What is Kaporos?

Since late Talmudic times, it has been a widespread Jewish custom to perform kaparot in preparation for Yom Kippur. Kaparot (also spelled kapparot or kaporos) literally means “atonements,” just as Yom Kippur means “the Day of Atonement.”

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Kaparot consists of carefully (see instructions below) passing a chicken over one’s head three times while reciting the appropriate text. The chicken is then slaughtered in a humane fashion in accordance with the laws of kashrut. The chicken itself is discreetly donated to a charitable cause, such as a yeshiva or orphanage, where it is eaten just as any other chicken. Alternatively, the chicken is sold and its value donated.

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We ask of G‑d that if we were destined to be the recipients of harsh decrees in the new year, may they be transferred to this chicken in the merit of this mitzvah of charity.

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It is important to keep in mind that the chicken is not an offering. Neither does performance of the ceremony alone atone for one’s sins. However, the ceremony does shake one up a little.

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This is especially true today, when we rarely come face-to-face with the slaughter of animals to fill our tables. Holding a chicken and then seeing it slaughtered, contemplating that “there but for the grace of G‑d go I,” can have a profound effect on one’s attitude going into the day of Yom Kippur.

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It also provides a valuable perspective on our position of privilege in G‑d’s world. Animals lived and died in order for us to live. It behooves us to live altruistically, honestly, devoutly and wisely, as only humans can.