Page 54 - HaMizrachi02-04( #12)2019RoshHaShanaYomKippurUSA

HAMIZRACHI FAMILY PAGE

Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody

A BRIEF HISTORY OF A FOWL CUSTOM

hen I was a yeshiva boy Ultimately, the chicken became the Why had I never performed this
studying in Jerusalem, animal of choice, in part because ritual, and why haven’t I done it
Wmy friends invited me to of its cost. Equally significant, one since? In the fifteenth century, Rosh Hashanah - Yom Kippur Word Search Four New Years
go with them to “shlug kapparot” on Aramaic term for rooster is gever, Rabbi Yaakov Moelin suggested
erev Yom Kippur. Though I grew up which also means “man” in Hebrew. that one could “redeem” the chicken It might be the best known of them
Orthodox, I was not familiar with The chicken was thus seen as an with money to be given as charity all, but Rosh Hashanah is not the only
the term (which translates loosely appropriate substitute for the con- since monetary donations would Jewish new year. According to the
as “beat the atonements”), but I was demned penitent, with male and be less embarrassing to the poor. Mishnah, there are three others. Do
quickly off to the Mahane Yehuda female species used for each gender. Others added that the killing of you know what they are?
market, where we muttered a quick so many chickens at once caused
prayer as a shochet waved a chicken The central moment of kapparot errors in ritual slaughter, rendering (The first of Nissan, the springtime
over our heads. He slaughtered the should be the confessional, in which the food non-kosher. Some poskim month when Pesach occurs, is the
animal and threw it into an over- the penitent lays his hands on the suggested using fish or money as beginning of the year, according to
flowing bin destined for the poor. chicken, proclaims his guilt, and an alternative; the latter is what is Shemot. Jewish tradition also marks
declares that the bird is to be killed
Later that day, fearing that I ruined in his stead. While some protested suggested in most of today’s Yom Tu B’Shvat as the new year for trees
the ritual by cheaply “sharing” a that the ritual too closely resem- Kippur prayer books. and Rosh Chodesh Elul as the new
chicken with others, I did it again, bled Temple rites, others believed year for Ma'sar Behemah the tithing
this time in the parking lot outside that there was no fear of people Perhaps my angst reflected sym- of animals (sanctifying a tenth of
the Har Menuchot cemetery. As I confusing kapparot with an official pathy for animals—and a reemerg- kosher grazing animals (cattle, sheep,
recited Kol Nidre that evening, mur- sacrifice. ing halachik trend. “On the eve of and goats) to G-d, to be sacrificed as
murs of angst crept into my head: this holy day,” said the late Rabbi a Korban).)
Hayim David HaLevi, “why should
Was that really a holy act? As it While kapparot enjoyed widespread
turns out, many commentators, both popularity among scholars and we display unnecessary cruelty to
medieval and modern, have called it laity alike, especially in Ashkenazic these animals and mercilessly kill -APPLES -MACHZOR -SHEVARIM T-EKIAH -WHITE
them before requesting from G-d
a grave mistake. lands, some Sephardic scholars mercy upon us?” The mass killing
harshly criticized this custom as a -FASTING -NEW YEAR -SHOFAR T-ERUAH -YOM KIPPUR
Like many rituals, kapparot foreign ritual akin to many idola- of animals, he added, contradicts a -HONEY -ROSH HASHANAH -SIMMANIM T-ESHUVAH -YONAH
emerged in the early medieval trous practices. Rabbi Shlomo ibn different medieval custom, almost
period as a folk custom that schol- Aderet successfully protested the entirely forgotten today, of refrain-
ars later struggled to understand. version of the ritual in his native ing from all slaughter before the The Fireman 1
They questioned the origins of the Barcelona, which included killing New Year as an act of increased
practice, which might appear as an one chicken for each child in the mercy on G-d’s creatures. In this Many years ago, before there were "Awesome" thought the boy. "I’m spread from one house to another,
attempt to magically manipulate house and then hanging the chicken spirit, and given increased con- any fire engines, most houses were going to tell the people of my village setting the entire village alight.
one’s fate. heads on the doorpost along with cerns of mishandling of the chick- built of wood. A fire was a terrible about this!”
garlic. ens, prominent figures like Rabbis thing. A whole town could go up in "You fool," the villagers cried. "Did you
Historically, kapparot had several Shlomo Aviner and David Stav
variations. In some locales, a bean Following ibn Aderet’s lead, Rabbi have urged Jews to err on the side flames. And so when fire broke out, He bought himself a bugle and think that merely blowing a bugle
sprout was planted in a palm wreath Yosef Karo banned kapparot. Rabbi of treating animals kindly and use everyone rushed to help put it out. A returned to his village. He called all would put the fire out? It’s only an
two to three weeks before Rosh Moshe Isserles contended that its money instead. Traditionalism watchman kept a lookout all the the villagers together and told them, alarm to alert the people and send
Hashanah. On the erev Rosh Hasha- antiquity proved its legitimacy. should, of course, have its place, time. As soon as he saw smoke or "No need to be afraid of fire any them to the well to bring water!"
nah, the plant was waved seven times Rabbi Isaac Luria and other famous but on the eve of Yom Kippur, we fire, he would sound the alarm. The more. Just watch me, and see how
over the head of each child and then mystics ascribed redemptive value shouldn’t risk turning a request for townspeople would then form a quickly I put out a fire!" Like the bugle, the shofar is an alarm
thrown into a river. Elsewhere, the to the practice, with some later mercy into an act of cruelty. human chain from the nearest well, for us. It is telling us that as we enter
custom was performed before Yom Sephardic poskim legitimizing it if and pass pails of water to each other He then ran to the nearest hut and the New Year, we should try to be
Kippur and not only for children, one donated the chicken to char- This essay is adapted from Rabbi to put out the fire. set fire to its straw roof. Of course better people, speak nicely to others,
with various types of animals for ity. While a few authorities still Dr. Brody’s “A Guide to the Com- the fire spread very quickly. The be kind to other children and do what
different people. The rich preferred demurred, many endorsed the plex: Contemporary Halakhic Once a little boy came to town for the villagers were in shock. G-d expects of us.
horned animals, an allusion to the custom provided that its practi- Debates” (Maggid, 2014) first time. Suddenly he heard the
ram that replaced Isaac on the sacri- tioner engages in introspection and Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody is Director of the sound of a bugle. He asked one of the "Don't worry!" cried the boy. "Watch How can you be a better person
ficial altar. repentance. Tikvah Overseas Students Institute locals what it meant. this." this year?

"Whenever we have a fire, we sound the And he began blowing the bugle with
54 | bugle, and the fire is quickly put out." all his might. The fire continued to 1 Adapted from a story by Nissan Mindel.