading rabbis, headed by Rabbi Weiss, Head of Brooklyn’s Kosher Law enforcement division, convened to discuss the issue. They concluded the problem was generated by renegade Kapparot operators, who answered to no one. They then proceeded to draw general health and animal care guidelines to improve the situation.
2008, however, was much of the same. The largest Kapparot event that year, involving approximately 30,000 chickens, was the one held by Rabbi Shea Hecht of the NCFJE (the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education), on the busy intersection of Kensington Street and Ocean Parkway: hardly a renegade. In 2008’s complaint, calling for a consumer fraud investigation, PETA’s footage once again portrayed the crates crammed with chickens, after days without proper food, water or shelter – many of the birds were already dead. PETA mentioned that based on Rabbi Hecht’s own assessment, two-thirds of the chickens died before they could be swung or slaughtered. New birds were secretly purchased, slaughtered and donated in their stead.
Over the last five years, a total of roughly $1.5 million was spent on abusing hundreds of thousands of chickens for obscure religious reasons. Most of these birds die from neglect before filling their simple sacramental purpose; those who do survive are slaughtered in horrifically unhygienic conditions, only to be regretfully declined by those who truly need the food.
Thursday, September 9, 2010: Though many animal abuse issues still stand, most Kapparot locations have improved their standards of sanitation, generally bringing the ceremony within city health standards. Following growing accusations of religious targeting, PETA was forced to withdraw. Despite common misconception, the 2010 demonstrations have nothing to do with PETA. The protests were orchestrated by a new group, comprised largely of Jews, many of them Orthodox, whose agenda is clearly stated in their title: “End the Use of Chickens As Kapparot.”
“We are joining the call of dozens of leading rabbis who deplore the cruelty of the ritual and advocate using money instead of live birds for atonement,” states Karen Davis, the CEO of the movement. She mentions Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head rabbi of the of Israeli town of Beit El, who declared that “causing such suffering to God’s creatures is contradictory to the spirit of Judaism, particularly when seeking atonement from the same God.”
Rina Deych, a Jewish nurse and an animal rights activist living in a religious neighborhood of Brooklyn, mentions: “We are often asked: ‘how can you know that the birds suffer?’ For many of the ultra-Orthodox, who largely distance themselves from animals for religious reasons, this is an honest question.”
Rina was the woman standing at the front of the demonstration on Thursday. “The moment that young man swung a bird at me was one of the worst of my life,” she recalls, “not because I feared he would actually strike me, but because It was clear that he was tormenting a living creature – tearing its tendons, splintering its bones – just to tease me.”
Despite the event, Rina believes this attitude doesn’t reflect upon the wider religious community, and that her cause is achievable: “I went from synagogue to synagogue telling rabbis about my grandfather, Joseph Levine, who was one of the first kosher butchers in Borough Park, known for treating both people and stray animals with great care. When I was a child, I asked him: ‘Saba, you love animals. How can you sell their flesh for a living?’ He answered: ‘Animals must die, since people eat meat – but I know at least the kosher slaughter is swift and merciful. They feel nothing.’ Years after he retired he visited an industrialized kosher slaughterhouse: when he came home, he was crying. ‘This is not how it should be,’ was all he said. From that day on he never ate meat again.”
Rina believes that her story had an impact: on her way back home she noticed the crates in the synagogue courtyard were empty. The birds had been transferred to a shaded pen, with food and water, where they could roam freely.
It’s a small victory, but an atonement nonetheless.
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Great article. I love how Hamodia concern was that the animal abuse could lead to a Chilul Hashem. What about the animal abuse itself!?
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I concur, great article.
The concept of Chilul Hashem is one that has always perplexed me: if there is a god, how can anyone possibly desecrate his name, let alone affect him with our actions in any other way?
Also, whenever someone says “Chilul Hashem,” in my experience, it is always a response to how the action in question looks to outsiders. They may say that god says action X is wrong, but they only say that when it becomes public. Child sexual abuse, wife-beating, animal abuse, tax fraud… Those who cry “Chilul Hashem” don’t mention these sins as being a problem until the Goyim see it.
I could be wrong. But even if I am, I still feel that how it affects the person (or animal) is more important than how it makes god look.
Is it wrong to neglect animals, or not? If the answer is yes, then just say so, and don’t connect it to any god.
Oh, who am I kidding? That is probably too much to ask of a true believer, even one who is a paragon of kindness…
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Kapporos can ALSO be accomplished with money. If that weren’t sanctioned, it wouldn’t be in the siddurim (all of them). If you don’t want to slaughter (or cause to have slaughtered) an “innocent” chicken, then don’t do it. You’re not required to. There are halachically acceptable alternatives.
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avrohom:
Yay.
That does not excuse the tens of thousands of people who do use chickens.
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Those who maintain the practice do not need an excuse, nor to they need to be excused. Neither should they feel guilty about performing something which is a long, long standing practice – however it came into our mesora. You either accept it as it is or not as the case may be. But, you simply don’t make a blanket condemnation of the people who’ve chosen to maintain a practice that dates back thousands of years because you yourself do not accept it, for what ever reason. I’ve opted for the alternate a) because it is “legally” available and b) because it is my preference. No need to get into all the internal politics and BS which, like a deadly cancer, seems to be engulfing us at exponential rates. You still have free choice. Exercise it – without guilt or shame, reservation or doubt.
