Kapparah
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Kapparah (plural Kapparoth) in Hebrew it is "means of atonement", a vicarious animal sacrifice on the day previous to the Yom Kippur, practiced by some Haredi groups of Judaism.
A cock is taken by a man, and a hen by a woman, and after the recitation of Psalm 107: 17-20 and Job 33: 23-24 the fowl is swung around the head three times while the right hand is put upon the animal's head. At the same time the following is thrice said in Hebrew:
- This be my substitute, my vicarious offering, my atonement. This cock (or hen) shall meet death, but I shall find a long and pleasant life of peace!
After this the animal is slaughtered and given to the poor, or, what is deemed better, is eaten by the owners while the value of it is given to the poor.
The custom has been strongly opposed by some rabbis, as Maimonides, to whom the sacrifice would be inferior to prayer and philosophical meditation. Other rabbis such Nahmanides, Solomon ben Adret, and Joseph Caro considered it a pagan ritual in conflict with the spirit of Judaism, which knows of no vicarious sacrifice. But it was approved by Jehiel ben Asher and by his son Jacob ben asher. The ritual appealed especially to cabalists, such as Isaiah Horowitz and Isaac Luria, who recommended the selection of a white cock with reference to Isaiah 1:18, and who found other mystic allusions in the prescribed formulas. Consequently the practice became general among the Jews of eastern Europe.
