Shlugging kaporos and other confessions, Jewish Style

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“Nothing shakes up the kishkas as much as the confessions of Yom Kippur.

“So intrinsic are they to Yom Kippur that they are supposed to appear in every service — ten times in all, which is thought to correspond to the ten times the high priest invoked the Tetragrammaton in confessing for himself, his household, and the whole people on Yom Kippur.”

So teaches us, Rabbi Reuven Kimmelman in a recent essay entitled, “Confession and Its Discontents” [“Sin and Confession in Judaism” Jewish Lights, 2012].

With Yom Kippur now upon us, it will be the purpose of this week’s essay to focus briefly on two new works that deal directly with two important rituals that are exclusive to this week, Kaporos, and Viduy.

The third volume in the “Praying with Joy” series by Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis is sub-titled, “Viduy ­— The Essential Yom Kippur Service.”

In this work of 234 pages, the author devotes the first half of the book to a commentary on the alphabetically listed ritual that serves to open the confessional service. The second and predominant Al Chet portion is devoted to an extensive commentary on the Viduy itself, based, in part, upon the interpretations by the Vilna Gaon and the Chida.

To better understand Rabbi Travis’ method, please note from the following commentary two specific sins that we recite as part of this ritual, that of exercising power, and that of the sin that we commit before G-d through the desecration of G-d’s name – Chilul Hashem.

“Chilul Hashem is the creation of a vacuum where Hashem’s presence is not recognized. The Gemara says that a Torah scholar who gives a pleasant impression to others sanctifies Hashem’s name, and if he acts offensively he desecrates the Divine name, which is a chilul Hashem. The act of learning Torah increases the recognition of Hashem’s presence in the world, and brings one to Kiddush Hashem, which is the opposite of chilul Hashem.”

“In reality, this does not apply only to Torah scholars. The Jewish people are called ‘a light unto the nations,’ and every Jew should be living proof that Hashem’s Torah develops a refined personality. The ways of the Torah are ‘ways of pleasantness’ and the conduct of Torah Jews should reflect this.”

Given the recent horrific corrupt ethical and financial scandals within the organizational structure of our community, these teachings and observations by Rabbi Travis should serve as a lesson for teshuva and repentance for both the community at large, as well as for the individual malefactors; both for those accused and the self-admitted.

Rabbi Travis concludes this teaching with the following admonition:

“At times we may want a particular outcome, and act ‘pushy’ in order to get our way. While it is appropriate to be persistent at times, in general, being pushy is not the Torah way.”

Chickens versus money

“Zeh Kaporosi: The Custom of Kaporos” [Mosaica Press, 2013] by Rabbi Avrohom Reit, is the first English language treatment of the Yom Kippur eve ritual of Kaporos.

According to Rabbi Reit, the waving of a chicken over one’s head is certainly an unusual ritual.

“There isn’t anything even remotely similar among the rest of our lifecycle customs. Yet, as minhagin go, kaporos is among the oldest.” This work goes into great detail in describing its depth of meaning, and claimed lofty ideals. This work describes its origins, sources, debates, and symbolisms in clear and concise language.

To this writer, the one most interesting chapter is the one entitled, “Using Money: An Analysis of Using Money For Kaporos.” Rather than just summarize the author’s opinions, I will quote several relevant parts for your edification.

“Some people attempt to defend the practice of using money with the claim that at least all of the money goes to help the poor, whereas with chickens, besides the innards which are cast away, there is also a significant amount of money wasted on overhead.”

Further on, Rabbi Reit briefly details his historical take on the use of money as a surrogate for the chickens in this ritual and concludes with his opinion as to the religious veracity of this action.

“It is believed, though, that the new ‘custom’ of using money for kaporos developed in America, primarily because waving a chicken around one’s head was perceived as unbecoming against the backdrop of modern American society. The migration of the chicken markets away from the cities, creating a scarcity of live chickens in Jewish population centers, also contributed to the shift toward using money. It is assumed that whoever pioneered the idea of money did so based on inspiration from the Chaei Adam. Under the circumstances, it was better to use money than allow such a precious custom to fall by the wayside.”

Rabbi Reit concludes this issue with the following rather firm Chumra – style conclusion:

“It remains unquestionable that the authentic way to fulfill the minhag and retain all its benefits is by using live chicken. The use of money in lieu of kaporos is no more than a recent artificial substitute of the minhag.”

I leave it to you to evaluate the true worth of this opinion.

Rabbi Reit’s learning background included study under Rav Dovid Feinstein and Rav Elimech Bluth, as well as having studied under the sainted Rav Tuvia Goldstein of blessed memory at his famed Yeshiva Emek Halachah.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Among some new works related to this season are “Tal Chayim: A Practical Guide to Self-Improvement” by Rabbi Shmuel Tal, rosh yeshiva of Toras HaChayim of Yad Binyamin. This sefer is written in the mode of a long and detailed mussar shmuss (ethics lecture) which would deserve your attention with but one qualification, that being, the complete exclusion to any reference to the teachings of Rav Kook’s work, Orot Teshuvah, within this work.

Also, please note the essay by Prof. Ranon Katzoff of Bar Ilan University entitled, “U-Netaneh Tokef” that just came out in English on the university web site.

And, on that same site there has just appeared an essay entitled, “Sukkot as the Festival Concluding Two Cycles of Holidays” by Rabbi Schubert Spero.

Alan Jay Gerber is a resident of the Five Towns.