Having said that, I still eat chicken on a regular basis and have not a shred of reluctance to do so.
NOW, the question of how we educate our children, how and why we pass along our customs and traditions and beliefs – well, that’s an andere meise, yes?
Many on this forum have made the decision to leave “it” all behind. That’s a personal decision and one perfectly valid to make if it’s appropriate for you. Others, who were not FFB (in any flavor) grapple with these issues every day. Some accept it lock, stock and barrel – others find ways of adaptation – still others give it up. In the end, you learn to live with your decisions – and if you can’t, you change them.
Off the soap box now. (And have an easy fast!)
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How many of you have problem with lobsters and crabs boiled alive in all the fancy American resturants? Just wondering.
Not that long ago those in Europe so concerned about animal rights even banning Jewish slaughter apparently had no qualms with 6 million humans being gassed.
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avrohom:
It appears to me that you missed the point. The point is that the performers of this barbaric custom make the chickens suffer. Read the article again.
“…crates crammed with chickens, after days without proper food, water or shelter – many of the birds were already dead… tightly packed birds, some already dead and decomposing, are soaked with excrement from the crates above… Most of these birds die from neglect before filling their simple sacramental purpose; those who do survive are slaughtered in horrifically unhygienic conditions, only to be regretfully declined by those who truly need the food.”
Avrohom, why do you make the point in your comment that “I still eat chicken on a regular basis and have not a shred of reluctance to do so.” No one cares if your a vegetarian or not. This is not a discussion of the morality of eating meat. This is a discussion of the barbaric treatment of and unhygenic treatment of, chickens, by those who perform Kapores with chicken.
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As president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA), I read this article with interest I agree with Israeli Rabbi Shlomo Aviner’s statement that we should err on the side of treating animals kindly and use the charity alternative, thereby preventing this request for mercy from becoming an act of cruelty. Using and donating money for the kapparot ritual rather than using chickens is consistent with our mission to be “rachmanim b’nei rachmanim” (compassionate children of compassionate ancestors) and with the Torah mitzvah of tsa’ar ba’alei chaim (the prohibition against causing unnecessary harm to animals). It is also consistent with the Jewish teachings that “God’s compassion is over all of His works” (Psalms 145:9) and “the righteous person considers the life of his animals” (Proverbs 12:10).
In addition, substituting money for chickens supports the urgent need to make dietary changes at a time when the production and consumption of meat and other animal products is causing an epidemic of diseases in the Jewish community and contributing substantially to climate change and many environmental problems that threaten all of humanity. Animal-based diets are arguably inconsistent with Jewish mandates to preserve our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources and help hungry people.
My article on kaparos and other articles on Jewish teachings about the proper treatment of animmals is in the animals section at JewishVeg.com/schwartz.
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Joel: I agree (as does PETA) that the barbaric treatment of animals in restaurants is awful.
You say:
“Not that long ago those in Europe so concerned about animal rights even banning Jewish slaughter apparently had no qualms with 6 million humans being gassed.” How is one a cause of the other? Please, explain. I’m familiar with the teaching that “those who love animals will eventually kill people.” There is no logical train of thought to direct that one is linked to the other.
I will propound similar teachings:
“Do not have a mustache,because Hitler and Stalin did, and they killed people.”
“Those who love Music, will kill people, because there are countless examples of lovers of Music killing people throughout history.”
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Justin: History showed us those who preached animal rights loudest had the least regard for human life, PETA is no different it that regard if you follow this group closely. Those “open minded” Jews who are out there against shchita or kapores I bet you may find them here & there with a lobster and they won’t bother to figure out with what “humane” methud the burger they eat was slaugtered. In short there’s something else behind the agenda.
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Joel: Cite me examples in history aside from the one you mentioned of early 20th century Germany.
And Re that example, I don’t see how you see a link. Those Germans, and were great lovers of classical music and shnitzel in addition to being opposed to animal inhumanity.
Should we condemn classical music and Shnitzel because those Germans later murdered 6 million people?
Also, Joel, whats your point anyway? That we shouldn’t care about animal inhumanity? That if we care about animals suffering we will end up killing people?
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You know what the saddest thing is? Rarely does anyone outside the faith take such a heated interest in Jewish Customs- ( aside from a small article here and there..and a handful of protesters )But its the Jew himself ( usually those that are no longer religious) that seems to have the biggest problems with these customs. Once again – I find that this custom, like many others, gives those who protest much , just another chance to ( pardon my laguage) b*tch about something they no longer care to do.
As a poster above mentioned- you dont like it- don’t do it – there are other options.
There are a million issues in the world that need our attention. ( Hunger in Africa, World Peace, The Obama Administration, Terrorism, The Economy, Cruelty to gays, straights, religions, and everything in between , etc.so…feel free to get equelly heated about one of those and let those that practice a religious custom practice religious customs….
Nicely written article.
