The following letter titled “‘Ritual’ criticisms have little to do with defending chickens” appeared in today’s Journal News. It is protesting the way that the paper reported the story of how a Monsey man was fined for leaving “unsanitary conditions” at his Kapparos center.
Written by Judah Lerer (Monsey resident):
In the early days of Communism, the Soviet government was particularly aggressive in persecuting traditional beliefs. During that period, the Grand Rebbe of Lubavitch was arrested for teaching Torah. One of his guards, a man who was about to administer a beating to the Rebbe said, “Rabbi, I am going to teach you a lesson.” The unfazed Rebbe replied, “We will see who teaches whom a lesson.” Less than 100 years after the incident, secular Soviet Communism exists only in the history books, while the traditional Hasidic community grows exponentially.
Secularists claim to be tolerant, but in reality they constantly, unashamedly and publicly demonstrate intolerance of traditional Western religious beliefs, practices and societies. This intolerance is always hidden away in the pursuit of some other self-defined greater moral good.
Last week, there was a front-page article about fines levied by the county for unsanitary conditions left on Rockland County-owned property following a religious ritual, a ritual that involved chickens. (“Monsey group fined for mess after chicken ritual,” Jan. 17 article.) As someone who is a longtime pet owner, and a former member of the Sierra Club, I have a pretty good pedigree on issues of sensitivity to animals and environmental concern, and I find it astounding and offensive that this story made it to the front page of this paper.
Talk show host Bill O’Reilly frequently defends his traditional Christian beliefs against what he describes as an assault by “secular progressives” and I feel his moral outrage. The Journal News article about the chicken ritual could have been written with complete accuracy and with a completely different message as follows: A local man, who suffers from a severe physical disability (he is blind), has been fined by a government agency while he attempted to provide a service needed by members of the community. Over the past few years this man has successfully implemented changes to this ritual in an attempt to comply with the requests of local officials, and vows to continue improving the much needed operation. (XXXXX XXXXXX, who organized the kapparot ceremony, was fined $3,000. – Editor)
In my youth, the face and loud voice of the secular progressives was Congresswoman Bella Abzug, the late Democrat who represented Manhattan and the Bronx. In her zeal to promote her own progressive agenda, she created an environment that put her at odds with her own party, and usually cost 20 to 30 votes on any bill that she sponsored, rendering her far less effective than long-time liberal Democrat Bill Ryan whom she had replaced. In effect, she traded effective representation of her district for her personal goal of teaching lessons to those who held more traditional views on American society. Included in this was her assault on traditional Western religious beliefs.
The late Brooklyn-based rabbi, Avigdor Miller, saw Abzug for what she really was: a person who used false premises to attack traditional values. In addressing the topic of Bella Abzug, Rabbi Miller with his usual humor said the following: “she should peel potatoes in the kitchen of (Brooklyn Yeshiva) Torah Vodaas.” Rabbi Miller is still known to be one of the most influential people in the American Orthodox community; as his hundreds of taped lectures are listened to with regularity, and his books are still being published. Had Abzug taken Rabbi Miller humorous advice, she would be fondly remembered and discussed by the hundreds of boys who attended Yeshiva Torah Vodaas; instead she is a simply a rarely mentioned fading footnote.
Secular progressivism is alive and well in the cubicles and offices of The Journal News. To its credit, the newspaper has demonstrated a deeper understanding of the unique greater Monsey society that has emerged in the midst of its journalistic territory. Still, the editors and journalists should know that hidden behind the garb of their ancestors of the 1700s, is a progressive Hasidic community that constantly assesses changes to surrounding society; evaluating how best to adjust while not compromising traditional religious practice. It is Abzug-like arrogance for anyone outside of that community to try and teach them a lesson; and I don’t believe that the honest motive here is helping poor defenseless chickens.
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13 Responses
I haven’t visited the Kapparos center in Monsey, so I can’t say anything about the conditions there. It very well may be that the Kapparos center in Monsey treats their chicken well, and that the reports are simply loshon hara.
