Monsey, NY – A religious organization has asked the county for permission again this year to hold a ceremony involving live chickens on a piece of land off Route 59 where a drive-in theater once stood.
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But the county, which gave the same group approval to use the land last year, has told organizer Moshe Lefkowitz that it couldn’t grant permission because it doesn’t own the property, according to a letter from the office of County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef.
Lefkowitz, who was fined $3,000 in January by the Rockland Board of Health for leaving the site strewn with blood, feces, feathers and other garbage that attracted flies and maggots, said today that the ceremony would be held again this year from Sept. 29 until Oct. 11, but he was not sure where. He said he was in contact with the owners of the Monsey drive-in site.
A lawyer representing the owners of the old drive-in property in Monsey said today that no one had contacted him to ask to use the property for the Kapparot ceremony.
The ritual is performed by some Jews in the days before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In it, a live chicken is held above a person’s head and swung or moved in a circle three times. The chicken is then slaughtered and its meat donated to the poor.
“No one ever asked us and if they did, the answer would be no,” said Joseph Appleman, a Cliffside Park, N.J., attorney who represents owners of the 22-acre site. “If we find anyone on that property, we will press charges for trespassing.”
Appleman said that he and the land owners were shocked to learn -months after the fact - that Rockland County had given permission to the Monsey group last year to keep and slaughter 11,000 chickens on the site for the ceremony last year.
“It’s not their land,” he said. “How could they give permission for someone to do something on private property?”
A spokeswoman for Vanderhoef said that the county was under the impression that it owned the land when organizers of the Kapparot ceremony approached them last year to ask for permission to use the site.
The county leases five or six acres of the 22-acre parcel for use as a park-and-ride site.
“We thought we owned it,” spokeswoman C.J. Miller said. “It was an honest mistake.”
We thought we owned it,” spokeswoman C.J. Miller said
SOUNDS VERY NORMAL
Kaporos on stolen land?? maybe do it over>>
This guy has chuzpha,
Wounder if will clean up this time, only 3,000 what about the cost of cleaning it up. hope they billed him. and how could someone leave it that way. doesn’t he know you are suppose to clean up your mess.
Preemptive strike, lets not have, this smell like antisemitism
such a big mitzvah — let’s do kapporos in the new $6m shul built in Monsey.
Imagine someone comes to their private property one day and finds thousands of birds being waved and slaughtered or biur chometz going on. The county didn’t know it did not own property — a comedy. what does harav chris st. lawrence have to say!!!
Monsey is so much fun……..and always a tumult about chickens. ha ha
come down people he is a rachmunas he is blind and thats his hole income for the year help him out a littele and WE will all have a KSIVA VCHASIMA TOVA
what a chilul hashem.
why couldnt the yidden clean up their disgusting mess after last year?
what good is doing kaparos if it comes with such a bizayon and a chilul hashem?
blood, feces ,feathers? clean up the mess man!
yomtee Says:
comments – arrow come down people he is a rachmunas he is blind and thats his hole income for the year help him out a littele
nobody has anything against him and we wish him well, just do it right, hire a few people to clean up, or have some bochreim clean up as a miztva.
that’s all
The Rabbonim should ban this pagan practice.
will there be a raid on the kapporos centers if there’s underage workers?! 🙂
“The Rabbonim should ban this pagan practice.”
11:07
What a big talmid chochom we’ve got in the house tonight.
PAGAN PRACTICE!?!?!?!? if it worked for my parents, its gonna work for me…
The bais yosrf says it too 1225
The Ramban was also opposed to this practice saying it came from pagan rites.
the Shaloh has some very sharp words for those who are mezalzel kapporos.
It’s minhag yisroel from the time of the geonim.
If the old drive in theater (now known as the “park and ride”) is privately owned, are we allowed to park there? The parking lot is full every day from cars from businessmen and students who take the Monsey bus to Manhattan. Are we allowed to do that?
Monsey123
The article states “The county leases five or six acres of the 22-acre parcel for use as a park-and-ride site.”
I guess they thought that the area behind the screen – or whatever you want to call it – there where they had the kaparos was still part of the property that they owned.
I’m sure if they would have cleaned up and the stench wouldn’t permeate the area for a few weeks there wouldn’t have been a problem.
Gotta Love Monsey Says:
such a big mitzvah — let’s do kapporos in the new $6m shul built in Monsey.
WELL THATS A KIDDUSH HASHEM BETTER THEN THE $10M HOUSE THAT WAS BUILT IN MONSEY
I am sorry to state that this is a wrong practice.
I woould never do it anyway..at least with money you dont disturb anyone, and no mess..how disgusting to leave this chilul Hashem…but its that way in all the Kappporos areas, and Monsey DOES stink of death for at least 3 weeks afterwards. If he had claned up, he would not have this problem now!!! Lesson learned….
A few points to straighten out. There are TWO opinions of our sages as to the practice of Kaporess, one holds it’s a pagan custom, and another holds that it is a good minhag. Everybody usually does what their parents did. Some do it with a fish and some with money. Some do both, with a chicken and money. Money doesn’t mean big money, it means even a few cents for Tzedokah, and say the nusach that this money should be a kaporah for the giver.
Another point is that whoever is in charge of the place has an obligation to clean up the place.
A third point is that because this is done in public it angers many non-Jewish and frei people, everyone for their own reason. So they try to paint those doing it as crazies. First, it is not SWUNG around the head, and if anyone does swing it around his head, then its “yotze schoroi behefseido”. Go into any chicken market and see how they chop off the heads of the chicken and ordinary people can’t take the sight.
Therfore I propose to only do it in a closed place out of the eyes of anti-Semites or narrowminded bleeding hearts. We have to recognize that we have a problem and find a solution.
TO Someone very normal (or so you call yourself!) — what an indivodual does with his/her money is none of your business (if soomeone wants to do what I would agree is wasting money by spending on mouse/car/leisure & sh’tusim – that’s between him/her & the One Above). BUT what the tzibur does with money collected by leaders for purpose of serving needs of tzibur is everyone’s business. when rabonim see fit to spend that type of money on shul after shul when tomchei shabbos is crying for money to feed members of the community……..that is appaling and a failure of leaders who want “kiddush hashem” in form of big shuls being built for them (which are beautiful btw and aside the point) while the greatest CHILLUL HASHEM possible.. YIDDEN WITH NO FOOD OR ELECTRICITY is happening all around us.
Truthiness, I have news for you. Yiden give a lot of mone away for food to help another Yid, and they also give a lot of money to build nice shuls. One DOESN’T take away from the other, our pockets and hearts are big enough for both. Mi Ke’amcho Yisroel. Say something good for a change.