The NY State Court of Appeals on Wednesday unanimously dismissed a lawsuit by activists against Orthodox Jews using chickens for Kapparos.
The decision upheld previous lower court rulings against ordering the NYPD and NYC Health Department to crack down on Kapparos.
As YWN previously reported, a group called “The Alliance to End Chickens as Koporos” took its case against New York City to the state Court of Appeals.
In court papers, the alliance said 60,000 chickens are trucked into residential neighborhoods in Brooklyn for the three-day event. The advocates say the birds are “stacked in crates and left on the street for days, without food or water, in the elements, waiting for their death, as they will be sacrificed in the ritual.”
[WATCH: Animal Rights Activists Storm Williamsburg Kapparos Center]
The advocates say makeshift slaughterhouses are erected in the streets. They say Kaporos leaves dead chickens, blood, feathers, toxins, bird waste and an unbearable stench.
Following their loss today, the “Alliance” release the following statement:
It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you all that the Court of Appeals has affirmed the lower courts’ decisions. While we lost this battle, WE ARE NOT DONE HERE; this is not over from the legal angel. We have an amazing legal team and are exploring further options. Stay tuned. With Constance Nora Joe Murray and Brad Landau.
The following video is at the high court a few weeks ago when the case was presented:
(Charles Gross – YWN)
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7 Responses
Great. Now people can go on torturing animals. I’m sure the R”SO will be pleased.
Oh, and let’s not forget the chillul hashem.
Keep up the god work.
MAYBE THEY SHOULD CAMPAIGN AGAINST PEOPLE BUYING GUNS AND RITUALLY SLAUGHTERING PEOPLE
WE ARE NOT DONE HERE; Now you need to book yourself a trip to China, especially around the time of the midsummer solstice, and see how they have dogs in crates, stacked high and thrown down from great heights, and dare I mention to also see them cooking alive animals.
The protesters, misguided as they may be, are inadvertently fulfilling a mitzvah min-haTorah to prevent cruelty to animals (Kitzur 191 – אָסוּר מִן הַתּוֹרָה לְצַעֵר כָּל בַּעַל חָי. וְאַדְּרַבָּא, חַיָב לְהַצִּיל כָּל בַּעַל חַי מִצַּעַר, אֲפִלּוּ שֶׁל הֶפְקֵר, וַאֲפִלּוּ שֶׁל נָכְרִי). Furthermore, the only heter to kill (or cause discomfort to) an animal is in case there is a need for the animal (שֶׁצָּרִיךְ הָאָדָם לָהֶם לִרְפוּאָה אוֹ לִשְׁאָר דָּבָר, מֻתָּר אֲפִלּוּ לְהָרְגָן). Kapporos certainly constitutes a valid ‘need’. There is no ‘need’ to confine the animal for days in unsanitary and inhumane conditions. Anyone buying into this is being makayem a ‘minhag’ through an issure D’Oraisa, which seems to defeat the purpose of the exercise.
“WE ARE NOT DONE HERE; this is not over from the legal angel. We have an amazing legal team and are exploring further options.”
Legal angel???? Which angel is the legal angel? What’s that angel’s name?
A legal “angel” can mean a deep-pocketed supporter who provides funding to hire “public interest” lawyers to litiate for these “social causes” but prefers to remain anonymous. In this case however, I think the plaintiffs simply don’t know how to spell “angle” (aka perspective).
Intensively confining chickens in crates for up to several days with no food, water or protection from the oppressive heat is cruel, isn’t it? This and last year, I saw countless dead chickens in the crates with live chickens. They died of hunger, thirst, illness or exposure before they were even used in the ritual. This year, we found chickens who were still alive who had been stuffed into garbage bags after their throats were sliced. Kaporos with chickens cannot be done humanely on an industrial scale, as it is done today. If we were living in shetls in Poland at the turn of the century and were using chickens in our backyards, then no one would be protesting.