Brooklyn, NY – Kaparot Services Suspended In Borough Park After Thousands Of Chickens Suffocate In Heat

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    Crates of new chickens at the Skwere Mosdos shul on 45th St. in Borough Park, on Sept. 12 2013. Photo Courtesy of the NY Daily NewsBrookly, NY – Kaparot services in parts of Borough Park were negatively affected Thursday after thousands of chickens awaiting slaughter suffocated in their cages due to the intense heat.

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    The NEW YORK DAILY NEWS (http://nydn.us/1608Tdp) reports that thousands of chickens had been stacked in crates sitting on sidewalks and in alleyways throughout Hasidic neighborhoods awaiting slaughter leading up to Yom Kippur, which begins Friday evening.

    “We lost about 2,000 chickens because of the heat,” said an employee from Skwere Mosdos, a 45th St., Borough Park shul. “It’s a big loss.”

    Other locations scrambled to inform the public about the sudden lack of availability of chickens.

    “Due to wether condition, a lot of chickens died,” read an email sent by yeshiva Machzikai Hadas on 43rd. St. to its customers. “Sorry for the inconvenient (sic),” the email added.

    Still others jumped into damage control, possibly anticipating criticism from animal rights activists who routinely challenge the ritual.

    “We make sure they’re comfortable and well fed,” said 32 year-old Chaim Singer, who insisted that shade and water had been provided for the birds that perished.

    But that didn’t stop critics, many of whom were quick to comment.

    “I am horrified, I am upset, but I am not surprised,” said Rina Deych, 57, from the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, which pushes for the use of coins instead of chickens.

    Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns, called it a small “blessing” for the chickens which she said are often crammed into cages, leaving them susceptible to harm.

    “Their misery is so totally compounded that the best thing to happen to them under the circumstances is to die,” Davis said. “They didn’t have to suffer the further pain an indignity.”


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    64 Comments
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    jayclass
    jayclass
    10 years ago

    Seems nobody cared back then when millions of mothers fathers and children were suffocated by the nazis 70 years ago nor does anyone care of the tousands being suffocated now in Syria. What a stupid world we live in!

    PowerUp
    PowerUp
    10 years ago

    While its clear that “tzar balie chaim” is a D’oireisa, one thing is clear, that not only did the torah encourage to kill animals through slaugter, its also the essence of the “avodah” in beis hamikdosh,

    Being that that’s the fact, we can never find common ground with PETA and similier organizations.
    But we have to make sure not to make a chilul hashem, what happened this week all over NY, that specificly on wednesday a lot of chickens died, I don’t think it was neglect, I think it was an unforseen situation.

    BaruchBendit
    BaruchBendit
    10 years ago

    We shouldn’t be surprised.

    For years and years we have been warned and warning about the danger of mistreating animals, but to no avail.

    Hopefully, HaShem will have more rachmonos on the people of Boro Park than the people have on the chickens.

    bored
    bored
    10 years ago

    They didn’t die from heat, they died from everyone’s aveiros! Oy this omen is worse than the groundhog seeing his shadow.

    Aher2012
    Aher2012
    10 years ago

    If they do not understand that chickens are living creatures, that feel pain and suffer, what’s the point of this entire questionable ritual? Since they view these chickens as THINGS, which cannot feel, why not just use money instead?

    qazxc
    qazxc
    10 years ago

    Zol zein a kapparah!

    Facts1
    Facts1
    10 years ago

    Who are these forces of evil that only seek to amplify anything bad in the Orthdox community. Somehow you’ll never see an article about Hatzallah, Chaveirim etc.

    10 years ago

    these chickens died in their own sins. שלוח מצוה אינו נזוקין there will be 2000 more coming, wich will become ריינע כפרות. they will be slaughtered eaten and blessed according the jewish ritual.. and than מיתתן זו כפרתן

    DovidTheK
    DovidTheK
    10 years ago

    Which idiots left the chicken crates out in 90℉ in the sun.
    That’s 2000 aveiros this moron must do teshuva for. So he’ll just shlug kaporos and poof away go the aveiros.

    Crazykanoiy
    Crazykanoiy
    10 years ago

    Perhaps it would be better to stop bringing chicken into densley populated cities. Let whomever wants to do kaporos with a chicken go out to a farm in NJ or upstate NY where the animals can be handeled properly. Kaporos in the shtetl never required mass transport of chickens to an inhospitable city environment.

    Fullabulla
    Fullabulla
    10 years ago

    Disgraceful, horroible chillul Hashem. We are embarrassing ourselves and ridiculing the rsh”o before the nations.

    Barzilai
    Active Member
    Barzilai
    10 years ago

    Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns,… said. “They didn’t have to suffer the further pain an indignity.”
    Chickens. Indignity. It’s unfortunate that legitimate concerns are being voiced by in a manner that elicits laughter instead of serious thought.

