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Why Chickens Should Be Eliminated From Kapparot Ceremonies

URL: http://www.jewishjournal.com/yom_kippur/article/why_chickens_should_be_eliminated_from_kapparot_ceremonies_20090925

Kapparot is a ceremony preceding Yom Kippur in which many Orthodox Jews, especially in the Hasidic world, swing chickens around their heads while reciting a chant about transferring their sins symbolically onto the bird: "This is my exchange, my substitute, my atonement. This rooster (or hen) shall go to its death, but I shall go to a good, long life, and to peace."

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