Y

om Kippur begins at sunset
Oct. 8 and ends one hour after
sunset on Oct. 9 this year. It is
a day marked by meaningful rituals,
including prayer, atonement for
misdeeds and fasting.
Fasting symbolizes the act of self
denial and doing no work, which
lasts for the duration of Yom Kippur
— approximately 25 hours. Children
under age 9, the elderly and those with

underlying medical conditions are
excluded from this ritual of no food
or water.
Girls older than age 12 and boys
older than age 13 should forgo food or
drink for the duration of the holiday.
Children between the age of 9 and the
age of religiously recognized maturity
should gradually learn to participate in
fasting for Yom Kippur, which might
entail skipping a meal.

Julie Feldman, a registered dietitian
with Thrive Nutrition and Wellness in
West Bloomfield, says there are helpful
strategies one can use to prepare for
the fast.
“You have to go into a fast well
hydrated and you can’
t just do that
the day before,
” she said. “You have to
be hydrated for several days before.
Watch your sodium intake, too.
”
Individuals who fast should also
be careful about alcohol or caffeine
consumption before fasting since both
substances can be dehydrating.
Feldman notes there are various
groups of people who shouldn’
t fast,
including individuals with severe
gastrointestinal disease, Crohn’
s or
colitis, kidney disease or medical
conditions like diabetes that require
medication be taken with food.
She also said people with eating
disorders should not fast.
“Both physically and emotionally,
if someone has an eating disorder,
fasting can be triggering.
”
For clients with eating disorders,

34 | OCTOBER 3 • 2019

Yom Kippur

Have a Meaningful Fast

How to fast safely in observance of Yom Kippur —
and who should forgo the ritual.

ELIZABETH KATZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

ISTOCK

B

efore Yom Kippur, some Jews
have the custom of swinging a
chicken over their heads, recit-
ing “This is my exchange; this is my
replacement; this is my atonement.
”
An expert then slaughters the chicken
and the carcass, or its value in money,
goes to feed a poor family.
The word for “atonement” gives the
custom its name: “kapores” in Yiddish,
“kaparot” in Israeli Hebrew, “kaporos”
in Ashkenazi Hebrew.
Micki Grossman of Farmington
Hills recalls that decades ago, her
father would “carry live chickens

on the bus to bring them home for
kapores.
”
Variations of the custom go back at
least a thousand years. Opposition to
the custom also goes back a long way
— as does the practice’
s defense.
Columnist Bari Weiss points out
that Yom Kippur adds up to “a dress
rehearsal for our deaths.
” Those who
favor the custom note that kapores,
like other practices of Yom Kippur,
confronts us with our mortality.
Some contemporary rabbis circulate
petitions against the practice. They say
it seems “too much like sacrifices” or

“too much like pagan practices,
” and
they (along with animal rights advo-
cates) note that it distresses animals
unnecessarily.
Perhaps the real act of atonement
happens when the fresh-killed chicken
is donated to the poor. Instead, money

Debate continues about killing chickens ritually.

LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Kapores Tradition