In case you are not familiar with it, here are two articles on the subject, one by me and one by Richard Schwartz:
http://rrrina.com/kaporot.htm
The raw footage is on my YouTube page (I didn't get any of them killing the birds, because, in each case I got kicked out before I had a chance ... one slaughterer stopped himself right before he made impact): http://www.youtube.com/user/rrrina
Through the years, I've done one-person demos outside these places. My grandfather, a kosher butcher (who, in his final year of life was so revolted by what he witnessed when he had occasion to visit a slaughterhouse that he gave up his business and went vegetarian), was opposed to Kapparot. He was known throughout the neighborhood as a Tzadik (righteous man), who rescued abandoned cats, dogs, and even injured birds, gave free food away to the poor, and allowed homeless people to sleep in his store. Growing up, I remember a series of "borders," as he called them, homeless people whom he would allow to stay in a room on the top floor of his home, until he was able to help find them jobs so they could afford to live in an SRO (single room occupancy).
My grandfather denounced the practice of Kapparot as cruel, unnecessary, and, in fact, un-Jewish. He said that it was not in the Torah or the Talmud, and that for those who felt the need to do the ritual, it could be done with an inanimate object (money).
Kapparot takes place during the week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Being around the places where they do this obscene sacrifice is bone-chilling. The stench of fear and blood permeates the entire neighborhood. The birds are left, packed tightly in crates, with no food and no water for the entire week. The "unused" birds are often left in the crates in the heat and cold, starving amid the excrement, until they can be picked up. Some, in desperation, pluck each others' eyes out.
About a year ago, some orthodox rabbis had a meeting about the practice. It was decided that there needs to be closer monitoring and regulation of Kapparot. Until last year, I used to see some of the slaughterers throw the birds into garbage bags (contradicting their claim that the meat is donated to the poor). This year, while I didn't get to film it, I found one place actually taking the dead birds, plucking them, and preparing them for donation... certainly not ideal, but an improvement over discarding them. Still this is a heinous practice that needs to be abolished.
Yesterday, I called the ASPCA to report that the animals had no food or water and were packed tightly in crates (stacked on top of each other), left in the hot sun.
Please call and complain whenever and wherever you see that the birds do not have adequate water, food, or shelter... they WILL come. The more people who call, the more seriously they will take the complaints.
ASPCA number: 212-876-7700, ext 4450
Thank you,
Rina
4/4/2010: Note: Due to the fact that some littleminds have chosen to use this commenting area to vomit their anti-Semitism,
commenting for this video will henceforth be screened. I will not be a party to promoting (to paraphrase a George Carlin saying) the "my god has a bigger member than your god" concept, and I will certainly not be a party to the promotion of prejudice.
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Pagan savages. They will go straight to hell.
icenine2 2 years ago