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Justin-
As one of our most senior politicians is wont to say, “Let me be clear.” In mentioning my preference for the “alternate” method of kaporos, I was suggesting that I, too, did not approve of the manner in which the chickens are often (but not always) treated prior to slaughter. Since much of this discussion seems to invoke PETA, my comment about what I eat was, similarly, a way to separate two unrelated issues. So, it is not a question of my eating the flesh of dead animals or dead vegetables per se – that was for clarification. OK?
As to the rest of this entire discussion, the fact remains that one will find all manner of abuse and corruption (see my reference to “cancer”) in practically every aspect of life, not merely the customs and practices of religious Jews. At a certain point, assuming you are still within the reshus rather than beyond it, as I mentioned, since there are oftentimes options, a/k/a choice, then choose to do what you feel comfortable with within those options. All the screaming in the world about injustice does not change a thing – never has, never will. One is far more effective by working quietly behind the scene to effect change. Irrespective of the validity of their philosophy and “belief system”, PETA’s confrontational activities only serve to inflame people, to make them even more defensive and intransigent – which, in the long run, accomplishes nothing positive.
For your information, I have lived in other parts of the US (not just NY/Monsey/Lakevoood/Skvare, etc.) and have experienced the kaporos chickens being treated quite normally, humanely you might say. The abuses are well known and well documented – go and work for the appropriate treatment of chickens destined for the shochet’s knife Erev Yom Kippur.
Or, better yet, apply the most basic rule of capitalism to the problem. A business can not survive without customers to buy your goods and services. If you want to stay in business (i.e.employ people, make a profit, etc.) you alter your business practices accordingly. You also educate people (see “training our children” in my last post). Etc., ad nauseam. If you disapprove, then change the business model – by education and persuasion – not by “shouting fire in a crowded theater.”
Please, no polemics. If you scream at me, you lose me and any chance of convincing me of your opinion, even if I agree with you in whole or in part.
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“you simply don’t make a blanket condemnation of the people who’ve chosen to maintain a practice…”
Um. I don’t? That’s funny, because I actually just did. Twice. So I guess I do.
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“Please, no polemics. If you scream at me, you lose me and any chance of convincing me of your opinion”
Uh huh. Indeed. You, avrohom, may want to remember that.
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Chezzy, I remember that all the time. I just find it useful to put a little perspective on things when people become inflammatory, which is all my comments here are about if you will please read them carefully. In any event, I’m not screaming, actually.
And, also, when you quote me (or anyone else), quote me (…) completely. Selective redaction does tend to change the meaning of things, yes?
PS – We had tuna salad, cooked carrots and lemonade for dinner. Do you how they shecht fish when they catch them? They let them flop around until they suffocate to death. How humane is that, I wonder? No sliced corotid artery for Charlie the Tuna (with or without good taste, that is…)
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“In any event, I’m not screaming, actually.”
Oh, I see. But wait a second… Justin wasn’t screaming either. So, what is it — selective tonal acuity or something?
Same for being “polemical.” So next time you get the urge to call anyone out, just keep a mirror handy, will ya?
“when you quote me (or anyone else), quote me (…) completely.”
Sheesh. So demanding. We Chasidim like when people say “please.”
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Oh, and this!
“which is all my comments here are about if you will please read them carefully.”
I, in fact, am quite content NOT to read them very carefully, seeing as they seem pretty asinine at a cursory glance. But thanks. Really.
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They seem that way to you precisely because you DIDN’T read them carefully – and in so doing, you made my point perfectly.
It’s erev Yom Kippur now – have an easy fast.
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The article is clearly anti-jewish. there’s no attempt at cover up, so everyone whose arguing on either side, know this: the author doesn’t care, he was just trying to spit on a religion he’s apparently turned his back on. no need to agree or disagree let him wallow in his self hate and pity alone.
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She. Fool.
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You can tell the idiots by their constant PETA references. PETA is bad. PETA is against animal cruelty. Anyone who is against animal cruelty is PETA and is bad. Now shut up about the substantive issued, you self-hating Jew.
If that’s the kind of logic “learning” gives you thank the Fuzzy Beasties Who Live Upstairs I got away without much of it.
The way it’s done is a disgrace. By “disgrace” I don’t mean “The goyim might notice.” I mean something worth being ashamed of. The times I’ve seen it done the chickens were crammed into tiny cages stacked on top of each other without food or water. The birds further down were covered in crap. Many were already dead. There was blood and shit everywhere.
And why do we do it? It’s not a Jewish animal sacrifice. It’s a pagan religious observance we adopted. Even the Shulan Aruch recommends against it.
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The Nazis presumably took showers and brushed their teeth. One would assume they copulated for the purpose of reproduction as well. Following Joel’s logic, none of us should respect personal hygiene nor would we reproduce ourselves , as the Nazis did all these things and killed over 6 million people.
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I think people are missing the point with the nazi’s. We are not saying what nazis do is inherently bad, what we are saying is that there is an irony inherent within peta supporters and this irony is best illustrated with the nazis. For example, millions of dollars are poured into pita yearly to help save animals, meanwhile there are children in Africa dying of disease and hunger as you read this. If you want to be a true activists then get your priorities straight and be an activists for humans before being one for animals.
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