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Miri sent me this link to a CrownHeights.info article about PETA's latest campaign for an animal-free Kaparos.
I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing...
I definitely love my shwarma and steak, I often have trouble finding shoes to wear on Yom Kippur (the only ones that seem to be made out of synthetic material are my flip-flops) and I don't think I could survive winter without heated leather seats.
So I'm not exactly an animal lover... in fact, I HATE the zoo.
The only animal I actually do love is my malti-poo Daisy. (I've mentioned her before... as well as Jessica Simpson's pooch who, may she rest in peace, got eaten by a coyote. The dog - not Jessica.)
BUT...
It does make me sad when animals aren't treated nicely.
Which is why I don't eat veal - those baby cows aren't even given a chance to walk around the block a few times. I also get grossed out when I see whole chickens or a whole fish (with tail and head) on the dinner table. (one reason why I can't marry Sephard - I don't think I could start a new year off right sitting next to the head of a goat)
A few years ago, I happened to come across a PETA video online (before I even knew what PETA was... may I was looking for a recipe) that showed how horribly some animals are treated at the slaughterhouse. It may have been that rubashkin video. It still gives me nightmares.
So back to the Kaparos campaign.
First - DISCLAIMER - I've actually never witnessed the whole chicken kaparos in action. Nope, never. Not sure why. Maybe because my neighborhood isn't that shtark. Maybe because my family does everything last-minute, and I'm pretty sure that chickens and shoichets aren't that easy to come by ten minutes before Yom Kippur starts. And Baruch Hashem, there is always money lying around. Hashem, let's keep that up ;)
I remember using live fish once. That freaked me out. I don't think I would've survived the days when gefilte fish swam in bathtubs.
So because I've never actually been to a chicken kaparos, I can't really say whether not those animals are treated properly, per PETA-standards. I hope they are. It would make me sad if they weren't. And I don't know how kosher that would be.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
kosher kaparos
love, Maidel at 11:36 PM
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5 comments:
for the record: I don't wanna say 'hate', as it is aseres yemei teshuva and i should be more considerate, but let's put it this way=i don't DO animals. However, I do kaporos with live chickens. It frieks me out a bit and I don't like the smell, chickens crying, etc. But I bring an XL hoodie, cover my head and quickly read the 'zos chalifasi' while my dad swings the chicken.
as for the head of the fish-let's just say my sis serves that course!
My family has never done it the chicken fashion. A girl in college once asked me about the Jewish practice of "chicken throwing," and I hastily corrected her.
However, Rabbi Slifkin says the chickens, after being in cramped, hot conditions the whole day, are usually sporting broken legs and wings so aren't even kosher for shchitah.
The money, at least, is guaranteed not to suffer, and the needy always get a benefit.
I've done chicken thing but I was doing it in my shul which took good care of chickens in advance:
First of all they aren't kept for days - most they lived for 20-24 hours.
Second - our rabbi has kids so kids have fun feeding birds.
Third - keeping birds in plastic crates is industry standard as I happened to see that in the place where we were buying chickens once. In the shul they are kept in the large enough boxes to give them some space and boxes are stored in the shade on the porch.
Fourth - our rabbi makes sure there's a good shoichet in the shul for the entire time of kapporos (that's why the time is limited) so shechted chickens are kosher.
Fifth - anyone can come and take as many chickens as needed, the rest is being sent to known people who need food and if something is left, gets cleaned and goes into the freezer and shul eats these chickens for the next week or few.
That was in your shul and this was on Coney Island and L.
I thought gefilte fish were freshwater fish... they wouldn't much like a bathtub.
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