But I have seen the way Kapparos are handled in other places, and I can say that it is disgusting, a Chillul Hashem, and over the mitzvah of Tzaros Baalei Chayim. Without naming any locations, I’ve seen chicken thrown around recklessly, children kicking them, and beaten-up, barely living treifa Kapparos chickens after numerous tenufos waiting for supposedly “kosher shechita”. People would continue to come and wave, thinking they are doing a big mitzvah, while these chickens are chucked around with no regard for their comfort. I’ve heard a chashuva Rav describe this as a Chillul Hashem, with no sheichos to the original Kapparos enacted by the Sages of the Geonic period.
Again, it very well may be that the Kapparos center in Monsey treats their chicken well, and that the reports are simply loshon hara. But for the writer of this article to quickly dismiss the reports with a wave of the hand and blame it on secularism without considering the actual issue or indicating that this person has investigated the conditions is not Emes-dik.
Furthermore to attribute the attention we get as unfairly disproportionate, well, that’s what the Torah tells us. The Hashkacha on Yidden is not like the other nations. We are 0.2% (1 out of 500 people) of the world population, and nothing about us is proportionate. When we behave properly, the brocha is disproportionate to the other nations, and we behave improperly, the klalah is disproportionate.
I do believe and do whole heartedly agree with #1 and I could not have said it better myself. Yesher Koach.
Warning LONG POST
The biggest issue with the chicken story is the pulse of the public responders to the mess left behind by the individual responsible was reminiscent of the propaganda by the nazis Y’MS.
The bloggers didn’t just attack against the individual who left the mess, instead, they poured out their venom against every aspect of Yiddishkeit. We as a community were verbally attacked – many posts were actually deleted for vulgar terms, and blatant hatred.
We the Yidden of Ramapo were called:
Tax cheats
Welfare fraudsters
Inhuman
Uncaring
Thieves
Irresponsible parents
Breeders and in-breeders
Voodoo practitioners
Cultists
Torturers
Some claim that we are seeking to spread our domination over everyone – similar to the claim in the protocols of the elders of zion.
…
the list goes on…
Essentially we labeled as the worst thing to happen in Rockland County since the Ramapough Indians were displaced.
in the same article in a side-bar, several treif restaurants were cited for insect infestation, unclean kitchens, storing food in an unsafe manner and at unsafe temp. NOT one comment (excluding this being pointed out by a few seemingly Jewish bloggers) regarding these violations that directly impacted consumers. the sal army was storing petroleum in a hazardous manner – no problem for all the bloggers out there.
Interestingly enough, within the next few days, the good and upstanding citizens of Rockland did not castigate the entire community when 1) woman was indicted for giving drugs and booze and (delicately putting it) improper behavior with minors 2) in an unrelated incident booze parties with underage drinkers was reported. I would want to preserve our area from having such criminals in our backyards preying on our children.
Yes, there were posts against the individuals, not against the religious, racial, ethnic class that these people are part of. the (double) standard is simple: by them, it is individuals, when one of ours makes a mistake, we are all indicted,. Worse, than these posts is that there are certain people that post here on YW who believe in their heart of hearts that we (the collective we (excluding themselves)) are the root cause of all the vileness expressed against us and that if only we would be more civilized like them, (the ones who hate is), they would love us. some reject out of hand that eisav hates Yaakov is the reason insisting the descendants of eisav are no longer a factor in our lives because eisav is edom and the roman empire is gone – therefore the children of eisav no longer exist. this contradicts a Gemara. Rabbi Y. Miller in “What’s Wrong With Being Happy?” refers to a Gemara (he didn’t give the location of the Gemara) that mentions what Eisavs children will do when HaShem proclaims “whoever studied Torah let him come for the reward” – this Gemara proves that the descendents of eisav are still here living. The posts in the JN indicate that some of the descendent are living amongst us.
Wishing all my friends out there a wonderful and uplifting Shabbos.
#1. help for the challenged.
I thought Kapparos was a custom. It was instituted by the Sages of the Geonic period???
I don’t understand how we are allowed to do what looks like “chicken sacrifices”. Don’t mean to sound disrespectful. At one time, I used to do Kapparos before Yom Kippur but have since stopped.
