New York Judge Allows Orthodox Jews to Continue Ritual Chicken Slaughter

A Manhattan judge has denied an injunction that sought to halt the ritual chicken slaughter performed annually by Orthodox Jews, called "Kaporos," according to ABC New York and Newsday.

A group of Brooklyn residents calling themselves The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos filed a lawsuit against various Jewish institutions and leaders in August. They hoped to save the 50,000 chickens expected to be slaughtered during the upcoming Yom Kippur holiday in late September.

On Monday, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Debra James reportedly ruled that the ritual can go forward as planned.

In the Kaporos ritual, believers clutch live chickens by their feet and swing them overhead while reciting prayers — a process that is believed to transfer man's sins to a chicken. Afterward, the chickens are brutally slaughtered, and the believers thus absolved of their transferred sins.

Opponents of the ritual have said it turns Brooklyn sidewalks into "makeshift slaughterhouses" and creates a public health "epidemic" by exposing nearby residents to "the stench, the litter, the filth, the flood, the feces, the feathers."

An attorney for Rabbi Shea Hecht, named in the lawsuit, argued to the New York Daily News that "you don't get sick from inhaling chickens" and that "this is make-believe hysteria about something that doesn't exist."

On Monday, Karen Davis, president of the alliance's parent group, United Poultry Concerns, told Patch: "I'm completely disappointed with her ruling, but I can't say I'm surprised, just because of the nature of things."

"We're very sorry to hear of her decision, but our plans are to go forward as best we can with the legal options we have," she said. "We sought an injunction for this year, but the lawsuit encompasses what we hope will be an ultimate injunction."