    10 years ago

    Obviously these chickens don’t take our aveirus, since we spend all day in shull tomorrow, it’s just a symbol, and that being the case why don’t we use money instead? I stopped this chicken ritual a while ago, after i just couldn’t stand the horrible smell, I couldn’t say holy words in that environment, I would think that years ago people took chickens themselves to the shochet and before they did, they did kapores, in today’s day of age, trucking them in. The horrible smell the tzar for the chickens, the chillul hashem it causes, etc etc. It’s not worth it,

    10 years ago

    You are right- it is both tzar baalei chaim and a chillul Hashem. These so-called chasidim will have a lot to do teshuva for on YomKippur.

    itzik18
    itzik18
    10 years ago

    there is no reason one chicken can’t be reused for a lot of people, sharing chickens would save tzaar baalei chaim, but people make it with individual.chickens for $

    10 years ago

    I feel terrible things will happen to our people now. This is karma. These chickens were innocent and suffered much.

    Yaakov2
    Yaakov2
    10 years ago

    The Torah is the wisdom of G-d and Chicken who are Shected to be eaten and the money used for Tzedaka or the Chicken given to poor people to eat, is Al Pi Torah.

    Without Torah – From a PETA point of view, they are HYPOCRITES, to only stick up for Animal rights for “large animals” like Chickens, but don’t mind rodents and insects, killed with insecticide-“torture” methods.

    By Torah’s EMES Standards, needless Tzar Baaley Chayim applies even to insects

    Peta and their sympathizers have proven themselves over and over again that they are untruthful, even even by their won standards of their own flawed thinking

    Peta’s SHEKER and their sympathizers did nothing to protest the millions killed during world war II, nor do they protest any people (whom they equate with animals) being killed and subjected to suffering and torture in Syria and all over the world

    If PETA sees an animal beheading, they make video’s and make the biggest stink about it, but daily human beheading in all Arab countries, they are not bothered by that at all and do not utter one word of protest for that

    PEAT are Antisemitic because 99.99% of all animals killed is for Goyish Meat eaters, NOT Shechita

    Mark Levin
    Mark Levin
    10 years ago

    I would love to shlug kaporos with those animal lefts wackos and slam them into a brick wall when I am done.

    OscarMadison
    OscarMadison
    10 years ago

    The Chillul Hashem machine strikes again. Everything they touch becomes a debacle. Call them on anything and they call you a nazi. They’re an out-of-control cult that Hashem is going to handle shortly.

    10 years ago

    Many things are wrong with this picture. If you are truly concerned with chickens cooped up for days on end in all kinds of weather, why would you eat chicken and their eggs which are mass produced this way all year long? The attitude some people have towards the food Hashem had provided us is appaling.

    anonymous23
    anonymous23
    10 years ago

    I’m proud to do ksporos with a healthy chicken but to starve chickens to death is beyond disgusting and the sane goes for aborting babies.

    My2Cents
    My2Cents
    10 years ago

    As of a few years ago I don’t do Kaporas anymore with chickens. After speaking with someone who worked with 3 different places in Brooklyn told me what goes on there. He will not work at another kaporas center either. He said the way these chickens were handled was beyond disgusting. Sitting in their own feces, cramped way too many in a cage where they cant even turn their head, unbearable temperatures, and a very high % of the shechted chickens ending up rotting, besides the stink and mess it causes in the neighborhood.

    Overall, this became a business for the kaporas centers who don’t care about the mitzvah, but rather how much they can make.

    I agree with the poster above that this should not be allowed in heavy populated areas. Nothing to do with PETA, I think PETA is a fraud and I love a good piece of chicken or meat like the next guy but I think more harm is being done here than good. It’s time to rethink the placement and staff of these Kaporas centers before the government gets involved and decides it for us.

    sheepheadsbayyid
    sheepheadsbayyid
    10 years ago

    people are always looking for sign from hashem maybe this was one and he is saying do not do this anymore.

    5TResident
    Noble Member
    5TResident
    10 years ago

    What an awful Chilul Hashem. These people are going to think that we are barbarians. Something has to change.

    10 years ago

    How about the millions of abused domestic animals like dogs, cats, caged birds etc. any outcries there to ?

    MosheF
    MosheF
    10 years ago

    The sight and smell of these Kapores slaughters contributed to my giving up entirely on eating Fleish. This minhag perhaps made sense in the old Shtetel when anyway people shechted their their own food. It certainly has no place in today’s modern cities, and hopefully one day soon will be banned. Maybe this incident will contribute to more people coming to their senses and realizing that handling and killing chickens in this way does way more harm than good. With or without the dead chickens, but obviously preferably without them, best wishes for a Gemar Chasima Tova!

    proud-mo-israeli
    proud-mo-israeli
    10 years ago

    2 days before Yom Kippur, this clearly is a bad sign for the community. If i was them I would be very worried about the coming year. What is it in their behavior that caused this tragedy to happen?

    Bukharian
    Bukharian
    10 years ago

    this article was published .. in Daily News. yet again in gentiles eyes we made a huge hillul Hashem, time to find other ways to make a kaparot. there are more stringent halachot we need to follow such as cruelty to animals and one animal cannot see another being slaughtered im sure this doesnt happen in Borough Park!

    10 years ago

    In crown heights kapores was cancelled on wed due to the heat for this reason