Today, Dr. Allan Kornberg, Executive Director for Farm Sanctuary, “the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization”, issued the following statement regarding Kaparos: (Below is the entire unedited text sent to YWN)
“Sadly, some members of the Jewish faith who observe the kapparot ritual still commit animal cruelty during this ceremony by swinging chickens over their heads and then slicing their throats with razors. Those who participate in this form of kapparot believe that their sins will be transferred into the chicken’s body and extinguished along with the bird’s life, but many distinguished rabbis throughout history have argued that treating chickens in this manner violates both kosher food standards and the Torah’s teachings on cultivating compassion for animals. In fact, an Israeli court ruled in 2007 that killing chickens for kapparot violates the country’s animal welfare laws, codifying in modern law what these sages have been saying for centuries.
“To fully grasp the ethical objections to using chickens for kapparot, it is crucial to understand that swinging and slaughtering is not the beginning but merely the end of the birds’ suffering. First, most of these chickens are born and raised in dark, crowded warehouses on factory farms. Then, after being packed tightly together on trucks and driven long distances to large cities, chickens may wait for days in cramped cages before kapparot even begins, often lacking food, water and shelter from inclement weather. Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, has firsthand experience with the traumatic suffering caused by kapparot, having rescued hundreds of chickens from rituals in New York City over the years and lovingly cared for them at our shelter for abused and neglected farm animals in upstate New York.
“Fortunately, celebrating kapparot need not involve animals at all, because Rabbinical law stipulates that there are humane ways to partake of this sacrament. That is, even the most orthodox among us can spare a chicken’s suffering by making a monetary donation to a worthy cause instead of sacrificing a bird, and those wanting to experience an authentic kapparot ceremony can put their material offering in a bag and use it as part of the ritual in the same way they would a live chicken. In contrast to slaughtering innocent animals, practicing kapparot humanely is consistent with the prayers offered up during the high holy days to rachamim (compassion and sensitivity), and is in keeping with the true spirit of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”
About Farm Sanctuary:
Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the “food animal” industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming.
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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10 Responses
Guess this guy never heard of all the korbanos in the bais hamikdosh. Guess what happened to the Sa’ir that got sent to Azazel! 🙂 Never mind all the shechitah!
Sad, sad, sad.
(From someone whose minhag happens to be to do kaparos with money…)
I know a wild life biologist who would catch and tag wild birds for tracking. Before he would let them go, he would turn them upside down and spin them round and round, in order to watch them fly away disoriented! In other words, for his fun!
I think PETA and Farm Sanctuary should do their research better and spend more time attacking McDonalds, and regular farms, who de-beak the chickens so they can be packed in tiny cages and not peck each other to death out of pain that they are living in such tight quarters… Not to Jewish people who actually let chickens grow up as chickens. Days in cramped cages is quite different than LIFETIMES!
I must say, I agree with this guy. Since I was a youngster I have always felt bad for those poor chickens crammed in those cages. We must think of another solution.
swinging? no one swings them, we just hold it until you finish saying a short prayer then you put it over your head and move it arond a bit.
i wonder how chickens are treated at the Perdu farm.
This statement of his is clearly financially motivated! After all, he was the Executive Treasurer of FarmSanctuary last year! What better way to bring in more money to your organization (and give yourself a raise) than to cash in on PETA’s Public attack on Kapparas. I’m sure after his statement lots of bleeding hearts will throw their hard earned money at him. Those poor poor animals!
This is clearly a case of Executive greed for money, not REAL concern for the animals!
Let’s just hope that we’ll be able to have kosher poultry and meat in the USA. In Switzerland shechita is illegal.
what’s wrong with using tzedakah? really if only for the fact that it’s causing such a chilul Hashem, is it not worth it to just use money instead??
To # 10 MichelleNY I think you have your values all miixed up. If it is brought down in Shulchan Aruch that the preffered method of doing Kapporos is with a chicken this is how our fathers did it our grandfathers did it way back through the generations how can you say it is causing a chillul hashem. (My lineage is litvich). Before Yom kippur one has to be very careful what they say. You can do it with money but do not say those doing it with chickens are causing a chillul hashem Our only zechus is Minhag Avoisainoo Beyodainoo Gmar Chasima Tova
hey #11, you forgot the shulchan aruch which says kapparos with chickens is a minhag shtus which should be discontinued b/c of its similarity to avodah zara. But hey, go for it.