Comments on: PETA Starts Their Kapparos War

By: proud of KAJ WH TIDE

proud of KAJ WH TIDE — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:58:22 +0000

Long peyos and beards,big black hats do not make a person frum. Wasting poor animals is a sin and cannot be a kapporro. If you want kapporro,do teshuva and treat fellow people and animals with proper respect.Then come to Hashem with clean hands and soul.

By: politics

politics — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:25:15 +0000

#16==> Give Me a Break

Your right, you have a Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression But YWN has the right to censor what they want. This is private Website and they manage site anyway they want. And if your comments were out of context they will leave it out.

By: Josh31

Josh31 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:28:49 +0000

Political movements that are zealous in the expansion of animal rights are very dangerous. We should have no dialogue with them. In Europe we had horrible experiences with animal rights movements and anti – Shechitah laws.
PETA has a short term goal to tax all meat consumption and a long term goal of prohibition of all meat consumption. See their web site.
This does not mean that we do not need to “get our act together”. Needless pain to animals is still prohibited. However, not every improper or immoral behavior needs to be acted upon by the State. For some behaviors, the invasion of privacy or the threat of extremism and tyranny outweigh the benefits of government involvement.

By: theroshyeshiva

theroshyeshiva — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:52:06 +0000

There’s a lot of money to be made in Kapparos.
I had a friend who was doing it try to convince me to get in on it. You buy chickens for a few bucks and then mark the price way up for kapporos, dont feed them or take care of them, and throw em away when your done and cash in the profits.

Sorry, but everyone is looking to make a buck these days.

Very unfortunate.

It seems PETA is correct here.

By: veryinteresting

veryinteresting — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:03:04 +0000

PETA is not antisemitic and is known to do good on behalf of animals, regardless of being relentless to those in their target sites. If there is no problem, there is no evidence to PEAT to sink it’s teeth into.

By: Yerei

Yerei — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:15:32 +0000

To #’s 3, 6, 7 9: PETA may be in our eyes a liberal group that some feel goes way too far in defense of animals. But that in no way automatically means they are wrong about how kapporos is practiced. Last year there was a scandal in Monsey. Chassidim wanted to do kapporos and the local authorities gave them their own place. They agreed to certain rules about sanitation, etc. What happened is they left dead chickens and chicken parts all over the place threatening nearby areas with the spread of disease. It got into the newspaper and became a chilul hashem.

Kapporos is only a custom. Most Yidden thankfully use money instead. I think the burden should be on those who use chickens to guarantee that the chickens will be treated humanely, without pain—they’re not only animals, but also kosher ones—and basic rules of sanitation will be observed. Anything less would be an aveira and maybe also a chillul hashem, as happened in Monsey last year.

By: moshe hacohen

moshe hacohen — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:47:32 +0000

I agree with Yaacov137 who wrote:
I am no PETA supporter, but they have appeared, on this issue, to be very respectful and tried to work through this issue quietly. The accusations noted here are shameful and should embarass the entire frum world.

It should also embarass the entire frum world that ‘mark levin’ could write:
Use PETA members INSTEAD of chickens this year.

This is a truly disgusting thing to write.

Inexcusable.

By: Lobbyist

Lobbyist — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:52:18 +0000

Please see the heading to the Siman in Shulchan Aruch which states [in the original print, now reinstated in the Friedman print of Machon Yerusholayim] in which the Mechaber refers to the practice as “Minhag Kapparos Minhag Shtus”

And now…?

Forsooth, for vexillology has replaced obviated peregrination and clarity.

Indeed.

By: tsgssdk

tsgssdk — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:12:26 +0000

I must note that for many many years, the Skwere Rebbe Shlita in Boro Park, does kapporos with chickens, and has a shochet AND a bodek, check every chicken, after shechita. All ksher chickens (most of them) are immediately put away and used.
So, this business of shechting chickens only to have them thrown in the trash is NOT practiced by all.

By: frummerthanthou

frummerthanthou — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:35:50 +0000

Two years ago I visited Brooklyn after Yom Kippur to buy items for Sukkot. I walked down Coney Island Avenue and in an abandoned lot there were chickens in cramped cages left over from Kapparot on Erev Yom Kippur. Since then, it had rained for several days. Most of the chickens were either ill, dying or dead and covered in filth. (naturally, they had been given no food or water for days) the animal police were there, they probably had to end up putting the survivors to sleep. Does such an action really bring kapparah to those involved in it?
The cost per Kappah chicken is usually $18-$20 dollars. For that price you can buy four or more, prepared and packaged chickens for a poor family.
Kapparot with live chickens is not cost effective, is cruel to the chickens, desensitizes us to cruelty, and exposes us to health risks from coming in contact with feces, and bacteria that the birds are infected with. Far better to say Kapparot over either money that goes directly to Tzedakah, or packaged, cleaned chicken that can go directly to a person that needs it