By COLlive reporter
Jewish residents of Antwerp, Belgium, are reporting that local authorities are not allowing for the ancient ritual of Kapparos to take place before Yom Kippur this year.
The Jewish community was preparing to conduct the customary atonement ritual using live chickens on Motzoei Shabbos in a village some 35 km from the city.
But the Belgian Ministry of Agriculture announced that there was no permit to carry out Kapparos even outside of Antwerp as previously agreed, leaving the Jewish community in limbo.
This decision followed another high controversial regulation, that was been by many as anti-Jewish, to ban shechita (slaughtering according to Jewish law) in the country. The community was planning to send the kapparos chickens to France for shechita.
“We hope to find a solution in the next day or so,” commented Rabbi Shabtai Slavaticki, Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Antwerp.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Director of the Rabbinical Centre for Europe that is based in Brussels, said he has seen this coming.
“As we have warned, the law against shechita in Belgium is causing a real violation of the religious freedom of Jews in this country,” he said.
“At this time, we are working on a number of opportunities and are hoping for a change on this issue. Unfortunately, the Jewish people are accustomed to decrees. We are assured that with Hashem’s help we will succeed.”
time for Jews to get out of there
Chabad still has to be there for those that can’t
These decrees are not limited unfortunately to Belgium only! Time only for משיח NOW!!
Just as Belgian Jews do for funerals, because Belgium doesn’t allow burying in the earth.
just use fish or money save the chickens
If that’s impossible then a fish is OK bedieved, but it is NOT a satisfactory solution. Money is not really an option; if you can’t do kaporos then sure, tzedaka is a wonderful thing to do instead, but it’s not kaporos. The whole concept of a life for a life doesn’t apply to money!