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Shiug Fest

PHIL JACOBS MANAGING EDITOR

e all knew going into Yom
Kippur last week, that it
was no time to run afoul of
right and wrong.
And for 500 Detroit Jews
that flocked to participate in
the little-seen or little-
known custom of kaporos,
reducing their sins was ex-
actly what they had on their
minds.
Kaparos is a Jewish cus-
tom traced to the ninth cen-
tury where the sins of a
human are transferred to a
live chicken. The partici-
pants must pass the chick-
en over their heads three

"This is my
exchange; this is
my substitute; this
is my atonement.
This rooster will
go to its death (this
money will go to
charity) while I will
enter and proceed
to a good, long
life, and to peace."

A worshipper holds the chicken

54

over his head before saying
the kaporos prayers.

times while reciting the
prayer (at left) three times.
The chicken is then taken
and slaughtered by a scho-
chet, a kosher slaughterer,
and then donated to the
poor. More modern custom
holds that money may be
used in place of the chicken.
Men use roosters while
women use hens. The chick-
en is used instead of any
other animal so that the rit-
ual is not a sacrifice, which
is prohibited. The Hebrew
word gever means both man
and rooster.
But on this autumn after-

noon prior to Yom Kippu
the genuine article was th
kaparos of choice. The nit,
al is called "shlugging ka
paros."
"We're not throwing ou.
sins onto the chicken," saic,=.
Rabbi Herschel Finman
who helped make the cus-
tom available. "We are:Un
derstanding that that of t
could be happenir
because of our past,
stead going to happen to
chicken. God in his infinit ,
mercy has allowed us to live
another year, but this chick
en won't be. This chicken