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Yom Kippur- The Laws and Custom of Kaparot

Regarding the Minhag of Kaparot that is usually done either on Erev Yom Kippurim, or is done because of the constraints of time during the Aseret Yime Teshuva.

Regarding the 1st Minhag of doing it with the chickens. Some have the custom to take a chicken and swing it over their head. We will discuss how that’s done, but it should be pointed out at first, that the Rashba, who is one of the biggest of the Rishonim, in one of his Responsa was adamantly against this Minhag of swinging the chickens over the head. He actually called it ‘Darche Emori’. He said it’s the way of the Goyim to take these chickens and slaughter them and to get atonement from this. He went with all his force and tried to break the Minhag in his home town. He writes of this in his Teshuva, [listen to the audio clip for the exact quote.] He says, with great Chessed from G-d, the people listen to me, and therefore Maran in Shulchan Aruch writes, that regarding the swinging of the chickens, that you should not do it, and that you should do away with the Minhag. This is also the opinion of the Peri Chadash.

However, once already we have revelation of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, who is the Arizal, and what he did. And of course we take everything that he did very seriously, because he had reasons not only according to the simple explanation but according to the Kabalah. It is clear that he took the chicken and swung it over his head and made the Kaparot. Also it’s brought down by the Rabbi from Hallab, Eretz Chayim Sutton, and of course the Ben Ish Chai. So therefore, even though we have the Rashba on one side, but since the Mekubalim all bring down the custom to swing the chickens, therefore we can not disregard the Minhag. And therefore Minhag Yisrael is that we can go back and reinstitute this custom, which turns out to be a good thing according to those Rabbis we just mentioned.

The Arizal tells us exactly how to do it. He says that for every male in the family, you get a male chicken. And for every female in the family, you get a female chicken. And if the lady is pregnant, so then, of course if it’s a single pregnancy, so then you have to get 2 females and 1 male. Why this amount? One for the lady herself, the mother. And now you don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, and so therefore you have to take one chicken in case it’s a boy, and 1chicken in case it’s a girl, and you swing 3 of them. Today where you have sonograms and things like that, where you know what it is, still we are not sure because the sonograms can be wrong, so therefore you still should get 2 chickens.

Now, what do we say at the time? We say 3 times, as we swing it over our heads the following, ‘Ze Chalifati, Ze Temurati, Ze Kaparati.’ This means to say, this chicken is my exchange, Chalifati Temurati. Now what is the difference between the word Chalifati and Temurati? It’s basically a synonym. We’re saying this chicken is my exchange, which means the chicken will go to death, and I will have a good life with health. So this is my exchange. So what is the difference between the words Chalifati and Temuarti? So I saw brought down in the books, that Chalifati is referring to when you are exchanging something that is bad to something that is good. And that’s referring to the sinner. That’s referring to man. The man before he repents, before he makes Teshuva, the chicken is better than him. The chicken doesn’t have any sins. But man who has sins is guilty, so you are saying, Ze Chalifati, that I am the bad one, and let the bad be exchanged to the good one, to the good chicken. Ze Temurati, that’s referring after Teshuva. After man makes Teshuva, he’s better than the chicken. Of course, man has a higher level than the Ball Chai (chicken), which means that now let the good, man after Teshuva be exchanged on the lower level of the chicken.

Now the proper order to say these 3 words is as we said it. Chalifati, Temurati, Kaparati. Because the Rashe Tovet (abbreviations) are Chet-Taf-Chaf. What is so important about this abbreviation? The Arizal writes that this is the name of the angel that’s in charge of writing down the names for good life. So therefore, that abbreviation is very significant that we are eluding to the angel that will write us a good life.

Now, when you are doing it for yourself, you say Chalifati, Temurati, Kaparati. The custom is to do yourself first, and then your wife, and then your children. The reason is based on the Pasuk that says ‘Vechiper Ba’ado Uba’ad Beto.’ First for yourself, and then for your wife, and then for the others. And it makes sense. First you purify yourself, and then you do it for your children. Let the pure one come and purify the children that need the Kapara also. So therefore you do it for yourself, Chalifati, and then swing it over your wife and say, ‘Ze Chalifatech, Ze Temuratech, Ze Kaparatech.’ If you are doing it to your male child, you say, ‘Ze Chaliftcha, Ze Temuratecha, Ze Kaparatcha.’

