Last week on Rosh HaShanah, I looked out at the sea of faces in synagogue and declared: “Today, I stand before you, my heart full of joy for having made it to this day. I am not cancer-free, but the medications I’m now taking are gentle, and are controlling the disease.” The congregation erupted: Amen….
On Yom Kippur in Israel, the streets are silent. There are no buses, taxis or even private cars, as drivers respect local custom and keep off the road on Judaism’s holiest day. For bikers in Israel, it’s a holiday of a different kind. While devout Israelis are fasting or praying, secular Israelis take to the…
Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, makeshift chicken coops appear on the streets and sidewalks of Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhoods like Borough Park and Williamsburg, dedicated to the ritual sacrifice of chickens for atonement in a centuries old practice known as kapparot, or kaporos. After campaigning against the practice for years, the Alliance to End Chickens…
After last night’s debate, I feel an unwavering and dramatic need to apologize. For almost the entirety of this election season, I’ve been in a dream-like state of denial. When Trump announced his plans to run, I laughed. When he continued to climb, I made the conscious choice to not engage with him — even say his…
— A Los Angeles federal court judge ordered a preliminary injunction against performing kapparot, an Jewish pre-Yom Kippur ritual in which a chicken is swung by its legs and then slaughtered. U.S. District Judge Andre Birrote Jr. granted the injunction Friday in response to a lawsuit filed late last month on behalf of the Virginia-based United Poultry Concerns…
With Yom Kippur approaching, some might be thinking about how to get right with God. And over time a vast compendium of traditions have built up around the holy day in pursuit of just that. As we gear up for the big fast next Wednesday, here’s a selection of six of those customs, none of…
It’s 5777, and it’s time to change the conversation about Kapparot. Next week, in the day or two before we observe Yom Kippur, we’ll hear about or participate in the long-standing Jewish folk tradition that attracts explosive debate over its use of live chickens: Kapparot, or Kapporos, a ritual practiced by some Jews in which…
— A federal lawsuit filed in Southern California against a local Chabad calls for the halting of kapparot, an annual pre-Yom Kippur ritual in which a chicken is swung from its legs and then slaughtered. The lawsuit filed Sept. 26 in Santa Ana District Court against the Chabad of Irvine and a rabbi who is not…
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