Field Of Dreams

 

The photo above was taken in Ramat Gan Israel outside of a synagogue, the day before Yom Kippur.  Here are the dead roosters used in the kapparot ritual.

    We are approaching that special time of the year-the time for kapparot.  Kapara כפרה in Hebrew is atonement-just as in the word Yom Kippur.  The custom of kapparot goes back to the time of the Tanach.  Rabbi Yosef Caro ("Maran") writes in the official code of Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch (The Set Table): 

שולחן ערוך אורח חיים הלכות יום הכפורים סימן תרה

מה שנוהגים לעשות כפרה בערב יום כיפורים לשחוט תרנגול על כל בן זכר ולומר עליו פסוקים, (א) יש למנוע המנהג

What we customarily do in atonement for the day before Yom Kippor is to slaughter a rooster for every male child and recite verses, one should refrain from this custom.

The Mishna Brurah explains this statement:

משנה ברורה סימן תרה ס"ק א
(א) יש למנוע המנהג-משום [א] חשש דרכי האמורי

"one should refrain from this custom"-for fear of the ways of the Amorites. 

In his introduction, Maran explains that he didn't intend to change existing customs.  Later, the Kaf Ha-Chaim כף החיים rules that the tradition of kapparot is permitted in the Sefardic custom.

Masorti-Not To Be Confused With Traditional

Recently the "conservative movement," which in Israel calls it self "Masorti" (traditional), has taken upon itself to criticize the kapporot ritual:

Quoting from the Shulchan Aruch, the definitive codex of Jewish law written by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the 16th century, Cymet said that the custom was considered a type of idolatry.

Ironically it is the Ramah, the Ashkenazic opinion who concluded that the ritual was legitimate.  Clearly Israel's "traditional" movement has broken with tradition.