You might have missed this one

From the Jewish Review (Portland, OR)Kapparot rite said foul


Jerusalem (JTA)—A leading Israeli rabbi has come out against the tradition of using a live animal for the kapparot ceremony.

Religious Zionist Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, the chief rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Beit El and the head of the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva in Jerusalem issued a religious ruling suggesting that it was better to give money to the poor rather than wave a live chicken over one's head and transfer one's sins to the animal in order to achieve atonement for sins in advance of Yom Kippur.

The ruling came at the request of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Israel, Haaretz reported.

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The above article does beg for a comment: First off, this is crazy! However long this ritual of flinging a chicken about over one's head, it needs to stop, for more than the obvious reasons. It makes Jews look like nuts. We've got enough against us as it is, what with controlling the World Bank and the entertainment industry, and being the brunt of the ire of hate groups, racists and various and sundry other angry goyim, not to mention the arabs. In fact, the whole ritual seems like something the arabs would do. It just seems too barbaric for members of the tribe. Let me be clear, I am not governed by any Yeshiva or settlement on the West Bank. I haven't gone to a synagogue since moving to Oregon and used to go to the High Holiday services at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood. My wife and I have chickens. I hesitate saying we "own" them. They are very much their own hens and roosters.We house and feed them. I would no more think of twirling one over my head than I'd put a loaded gun to my head. Especially, Fabio, who has had it in for me since the year gimmel, or last year, whichever came first. Come to think of it, I'd like to put a loaded gun to his head, but my wife would never forgive me. Besides, I'd have to get a gun. Which brings me to the conclusion that just because the Marx brothers and the Three Stooges, along with Henny Youngman, Lenny Bruce and Shecky Green were all Jewish is no justification for twirling a chicken over your head. The laughs you may get are outweighed by the shame you will feel of having chicken shit on your nice black coat and having to explain it to the Chinaman at the dry cleaners.