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

