With thanks to Rabbi Levi Garelik
Photos: The Rebbe At Kaparos
The Avner Institute presents photos of the Rebbe during Erev Yom Kippur Kaporos. Photos
ב"ה
Thursday, 18 Shevat, 5786
| February 5, 2026
When birds fly, their entire weight is held up by their wings, which in turn is held up by the air as they fly through it. When someone holds a chicken by the wings, that by itself is not tzar bali chiam. The Rebbe was mehudar and whoever emulates the way the Rebbe did it, is praiseworthy. That does not mean, any other way, is automatically, ‘wrong’. However, there is a right way, and a wrong way, to hold the wings. The right way, is for the person’s hand, to come up over the back of the chicken and hold… Read more »
The ones in the garbage are probably (hopefully) the ones that they messed up with the shchita.
That said, more care should be taken. Kapparos doesn’t push aside Tzar Ba’alei chayim, but it shouldn’t have to be a contradiction.
I would suggest putting up large posters of these pictures for the next kapporos so that everyone will see the proper way to do it
Look at our Rebbe do kapporos. The aidelkait, the gentleness, the presence and thought for the minhag.
Unfortunately kapporos today is a grand production with chickens thrown around like pieces of garbage, no sense of respect for the holiness involved in the act. And then the fact that they end up in the garbage instead of to tzedakah…
What would the Rebbe say??
Kapporos is no joke. Let’s live up to our name- baishonim, rachmonim, gomlei chasodim. Let’s be mindful, think about the source of the minhag, have some ahavas habriyos, uphold the minhag in a true Jewish way.
but never got close enough to see that the chicken’s feet were bound. The RaSHaG would also hold his chicken in a similar manner, not by the wings, however, even from far it was easy to tell his chicken was wrapped in a towel.
By how gently the Rebbe held the chicken!!!
The sensitivity yo a creature… is so obvious.