How I Slaughtered Chickens

On Judgement Day

When I was a young boy, I was taught that on the eve of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, I could transfer my sins to a chicken.

And so during the Yamim Nora’im, the Jewish Days of Judgement, I would say a prayer and wave a chicken over my head, in a tradition known as kapparot. The chicken would absorb my sins and was slaughtered.

Instead of facing the present reality of the consequences of my actions, I internalized that I could just find a chicken to slaughter.

But deep down, I knew that wasn’t how it worked.

The Days of Judgement are upon us, and this time chickens won’t work.

כיפור
كَفَّارَة

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