What is the Chicken of Forgiveness?

The Chicken of Forgiveness is more commonly known as by the name kapparot. The words kapparot and kippur (as in Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement) share the same Hebrew root (ר-פ-כ), meaning “atonement,” an action offered in the hope of obtaining forgiveness for past trespasses and transgressions.

Professor of Classical Rabbinic Literature at Brandeis University, Reuven Kimelman, explains the ritual of kapparot “involves swinging a living chicken three times around your head while reciting a prayer. Traditionally, men use roosters and women hens, though pregnant women use both in case they're having a boy.” (Goodman)

Was Kapparot a Mediaeval Ritual?

No reference to kapparot can be found in the Torah or Talmud. However, the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 81b), outlines a third-century ritual similar to kapparot with the same goal and superstitious foundation.  This ritual involved circling one’s head seven times with a basket of beans or peas then tossing them into water. Drazin explains, 

The practice was called parpisa, similar to the English word “propitiate,” to make someone favorably inclined to one’s desires. The uneducated masses considered seven a magical number, moving in a circle a magical rite that produced a desired result, and water the dwelling place of the demons. Thus food was tossed in the water as a bribe for the demon.

The earliest reference to the ritual of swinging a chicken overhead on the morning of the eve of Yom Kippur first appears in 9th-century Babylonian Geonic literature. In a responsa (a rabbinic written answer to a question) Amram ben Sheshna, Gaon (head) of  the Jewish Talmud Academy of Sura (Babylonia). When asked about the kapparot ritual he stated it had been around for a very long time, but in regard to its origin he replied, "For we do not know." (Goodman)

Simcha of Vitry, France (circa 1055-1105 CE), a student of Rashi (circa 1040-1105 CE), authored the Machzor Vitry in which he stated his belief that the purpose of kapparot was “the same as the scapegoat sent to Azazel; both are bribes for the devil.” (Drazin) The word machzor   means cycle and indicates a book that not only contains daily prayers, but also prayers for days like Shabbat, holidays, and fast days. He also commented on Ten Commandments and Pirkei Avot, liturgical poems, descriptions of messianic times, and wrote legal sections on marriage, holidays, and ritual slaughter. This work includes many of Rashi’s opinions as well as those of other major authorities. It was and is still considered an essential source of French Jewish liturgy traditions. (Vitry)

The Shulchan Aruch - a written code of Jewish law compiled independently and simultaneously by two men, Yosef Caro (circa 1488-1575), a Sephardic rabbi who lived in Sefad, Israel and Rabbi Moshe Isserles, an Ashkenazi rabbi residing in Cracow, Poland. Rabbi Yosef’s work was published first and Rabbi Moshe decided to abandon his work and add his thoughts to Rabbi Yosef’s work, noting where Sephardic and Ashkenazi law diverged. This collaboration created one reference source useable by Jews worldwide. (Posner)

Any investigation into Jewish cultural, secular, or religious practice presents unique and common challenges. Because of a tendency to historical marginalization and religious suppression, direct evidence for most Jewish practice, especially prior to the mid 20th century is often limited. The existence of direct visual evidence is often non-existent due to the biblical prohibition against graven images. Written evidence in the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch may be plentiful or may not, but by its very nature (rabbinical commentary and interpretation) may be complex and require extensive investigation. Therefore, any study of Jewish history, requires an interdisciplinary approach combining textual, archaeological, and comparative cultural sources to an overall picture of what may have been. 

Information for this demonstration was obtained through online research (i.e., museum sites, academic libraries, general information sources, etc), books at hand (I have a decent collection of Judaic literature), and books borrowed and purchased.

Who Would Do Such a Thing to a Poor Chicken and Why?

Jews, both Ashkenazi and Sephardi, all over the world from as early as the 9th century sought to gain G-d’s grace in this way.Kapparot is done by or for Jewish men, women, and children of all ages.

Goodman explains the use of a chicken. 

Yom Kippur is the day when God decides whether you will live or die based on your and others' sins. As it happens, the word for rooster is gever, which can also mean man. Kimelman said this made it possible to see the chicken as a stand-in for a human being (in addition to being a stand-in for a goat). The practice could potentially save your life, it was believed.

Not every Jew participated or believed in the kapparot ritual. “Many rabbis believed it was akin to magic and idolatry. On Yom Kippur, Jews are supposed to ask God for forgiveness. You aren't supposed to let a chicken take the fall for you.” (Goodman) 

How To Perform the Ritual of Kapparto

Kapparot requires the careful circling of a chicken over one’s head three times three, for a total of nine circles, while reciting the appropriate text. It is important to ask for assistance if needed; improperly holding the chicken may be painful to the chicken, violating Jewish law regarding the care of animals. There is an introductory, three-part text said while holding the chicken, but prior to raising it over one’s head:

Children of man who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, bound in misery and chains of iron - He will bring them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and will sunder their bonds.

Foolish sinners, afflicted because of their sinful ways and their wrongdoings; their soul loathes all food and they reach the gates of death - they cry out to the Lord in their distress; He saves them from their afflictions.

He sends forth His word and heals them; He delivers them from their graves. Let them thank the Lord for His kindness, and [proclaim] His wonders to the children of man.

