Question: Regarding
the custom of Kapparot (swinging a chicken around one's head before Yom Kippur,
symbolically transferring one's sins to the chicken; the chicken is then
slaughtered and given to the poor): large quantities of chickens are often held
for hours, or even days, in tightly packed cages, where they wait without water
or food. They are then removed from the cages and slaughtered. In light of this fact, and the obvious
suffering caused to the chickens, is it not preferable to perform Kapparot with
money?
Answer: The
custom of Kapparot has been rooted among the Nation of Israel for a long time,
and no one has the power to prohibit it.
It is, however, written in the Shulchan Aruch: "The custom that
people have of Kapparah on Erev Yom Kippur, of slaughtering a rooster for each
male and saying verses over it, we should stop this custom" (Shulchan
Aruch, Orach Chaim 605:1 in the name of the Ramban and Rashba), and the Mishnah
Berurah explains (ibid. #1): "because it resembles the ways of the
Emorites" (Darkei Ha-Emori – black magic).
But the Rama writes: "But some of the Geonim mentioned this custom,
many later authorities mentioned it, and people have this custom in all of
these countries, and one may not change it, since it is an ancient custom"
(ibid.). The Rama testifies that people
acted this way in all of the Ashkenazic countries, and the Sefardic Jews did as
well. Furthermore, there is no problem
of "Darkei Ha-Emori" in this custom, as the Mishnah Berurah explains:
"And he thinks that whatever they do to this chicken should have been done
to him, but it is acted out on this chicken, and the early authorities
(Rishonim) explained that it is similar to a sacrifice brought for an
inadvertent sin" (Mishnah Berurah ibid.).
The Chayei Adam, however, already wrote: "And even though some of
the Geonim mentioned this custom, what is ingrained in the heart of the masses
is that all of the atonement of Yom Kippur depends on it, and it is almost as
if Kapparot and eating Matzah are considered of equal weight by them. They think that they will not attain
atonement on Yom Kippur without a rooster, but by acting in this way, they
encounter the prohibition of eating a Neveilah (an animal which died without
proper slaughtering), G-d forbid, since
the chickens push each other in large groups and the slaughterers are awake all
night with grimaced faces and are so tired they do not even feel the knife (to
make certain it is sharp). If people
would listen to me…it is better for them to swing money around their
heads. This in fact was the custom of
the earlier ones who would swing seeds (as the Magen Avraham 81:2 writes in the
name of Rashi). They consider the seeds
to be Tzedakah, and did not stumble in the prohibition of eating Neveilah, G-d
forbid” (Chayei Adam klal 144 #4 and brought in the Mishnah Berurah 605:2 and
Kaf Ha-Chaim #11).
To
summarize: It is better to fulfill the custom of Kapparot with money.
