Rabbi Shea Hecht in Brooklyn, N.Y., demonstrates how Orthodox Jews wave a chicken three times over their heads and say the prayer of Kapparot (or Kapparos, depending on heritage) in the days leading up to Yom Kippur.
Rabbi Shea Hecht plucks a chicken off a truck parked behind a synagogue in Queens, N.Y., and demonstrates how to swing a chicken.
“You take it by the wing,” says the white-haired Hecht, careful not to get the chicken's feathers or anything else on his black suit and tall black hat. “You put one wing over the other wing. See? It's very relaxed. And you swing it very softly over your head like this.”
Swinging Chicken Ritual Divides Orthodox Jews
Rabbi Shea Hecht in Brooklyn, N.Y., demonstrates how Orthodox Jews wave a chicken three times over their heads and say the prayer of Kapparot (or Kapparos, depending on heritage) in the days leading up to Yom Kippur.
Rabbi Shea Hecht plucks a chicken off a truck parked behind a synagogue in Queens, N.Y., and demonstrates how to swing a chicken.
“You take it by the wing,” says the white-haired Hecht, careful not to get the chicken’s feathers or anything else on his black suit and tall black hat. “You put one wing over the other wing. See? It’s very relaxed. And you swing it very softly over your head like this.”
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