Orthodox rite ruffles neighbors’ feathers

It was not the first time neighbors had their feathers ruffled by a local rabbi who used live chickens in an ancient Jewish atonement ritual.
    But this time, neighbors said, it went too far.
    "It happened about five years ago," said Larry Loew, who lives next to the Lubavitcher Shul at 239 Chestnut Hill Ave. "They hosed all the blood into our yard. The yard smelled like a slaughter house for a month and a half."
    Loew said he remembered the chickens being used for kaparot (see sidebar, page 9) 14 or 15 years ago. This year, Loew said he didn't know the chickens were being used until Sept. 30 when his wife, Gail Goldstein, was taking their dog for a walk.
    "The dog was pulling me in that direction," she said. "It stunk so badly my eyes watered."
    Goldstein said she was "horrified" at the conditions the chickens were being kept in - short cages that the birds could not stand up in and many without food or water. The next day, the slaughter began.
    "They had a handy man, who is not Jewish, feeding the chickens into a defeathering machine alive," said Loew. "At that point, I had to leave for the day."
    The couple called Inspectional Services to complain about what they said were unsanitary conditions. After the chickens were slaughtered, they said, the birds were put in a barrel of rainwater and sold for $20 apiece. Despite ISD writing the shul a nuisance notice, Loew and Goldstein said it isn't enough.
    "It's totally frustrating that no one is helping stop this," said Goldstein.
    Rabbi Pinchus Krinsky, who runs the Lubavitcher Shul, could not be reached for comment. The TAB first tried to speak with the rabbi on Oct. 3. On that day, the rabbi asked that he be called back in a week. The TAB again called the rabbi on Oct. 10, but the woman who answered the phone said the rabbi was too busy to talk.
    Loew and Goldstein, self-described animal lovers, said the treatment of the birds was only part of their problem with the ceremony.
    "It's not a common and usual practice done in any temple, and it still has to meet health requirement codes," said Loew. "But if it was done by the health codes and humanely, we could understand."
    Kaparot facts
    According to an article on Chabad.org, a division of the Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center, using chickens to atone for sins at Yom Kippur is a traditional Jewish practice.
    Kaparot is an ancient and mystical custom connected to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. It can be performed anytime between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, but most often it is performed just after dawn on the day before Yom Kippur.
    The original form of the kaparot ceremony involves taking a chicken (a white rooster for a male, hen for a female) and waving it over one's head while reciting this prayer: "This is my replacement, this is my exchange, this is my atonement; this fowl shall go to its death, and I shall go to a long, good and peaceful life." Then the chicken is slaughtered and it (or its cash value) is given to the poor.
    While kaparot is still practiced by Orthodox Jews, most Jews today perform kaparot by waving money wrapped in a white cloth napkin over their head, reciting the prayer, and then giving the money to charity following the ceremony.