USDA Refuses To Outlaw Jewish Chicken Slaughter Ritual [Picture--NSFWV, Video]

Kapparot, a pre-Yom Kippur ritual of swinging a slaughtered chicken around one’s head as a way of purging sins, has caught some flack recently.

The ritual has a rich past of disapproval, making this High Holiday season no different from the rest. This year, in particular, the Kapparot ritual has resulted in two lawsuits: an anti-Kapparot suit filed by animal-rights activists in New York City, and a pro-Kapparot suit filed by a Chabad congregation in Detroit, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Those in favor of keeping Kapparot as “status quo” won their suit in New York, with New York State Supreme Court Justice Debra James ruling last week that there wasn’t enough evidence to support that Kapparot was a nuisance to the general public. The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos filed the suit back in July, accusing New York City’s police and health departments by blocking off streets and sidewalks, while ignoring city and statewide laws that regulate health and animal cruelty issues.         source

According to wikipedia:

In one variant of the practice of Kapparot, the item to be donated to charity is a cockerel. In this case, the cockeral would be swung overhead while still alive. After the Kapparot ritual is concluded, the cockeral would be treated as a normal kosher poultry product, ie., it would be slaughtered according to the laws of shechita. It would then be given to charity, for consumption at the pre-Yom Kippur meal. In modern times, this variant of the ritual is performed with a rooster for men, and a hen for women

For some, this is a religious freedom issue; for  others, it  is an issue  of animal cruelty  This a flashpoint issue, with religioud rights proponents and animal rights activists meeting head on in the court system, The question is: which side will prevail–religious freedom or animal rights?