Comments on: Forest Hills chicken-killin’ report

By: nanook

nanook — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:28:15 +0000

There needs to be a law against this type of thing in a residential neighborhood. Let them go to the slaughter house and perform their religious ceremony. These folks are being extremely inconsiderate of their neighbors and are hiding behind the banner of religious freedom in conducting this fowl practice.

By: foodie

foodie — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:55:05 +0000

It is a horrible and disgusting custom and should not happen in a residential neighborhood. But the politicians & police don’t give a crap, so nothing will be done.

By: Lulu Bee

Lulu Bee — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:23:19 +0000

As a secular Jew, I fast in Yom Kippur.

I live down the block from this Temple. I was repulsed by this ceremony.

I called 311 and ASPCA, all said that the congregation were in their right under “religious” observations. Second, as long as the chickens are cooped “Humanely” they are within their rights. The smell, the sight, the condition…ain’t nothing Humanely about it!

Now, moving on to the fact that after the chickens are killed they are then donated to charity.

Hummm, isn’t that nice, ones sins go forth to an animal only to be ingested by a “poor” person. If say, this ritual works…why on earth would you want someone else to be ingesting your sins. Sounds like the world will always have sinners don’t it!

This is wrong on so many levels, spiritually, physically and emotionally.

By: Jack Freeman

Jack Freeman — Sun, 17 May 2009 06:30:38 +0000

I am a desendant of Georgian Jews…and was interested in finding out more of the history of my family…but really now, this is disturbing on so mayny levels and now I’m not so sure I want to learn more. Of course, it’s highly probable that my ancestry is from a different sect, like maybe the Ashkenazic Jews or some other sect. Using animals in this manner to assuage ones sins is pathetic. If you feels that bad about your humanity…seek pennace in solitude and quiet reflection on the nature of your soul and the grace of God.

By: Chicken Little

Chicken Little — Sun, 17 May 2009 06:22:15 +0000

Stop…those chickens are my relatives….please stop it!!

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:51:08 +0000

The utter nonesense of these replies defending this barbaric and idiotic practice! Kaparot has NOTHING to do with Torah Judiasm. There is NOTHING in the Torah about it. Secondly it is barbaric. You are having UNTRAINED people (children in some cases!) killing these animals. This is horrible, torturous to the animal and it has nothing to do with one’s religion. I am a Jew and I find this practice abhorrent and contrary to my beliefs. Third it is being performed AT NIGHT in a RESIDENTIAL neighborhood IN A PARKING LOT with NO CONCERN to the residents of this neighborhood. This practice must cease immediately. The elected officials of this neighborhood should be UP IN ARMS over this and working furiously to ensure that this not occur again this year!!!

By: Rabbitfriend

Rabbitfriend — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:11:05 +0000

You can talk all about chicken swinging that you want. Check out how the chickens are kept and treated in factory farms. How the chickens are kept in cramped quarters about the size of an 8 by 11 size paper and how their beaks are cut off without anesthesia so they don’t peck each other to death, how the male chicks which have no use to the greedy factory “farmers” put them live in grinders to be ground up and disposed of. All animals that are killed for food suffer torturous pain and anguish as they know their end is coming.

Best not to purchase, swing or eat a chicken.

By: Judy

Judy — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:27:05 +0000

Swingin’ Chickens

i know this is an old thread, but just wanted to point out that the chickens aren’t actually swung above your head like a rubber chicken in a vaudeville act. At least that’s not how I’ve seen it done. The chicken is held above the head in both hands, which has its own drawbacks, but the bird is handled gently. Personally, I do kapparot with money that I then give to charity.

By: joe

joe — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:30:54 +0000

u guys are all ignorant on this subject, and have many mistakes in your arguments.please read and understand the subject which you think you know well before you even attempt to criticize it. the jews are the only religion in the world that doesnt torture animals, we kill them for food , and yes all those kaparot go to poor families which desperately need them. when we kill the animal , we take extreme measures to make sure it does not suffer in the process, tell me one other religion that does this.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:48:27 +0000

Well, respectfully, FHNative, I’m going to have to beg to differ. I’m well aware that the chicken thing is an old practice, but I do have to take issue with your conflation of kaparot with “Torah Judaism”–which I understand is a popular term among Orthodox Jews but which is also a bit of a confrontational term, you have to admit, implying that Conservative, Reform and other Jews have lost touch with Torah, an assertion most of them would likely dispute. You described it as a “custom,” which is entirely accurate–it’s not at all halachic, as evidenced by Yosef Karo’s distaste for it. While it is true that it remains popular among Hasidim, Hasidism itself is a relatively new form of Jewish practice that started as a rebellious movement less than 300 years ago and has its own traditions, which it very well may believe to be closely connected to the spirit of Torah but much of which originated with the Ba’al Shem Tov and his inheritors, rather than being the pure form of Judaism that many, both Jews and non-Jews, mistakenly believe it to be.