Cleansing and purification
Kapparot
The custom before Yom Kippur of passing a fowl or money round the head as a symbolic substitute.
Presented by ClearTrust Customs described as customs, free to read.
Kapparot, from the Hebrew for atonements, is a custom kept by some Jews in the days before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. A person holds a chicken, or money, and swings it round the head while reciting a text which says that this is a substitute, an exchange for the person. The fowl, in the practice that uses one, is slaughtered by a ritual slaughterer and given as food to the poor.
This is an outline of a custom, said as belief and practice. It is not instruction, it does not say that the rite works, and it is not medical advice.
What goes into it
- Money in a pouchObjectThe humane and widely used alternative.
- Verses from the prayer bookWordSaid as the substitute is waved.
- Circling gestureGestureSwung three times around the head.
- CharityOfferingThe value is given to the poor.
- Gift of foodOfferingIn the fowl form, the meat goes to those in need.
- Eve of Yom KippurSpaceHeld in the days before the fast.
- Object
- Word
- Gesture
- Offering
- Space
Each part has an equal wedge. The ring shows what goes into the rite, not how much. Colour is the part's role.
The steps, drawn
Each drawing shows the kind of act in that step. Details differ from place to place, family to family and practitioner to practitioner.
Step 1: Gather Take money, or in some communities a fowl, on the days before Yom Kippur. Step 2: Speak Recite the verses saying this stands in for me. Step 3: Circle Swing the substitute around the head three times. Step 4: Offer Give the money, or the meat, to the poor. Step 5: Close Go on to the prayers and the fast.
Roots and debate
The custom is described in medieval texts, and the Shulchan Aruch, with the glosses of Moses Isserles, records it as a custom. Nachmanides and other authorities objected to it as a pagan-like practice, and the dispute has gone on since. Many communities, especially those that follow the Sephardi tradition and more liberal groups, use coins, which are then given to charity, in place of a bird.
Today
In places such as Brooklyn and Jerusalem, large public kapparot sites have drawn animal welfare complaints and lawsuits, and some rabbis urge the money form instead. Believers say the rite is about repentance and giving. The explanation of scholars is that it lets a person act out the idea of exchanging a death-like judgement for a symbol.
What it is for
- Mark atonement before Yom Kippur
- Give to the poor
Who does it
Related entries
Also part of it, and being written: Kapparot (The custom.), Yom Kippur (The day it prepares for.), Atonement in Judaism (The idea behind it.).
Sources and further reading
Original text and drawings by the EveryJaadu desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Closed or sacred detail is left out. If we have something wrong, tell us.