While I do agree with Judah Lerer that the secularists R just doing this to hurt religious Jews, there does happen 2B some truth to the accusation. I never saw the kaparos center in Monsey, but in Lakewood E”H where I live, the chickens R treated terribly.
They R brought to the center stuffed into crates. After the ritual is performed, they R stuffed into upside-down traffic cones, often 6 to a cone. The checkens R not slaughtered for a couple of days, during which they R’nt fed, so as not to make a mess when slaughtered. This year, I happened to B walking by a place where the chickens R kept and I saw a lot of them dead, or at least not consious.
I agree with #1 as well. Please look at the Chaya Adam as he describes this practice of using animals for Kapparos. I dont think the Chaya Adam was a liberal. The US Mint’s money is good enough for me (and you dont have to duck your head).
The Jornal News is an antisemitic rag and anything it reports is more likely fiction than fact. If it reported rain, I’d take a look up to verify if true.
That being said, I don’t know who this pet owning Sierra Club member is, but he is correct.
Just because it is a minhag (and NOT a halochoh) is no excuse to make a yard filthy with blood and feathers,and hurt the poor frightened birds. Wave it GENTLY! CLEAN UP THE MESS WHEN FINISHED!
This year the area where the chickens were, was
much better than any year before, the owner
did his best to keep the area as clean as you can
look in the back of any butcher shop and see if it’s any better !!
My family and I use money. Going to the kapara center is trauma.
from the JN: The writer of the below artticle is a peace officer in charge of the law enforcement division of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. it is an interesting read. more interesting is that there was only 1 comment in the jn after it was published:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re Bob Marik’s Jan. 20 letter, “County can’t let it happen again,” questioning the Hudson Valley Humane Society’s position on the Monsey group’s chicken ritual:
I cannot speak for the HVHS as a whole, but only as the peace officer in charge of the humane law enforcement division.
I don’t care for the “ritual.” Aside from those who practice it, I doubt anyone does.
This event was going to take place, and we (our SPCA agents) were not in a position to stop it. We did not endorse or facilitate it, but we did work very hard to make the chickens’ lives better while they were in our jurisdiction. Last year we had a veterinarian come out to assist us in evaluating them and their condition. This year we worked with the county officials and the operators set forth standards of care that provided for clean water, sufficient feed, and shelter from the elements and predators.
We made sure that the birds did not remain in their transport crates, and that all of the live birds which were used in the ritual were removed daily.
We insisted on the constant removal of sick and dead chickens, and quite a few sick ones were taken to a local vet, and not returned to this group but upstate to a farm. (A vet’s office took care of that). We also set forth guidelines for handling the birds humanely. They were not to be swung around in any manner. We were promised that many would be kept in a box.
This year we went there twice a day (three agents were assigned) sometimes more often. We inspected for compliance with the standards. On occasion we did not like what we saw, but there was no delay in addressing our concerns, although at one point I personally posted a “Notice to Comply,” which is a pre-summons/arrest warning. They complied. The Rockland County Health Department’s violations, for the most part, arose from conditions after the live chickens were removed. It probably would have been easier to bring charges. But I had to consider the effect that would have on the lives of the birds. It was not going to stop this from happening.
Until someone stops this practice – and that will not be us – having it on public property gave us unrestricted access to work to make their lives better while in our jurisdiction. I thank the county officials for that. Charging the operators, both we and the police are authorized to do that, would push it “underground” to private property. Then, without a witness informant, we might not be able to obtain a search warrant to allow us to get to them. The birds were better off having this in a place where our access to them was unrestricted. So until it stops, let’s not have it hidden, or cause them to hide it.
Our actions were designed to assist as many animals as we could. I’m willing to listen to reasoned suggestions to make it better. But efforts to stop this must be directed elsewhere. As a law enforcement division, we are not in a position to lobby for that change. But you are.
As the peace officer (in mdlevine’s re-post) wisely admits, Jews do not surrender their minhagim to external threats. This has been our modus operendi from time immorial.
No one internally nor externally will bring about an end to this time honored minhag.
This should all be a K’aparah for all of us…