The chicken is then carefully raised (or held by someone else) over one’s head and the following statements are made while making a circle motion with the chicken, one circle for each of three declarative exchange statements:

This is my exchange (circle the chicken),

This is my substitute (circle the chicken),

This is my expiation (circle the chicken).

Boys/Men: This rooster shall go to death and I shall proceed to a good, long life, and peace.

Girls/Women: This hen shall go to death and I shall proceed to a good, long life, and peace.

No Chicken? A fish or money may be substituted and the wording changed appropriately.

This fish shall go into water and I shall proceed to a good, long life, and peace.

This money shall go to charity and I shall proceed to a good, long life, and peace.

The chicken is then slaughtered in a humane fashion, according to Jewish law, then donated appropriately to the poor who eat it as any other chicken. Alternatively, the chicken could be sold to a non-Jew and its value donated to charity.

ANALYSIS

Maimonides taught, “It is easier to feel that defilement has gone if we have had some visible representation of its departure.” (Sacks)

The Chicken of Forgiveness is not an isolated ritual but part of a broader tradition of symbolic practices involving animals that date back to the Temple period in Jerusalem when the High Priest performed rites on behalf of the Jewish people. While those rituals are no longer practiced due to the destruction of the Temple, the greater, underlying purpose for these practices differed from the idolatrous animal sacrifices meant to satisfy or bribe demons or deities. The difference of purpose is accountability not transference, blame, or avoidance. The chicken is not the vehicle of forgiveness, G-d grace is solely responsible for that. The chicken is not a proxy, despite the words said during the ritual; holding a chicken and then seeing it slaughtered, contemplating, “There but for the grace of G-d go I,” can have a profound effect on one’s attitude going into the day of Yom Kippur.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains human resistance and accountability as follows: 

“It wasn’t me. Or if it was, I didn’t mean it. Or I had no choice.” That, in part, is what the story of Adam and Eve is about. Confronted by their guilt, the man blames the woman, the woman blames the serpent. Sin plus denial of responsibility leads to paradise lost. The supreme expression of the opposite, the ethic of responsibility, is the act of confession. “It was me, and I offer no excuses, merely admission, remorse, and a determination to change.” That in essence is what the High Priest did on behalf of the whole nation, and what we now do as individuals and communities, on Yom Kippur.

Kapparot is not about transferring guilt onto an animal. The Chicken of Forgiveness is not a scapegoat bearing blame, but a symbolic, physical prompt that makes the process of repentance tangible and emotionally real. It demands engagement rather than passive reflection.

Whether in medieval times or modern times, the ritual persists because it addresses a constant human struggle: Imperfection leading to life paralysis. Kapparot counters that tendency by transforming repentance into something seen, felt, and consciously embraced. This type of self reflection can only lead to a “good, long life, and peace.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Drazin, I. (n.d.). The non-Jewish origin of kapparot. The Times of Israel Blogs. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-non-jewish-origin-of-kapparot/

Eisenberg, R. L. (2004). The JPS guide to Jewish traditions. Jewish Publication Society.

Goodman, L. (2021, August 31). Kapparot: The Yom Kippur tradition of chicken twirling. Brandeis University. https://www.brandeis.edu/jewish-experience/holidays-religious-traditions/2021/august/kapparot-the-yom-kippur-tradition-of-chicken-twirling.html [Accessed 04/24/2026]

Kapparah. (1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk & Wagnalls. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9204-kapparah [Accessed 04/24/2026]

Kedem Auction House. (2023). The whole Jewish belief: Anti-Semitic work by Antonius Margaritha (Augsburg, 1530, first edition). https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/The-Whole-Jewish-Belief-Anti-Semitic-Work-by-Antonius-Margaritha-Augsburg-1530-First-Edition-The-First-Translation-of-the-Jew/98-whole_jewish-27.7.21-kedem [Accessed 04/24/2026]

Mellby, J. (2013, November 19). Der gantz Jüdisch glaub. Graphic Arts (Princeton University Library). https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2013/11/19/der-gantz-judisch-glaub/ [Accessed 04/24/2026]

Posner, M. (n.d.). 14 facts about the code of Jewish law (Shulchan Aruch). Chabad.org. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4305141/jewish/14-Facts-About-the-Code-of-Jewish-Law-Shulchan-Aruch.htm [Accessed 04/24/2026]

Sacks, J. (n.d.). The scapegoat: Atonement and purification. Chabad.org. https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/1846869/jewish/The-Scapegoat-Atonement-and-Purification.htm [Accessed 04/24/2026]

Text of kapparot in Hebrew and English. (n.d.). Chabad.org.https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/320228/jewish/Text-of-Kapparot.htm [Accessed 04/24/2026]

The Kaparot ceremony. (n.d.). Chabad.org. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/989585/jewish/Kaparot.htm [Accessed 04/24/2026]

The Times of Israel. (2025, September 25). 14th-century “machzor” book at Israel’s National Library reveals lost Yom Kippur prayers. https://www.timesofisrael.com/14th-century-machzor-book-at-israels-national-library-reveals-lost-yom-kippur-prayers/ [Accessed 04/24/2026]

Vitry, S. ben S. (n.d.). Machzor Vitry. Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Machzor_Vitry [Accessed 04/24/2026]