It is our custom also at the time of the Kaparot to mention your name. Which means in the paragraph we say, for example, ‘Eliyahu Ben Rachel.’ You put your name in there. What’s the reason we name after the mother? How come we don’t say, name son of the father? So the Mefarshim said it’s always best to say the name of the mother because it’s always more certain, where the father is more questionable. Of course it’s not in our minds, but the mother is definite. So therefore when ever we say our name we always try to say it, name-the son of the mother. Like David Hamelech says, ‘Ani Avdecha Ben Amatecha.’

Now what’s the concept? The concept is not just to swing chickens over your head. It’s the time of Teshuva, that when you see exactly what they are doing to the chicken, where the chicken is innocent and he didn’t do anything. You’re the guilty guy. So you are supposed to think at that moment that every thing you are doing to the chicken, really they should have done to you. When they grab the chicken by the neck to slaughter it, that’s Cheneck. In the olden days where people were guilty of certain sins, they used to strangulate them. So when you see them grab the chicken by the neck , its Cheneck. When they make the slaughter with the knife, that’s Hereg. That’s the killing with the sword, which is another of the Mitot Bet Din. Now after they slaughter it, they throw it onto the ground in order to empty the blood. That’s called Sikela. And then after they burn it and roast it and eat it, that’s Esh. So therefore the 4 Mitot of Bet Din that you are watching them do to the chicken, you are supposed to imagine in your mind, that because of the transgressions, that these things were supposed to happen to us.

Now the question is, what do you do with them? Some have the custom to give it to the poor people. The Marhil was against this. The Maharil said, what should the poor people do now? You are giving them sin infested chickens to eat. What is that? Especially if they know what you are giving them, they will become offended. It’s not enough that you sinned, but now you want them to eat the chickens. So therefore, the Maharil was against giving the chickens to the poor people. He said, let the chickens go to the Shochet (butcher), and let him do what he wants. Or, he says, to eat them yourself, or better yet to take the value of the Kaparot and give that to the poor people, so that the poor people wouldn’t lose out either. During this week of Aseret Yime Teshuva, there is a time of Tzedaka also. So do the Kaparot for yourself so that he poor people shouldn’t lose out either.

Lastly, the Mitzvah or the Minhag of Kaparot has an added benefit, where there is a Mitzvah that we can fulfill where we don’t get an opportunity to do it all year around. And that’s the Mitzvah of Kisuy Hadam. We are looking for all the Mitzvot we can find this time of year, so that we can tip the accounting balance in our favor. There is a law that says when you slaughter a chicken and there’s blood on the ground, it’s a Mitzvah to take dirt and cover the blood. It’s an easy Mitzvah, and it’s a Mitzvah Ase from the Torah, where you are getting a credit for fulfilling a positive commandment from the Torah. And like I said, you don’t get an opportunity so often to do it. So therefore you should tell the Shochet, that you want to do the Kisuy Adam, where you pick up some dirt and say, ‘Asher Kidishanu Bemitzvotav Vitzivanu Al Kisuy Hadam Be'Afar’, and you cover it. If you are slaughtering many chickens, you can let your wife make the Beracha one time, and you can let your children make the Beracha one time in order to give them an education in order that they can fulfill this precious Mitzvah.

Just a note on the text which I saw in the Kaf Hachayim. When we say, ‘Ze Hatarnigol Yelech Lamita,’ This chicken will go to be slaughtered and killed, and enter will I into a good life. So the question is why would you say ‘Viecanes Ani?’ We should say, "Viane Acanes?’ Why is it backwards? It should be, I will enter. It’s for a very simple reason. Because if you would say, ‘Ze Hatarnigol Yelech Lamita Veani,’ it would sound like that both the chicken and you will go to death. So therefore nobody will read it wrong, and you and the chicken, will be saved from sharing the same fate. So we say, ‘Ze Hatarnigol Yelech Limita, Ve’ecanes Ani’, in order that there should be no mistake as to who is living and who is dying.

We should have the Zechut to fulfill this Mitzvah. Like I said, you have the whole week to do it. Preferably the custom is to do it on Erev Kippur. They start doing it on Saturday night. However since there are so many chickens to be slaughtered and there are not so many Shocahtim to do it, we are concerned that they might be tired, and they might not slaughter correctly, so we want to give the Shochatim to slaughter correctly. So therefore if you want to do it starting today or tomorrow or the next day, it would be proper to bring your family to follow Minhag Yisrael and Minhag Arizal in the custom of Kaparot.

 


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