Kapporos - What's the Source?

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 6:15 am

I have to admit, I always found kapporos to be a bit superstitious... transfer your sins to the hen and it will die instead of you...

I've never learned it with the source. Does anyone know how the practice of kapporos started and why?

hila

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 6:23 am

According to my dh - a middle ages Xtian practice
(now to duck the arrows)

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 6:29 am

hila wrote:

According to my dh - a middle ages Xtian practice
(now to duck the arrows)

That's interesting... Does your dh have a source?

Who adapted it to Jewish practice?

hila

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 6:34 am

I will find out.
Why amother ?

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 6:38 am

Amother because I do feel a bit uncomfortable admitting that I find a Jewish ritual I've done all my life superstitious...

trixx

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:03 am

amother wrote:

How is that any different from a korban?

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:05 am

trixx wrote:

How is that any different from a korban?

By a korban, you actually are mechaper... here you still have to go through a whole Yom Kippur to do teshuva, so it obviously doesn't have the same effect as a korban

happybeingamom

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:06 am

If you are not comfortable do it with money to give to tzedoka. It is a just as valid way to do it.

gp2.0

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:12 am

Many of our great rabbanim were against it. The Ramban, the Rashban and R Yosef Karo (who wrote the shulchan aruch) were all opposed to it. However it received support from some other great rabbanim, like the rema.

Rabbanim actively tried to end the practice for many years but the practice was too popular and they were unsuccessful.

https://en.m.wikisource.org/wi.....m/605

I will say that I personally would have no problem with kapparos being done on an individual level. Meaning if I have a farm or my neighbor has a farm with some well kept chickens, and I want to buy and slaughter a chicken from him for Yom tov, I see no harm in first waving the chicken over my head.

However. The mass deportation of chickens to support a community wide practice in the city is despicable. Chickens are transported in cramped conditions and stored stacked on top of one another. They urinate and defecate on each other. They are "fed" by scattering feed over their heads, left to scavenge for whatever food they can find that didn't fall through the mesh of their cages. They are given water by someone spraying a hose on their heads. I don't know about you, but when I'm thirsty it doesn't do much good for someone to spray a hose on my head. They are left outdoors in all kinds of weather - unbearable heat, pouring rain. This year will be chilly, at least we won't have hundreds of chickens dead of heatstroke and dehydration.

The practice as it is done right now is flat out an AVEIRAH and the worst possible way to beg forgiveness from a Creator who wants all his beings treated with care and respect.

The practice nowadays is a scourge on the name of Judaism. My kids are learning about kaparos at school. We will be using their arts n crafts paper plate chickens to wave over our heads in memory of the minhag. But we will under no circumstances support this abominable practice.

happybeingamom

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:16 am

gp2.0 wrote:

I agree with many of your points here in addition since the chickens are mistreated it is very likely they are treifos and can't be given to tzedoka so nothing was accomplished.

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:22 am

happybeingamom wrote:

If you are not comfortable do it with money to give to tzedoka. It is a just as valid way to do it.

I do do it with money now, but I grew up doing chickens, and I never understood it. (Besides for the outright tzaar baal hachaim as gp2.0 said.) Still hoping to gain some clarity...

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:24 am

happybeingamom wrote:

I agree with many of your points here in addition since the chickens are mistreated it is very likely they are treifos and can't be given to tzedoka so nothing was accomplished.

In my community, it was discovered a few years ago that many kapporos centers sent the slaughtered chickens straight to the dump...

gp2.0

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:24 am

It's written in the shulchan aruch. Below is the orach Chaim 605 translated which I linked above:

There is a custom, called 'Kapporos', which is practiced by slaughtering a chicken for every male, and a hen for every female - and many of the great authorities do not rest easy with its practice. The Ramban and Rashba annuled this custom outright because of its superstitious and pagan-like (Heb 'Darkei Ha'Amory') nature, as can be seen in the responsa of the Rashba (495, and see the Beis Yosef as well). Therefore, our teacher the Beis Yosef writes that one should refrain from this practice.

That said, there are also a great many authorities that endorse this custom, and it is even found in the responsa of the Gaonim. Rashi brings their resonsa in Gemara Shabbos (81.2), where he reports that their custom was to use plants for 'Kapporos'. On the day before Rosh Hashana they would circle plants over their heads and say: 'This is my substitute.' (Heb. 'Zeh Chalifasi') (see there). The Tur, however, reports that their custom was with chicken and rams, and it took place on the day before Yom Kippur.

