Four localities join ban on chicken-swinging Yom Kippur rite

Just ten out of 77 local authorities contacted by an animal rights organization have agreed to ban the practice of using live chickens for the kaparot rite in the run-up to Yom Kippur, which begins on October 1.

The ritual involves reciting prayers while swinging a live chicken around one’s head three times in the belief that this transfers one’s sins to the chicken as a method of spiritual cleansing ahead of the Day of Atonement. The chicken is then slaughtered and its meat is donated to the poor.

Traditionally, money can be used instead of the chicken, which many Jewish groups have encouraged due to concerns of animal cruelty.

The four local authorities that have pledged for the first time not to allow the ceremony within their jurisdictions are Kiryat Bialik near Haifa, the Jezreel Valley Regional Authority in the Lower Galilee, and the Tel Aviv suburbs of Holon and Rishon Lezion.

They join Kfar Saba, Ra’anana, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Petah Tikva, Beersheba and Ashkelon in prohibiting kaparot using live chickens.

Where permitted, the ceremony requires a permit from the council’s veterinarian and a separate permit for slaughtering livestock outside of a slaughterhouse.

Let the Animals Live, which made the appeal to the authorities, says in a statement that the birds are transported crammed into narrow cages without food or water, then subjected to extreme stress and often broken limbs by being swung around. While most of the chickens are then sent to slaughterhouses, some are butchered on the spot by people who are not qualified to do so, the organization claims.