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Kapparot

Ultra-Orthodox Jews perform the Kapparot ceremony in the ultra orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Meah Shearim, Jerusalem, on September 30, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
September 16, 2026, 6:49 pm
13 municipalities to bar use of live chickens in pre-Yom Kippur ‘kapparot’ ritual, NGO says
Tel Mond, Yeruham, Mevaseret Zion, Yavne join cities including Tel Aviv, Beersheba in prohibiting ceremony where birds are swung around practitioners’ heads to remove sins
By Zev Stub
Ultra-Orthodox Jews perform the "kapparot" ceremony on October 3, 2022, in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
October 3, 2022, 5:30 pm
Environment minister urges charity instead of ‘kapparot’ for Yom Kippur
Tamar Zandberg says practice of swinging live chicken around one’s head to absolve sin causes suffering, suggests continuing the tradition by instead giving money
By Sue Surkes
Ultra Orthodox Jews perform the Kapparot ceremony on September 13, 2021, in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
September 14, 2021, 4:12 pm
Environment Ministry: Replace cruel chicken ‘kapparot’ with donations
Pre-Yom Kippur ritual of swinging live chickens around the head to absolve sin causes great suffering, says minister
By Sue Surkes
An airplane circles Melbourne, Australia, September 27, 2020, for locked-down Jews who could not conduct the pre-Yom Kippur ritual of kapparot. (Youtube screenshot)
September 27, 2020, 9:22 pm
Airborne Yom Kippur ritual for locked down Melbourne Jews
An enterprising philanthropist arranges a symbolic Kapparot flypast
By PHILISSA CRAMER
Illustrative image of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man in a religious neighborhood in Ashdod performing 'kapparot' ritual before Yom Kippur. (Dima Vazinovich/Flash90)
July 29, 2019, 4:01 pm
Los Angeles Jewish center sued to prevent ‘kapparot’ ritual
The ceremony involves symbolically transferring sins to a chicken swung around participants’ heads
By JTA
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man swings a chicken over the heads of his family members as they perform the Kaparot ceremony in the Jewish neighbourhood of Beit Shemesh west of Jerusalem on September 28, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / MENAHEM KAHANA)
September 29, 2017, 12:49 pm
6 activists hurt protesting Yom Kippur chicken twirling ritual
Residents in the city of Hadera hurl rocks, fire extinguisher at demonstrators
By JTA
Illustrative image of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man in a religious neighborhood in Ashdod performing 'kapparot' ritual before Yom Kippur. (Dima Vazinovich/Flash90)
September 14, 2017, 6:25 pm
California animal rights group sues to end pre-Yom Kippur chicken ritual
San Diego Animal Protection and Rescue League demands police prevent Chabad of Irvine’s kapparot ceremony
By JTA
Illustrative photo of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man participating in a kapparot ritual, in which a chicken is swung over one's head in the belief that one transfers the sins from the past year into the chicken. (Dima Vazinovich/Flash90)
June 8, 2017, 4:53 am
Kapparot can continue in NY, appeals court rules
Judges uphold decision that declined to block pre-Yom Kippur slaughter of chickens in 2015
By JTA
Illustrative image of kapparot in Bnei Brak, 11 September 2013. (CC BY Gady Munz Pikiwiki Israel, Wikimedia commons)
May 26, 2017, 4:00 am
Animal rights group appeals LA ruling allowing Yom Kippur chicken rite
Activists seek to overturn court decision in favor of Southern California synagogue over legality of ‘kapparot’ ceremony
By JTA
Illustrative image of kapparot in Bnei Brak, 11 September 2013. (CC BY Gady Munz Pikiwiki Israel, Wikimedia commons)
May 17, 2017, 10:43 pm
LA judge rejects lawsuit against Yom Kippur chicken ritual
Court rules that Kapparot ceremony does not constitute unfair competition to poultry business
By JTA
Illustrative photo of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man participating in a kapparot ritual, in which a chicken is swung over one's head in the belief that one transfers the sins from the past year into the chicken. (Dima Vazinovich/Flash90)
May 17, 2017, 11:39 am
Lawsuit over synagogue’s chicken slaughter dismissed
California Chabad charging a fee for performing High Holiday ‘kapparot’ atonement ritual is ruled not a for-profit activity
By AP
Illustrative photo of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man participating in a kapparot ritual, in which a chicken is swung over one's head in the belief that one transfers the sins from the past year into the chicken. (Dima Vazinovich/Flash90)
October 13, 2016, 5:45 am
California synagogue wins 11th-hour appeal to hold kapparot ritual
Case continues in US district court, with animal rights group arguing it is illegal to kill chickens that won’t be eaten
By ToI Staff and AP
Illustrative photo of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man participating in a kapparot ritual, in which a chicken is swung over one's head in the belief that one transfers the sins from the past year into the chicken. (Dima Vazinovich/Flash90)
October 10, 2016, 3:00 am
Judge blocks Kapparot ritual in Irvine
Lawsuit alleged chickens are crammed tightly into cages and mishandled, disposed of and not used for food
By JTA
Illustrative photo of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man participating in a kapparot ritual, in which a chicken is swung over one's head in the belief that one transfers the sins from the past year into the chicken. (Dima Vazinovich/Flash90)
October 8, 2016, 9:32 am
SoCal Chabad sued in bid to stop kapparot ritual
Lawsuit asks for a restraining order against Yom Kippur practice in which chicken is swung over the head, then slaughtered, in a symbolic transference of a person’s sins
By JTA
A Hasidic man expressing his views to an anti-kapparot activist in Brooklyn, New York, Sept. 17, 2015. (JTA)
September 22, 2015, 7:14 pm
Chicken-swinging ritual spurs two lawsuits
Clucks of disapproval surround Yom Kippur custom
By Julie Wiener
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