This is the quote of our teacher the Rema:

"There are those among the Gaonim that mention this custom. Also, one can find many later authorities who make mention of it, and we find it practiced throughout our communities. Therefore, one should not change from following it, for it is a custom of old. The current practice is to take a chicken for a male, and a hen for a female. One takes two chickens for a pregnant woman, for perhaps she will bear a male. White chickens should be chosen, as the verse says: 'If your sins are like an old stain, they will be whitened like snow.' These chickens are then distributed to the poor, or their value in money is distributed to the poor. There are locales where they have the custom to visit cemeteries, and to increase in charity, and all of these are fine practices. One should ensure that the slaughter of these chickens happens very soon after their use in 'Kapporos', and one should place his hands on them as one does a sacrifice [in Temple times]. One should dispose of their innards on the roofs or in the courtyards, meaning in a place where the birds will be able to take them away."

Until here is the quote.

Section 4

What in particular did some of the great authorities object to? They objected to the preference for white chickens, which is reminiscent of the practice of pagan worship, whose adherents would also search after white chickens for their rituals, as is seen in the Talmud in chapter 'Lifnei Aydayhen' (14.1). Therefore one should not specifically seek after white chickens, though if one happens upon one he can take it (Magen Avraham, comment 3, and the Bach).

One should not take turtle doves or young doves that would be fitting for a sacrifice (in Temple times), so that one does not give the appearance of offering a sacrifice (see there). In addition, one should not follow the instruction to place the hands on the chicken, for that also gives the appearance of being the sacrificial act of 'Smicha'. Even though chickens can not be offered as a sacrifice this is no worse than saying over meat "this meat for Pesach", which is also forbidden, and so how should we permit this outright (Heb. 'Lechatchila)? Therefore, one should refrain from this (Taz, comment 3).

The innards are thrown to the birds as a show of mercy on the creations, symbolizing that Heaven should likewise show compassion on us. It is written that it is a good practice to arrange for the of the slaughter of the birds in the early morning, which is a time of mercy.

The correct language to recite during Kapparos is 'This is my exchange, this is my double, this my atonement' - which as an acronym is ChaSaCh, in reference to the verse 'who apportions (Heb. 'ChoSeaCh') life to all the living.' The idea is that if death - G-d forbid - had been decreed, this should 'be my double'.

(To my mind it is more appropriate to say 'This is in place of me' instead of the word 'double' (Heb. 'Temurah'), for a "temurah' declaration usually means that both retain their sanctity. (See Gemara Temurah, 26.2.))

The above is regarding the ritual in principle. However, due to our many shortcomings we see now that many of the birds are slaughtered incorrectly due to the large volume of 'Kapporos' and the ensuing pressure. Additionally, the 'Shochtim' (slaughterers) are not able to properly monitor the process due to exhaustion and difficulty, causing many non kosher birds to pass through their hands. They also are not able to inspect the knives properly, and their hands become heavy to them as well.

Due to this, nowadays it is a Mitzvah and an obligation to limit this rather than enter the holy day with all this suspect slaughter. There has already been effort expended in previous generations to annul this practice, though it was not successful because the general populace holds this custom dear, similar to their dearness for the Mitzvah of the Esrog and perhaps even more so. At the very least it should be seen to that the slaughter starts a few days early, and to refrain from slaughter in the early morning, when the hands of the 'Shochet' are heavy.

gp2.0

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:30 am

happybeingamom wrote:

I agree with many of your points here in addition since the chickens are mistreated it is very likely they are treifos and can't be given to tzedoka so nothing was accomplished.

In addition, as my quote above says, when chickens are slaughtered en masse it increases the likelihood of treif chickens because the shochet either doesn't have enough time to inspect each chicken and prepare his knife, or he makes mistakes because he's doing so many for so long that he gets tired.

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:31 am

gp2.0 wrote:

It's written in the shulchan aruch. Below is the orach Chaim 605 translated which I linked above:

Thanks! That was very interesting.

ra_mom

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:36 am

When I was growing up, by grandparents would buy some chickens. We'd all come over and do kaparos in the kitchen or on the porch. Grandma would take good care of the chickens (she grew up on a farm in Lodz). And then she'd take them to the shochet, bring them home and kasher, pluck and clean the chickens for use.
Today, without grandma, things are very different.
My husband is very against the way kaparos are done. I won't even go into the tzar baalei chaim, bal tashchis, and bizayon that goes on all around. No poor people profit from the chickens either.
We've been using money for the past couple of years. Tzedaka tatzil mimaves. Sins are symbolically transferred in the same way referenced to kaparos with chickens.

5mom

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 10:41 am

trixx wrote:

How is that any different from a korban?

Because a korban is a mitzvah in the Torah, reflecting the will of Hashem. This is not.

Even those who do kapparot would never claim it's like a korban. Doing that outside the mikdash violates an issur deoraisa.

yamz

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 6:51 pm

I grew up using money, not chickens and I always found the practice of waving a check over our heads odd anyway. But for those who do use chickens, I always wondered: A pregnant woman uses two chickens -- one hen for her and one rooster in case the fetus is male. But why does the fetus need a kaparah at all? Are we saying that even an unborn child has sin, doesn't that sound awfully Catholic?

bookie

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 8:46 pm

yamz wrote:

I never understood that either