Unknown Fact About Kapparos

Statement by Rabbi Shea Hecht, chairman of the board of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE):

Even though the minhag of kapparos is now scrupulously observed by virtually every household in Crown Heights, few know of the Rebbe’s keen interest and unyielding support of kapparos beginning decades ago.

My father, Rabbi Jacob J. Hecht OBM, began facilitating the observance of kapparos in Crown Heights in the 1970s. In the years to come, the Rebbe would show incredible interest in every detail of kapparos, including the costs of operations, the number of birds sold, and who came to schlog kapparos.

Needless to say, the Rebbe strongly encouraged both my father and the NCFJE to grow and publicize kapparos as much as possible.

In light of this, I and the staff of NCFJE would like to take this moment to express our deepest gratitude to Hashem for giving us the tremendous zechus of fulfilling the Rebbe’s wishes for well over 30 years, and helping more than 6000 Crown Heights residents to fulfill the ancient and holy minhag of kapparos.

Of course, we express our humble appreciation to the 3 charitable men who made kapparos affordable to the entire community, Moshe Uri ben Malka, Yosef Yitzchok Halevi ben Miriam and Shmuel Chaim Dovid ben Chaya Sarah. May they be blessed with abundant spiritual and material goodness always.

We would also like to thank the editors of COLlive.com for being the sole venue that publicized the subsidized prices for the community.

At this time, NCFJE would like to make a heartfelt appeal for sponsors for kapparos of Erev Yom Kippur.

Our intention is that the cost of Erev Yom Kippur kapparos should be less than $10. I encourage those who are able to do so, to give this special gift to the people of Crown Heights and to the Rebbe at this auspicious time.

Rabbi Shea Hecht can be reached at (718) 735-0200.