Talk back: Should chickens be sacrificed for religious purposes?

1/10

A worker with Bait Aaron tries to capture a loose chicken where dozens of caged chickens were being used in the Orthodox Jewish tradition of kaparot. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

2/10

A chicken in a cage with dozens of others being used in the Orthodox Jewish tradition of kaparot. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

3/10

A worker with Bait Aaron transfers a chicken to a cage where the animals were being used in the Orthodox Jewish tradition of kaparot in an alley in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

4/10

A woman looks behind a makeshift curtain where chickens were once being slaughtered in the Orthodox Jewish tradition of kaparot in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

5/10

A man walks by cages of chickens in a lot on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. During the 10 days of the Jewish High Holy Days, some Jews ask forgiveness by symbolically transferring their sins to a chicken that is then slaughtered. Demonstrators recently led a protest of the practice, which is called kaparot, kapparot or kaparos, saying it is a cruel custom that has no place in the modern world. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

6/10

An Orthodox Jew rides his bicycle past a Pico Boulevard lot where the chicken-killing ritual called kaparot takes place. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

7/10

Caged chickens await slaughter in a Pico Boulvard lot. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

8/10

Wendie Dox anf her nephew, Derek Dox, who oppose the kaparot practice, watch the ritual in a lot on Pico Boulevard. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

9/10

Demonstrators outside the Ohel Moshe synagogue on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles protest the ritual killing of chickens. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

10/10

A protester gets into a debate with a security guard outside the Ohel Moshe synagogue during a demonstration against ritual chicken-killing. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

By Matt Stevens and Martha Groves

Sept. 12, 2013 12:05 PM PT

For many years, some orthodox Jews have performed ritual chicken sacrifice in the days leading up to Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

The practice, known variously as kaparot, kapparot or kaparos, was originally meant to jolt practitioners into recognizing their mortality. Today, some see it as a way to symbolically transfer a person’s sins to an animal.

The ritual is occurring in hastily built plywood rooms and other structures in traditional Orthodox Jewish communities from Pico-Robertson to Brooklyn. But this year, activists have launched one of the largest, most organized efforts ever in the Southland to protest the practice.

Animal rights activists and some liberal Jews say the custom is inhumane, paganistic and out of step with modern times. But defenders of kaparot say they will not change their longstanding tradition. Assuming everything in compliance with code and kosher law, most rabbis say they would not consider the slaughter of chickens as animal mistreatment.

From the story on the controversy Wednesday by Times staff writers’ Martha Groves and Matt Stevens:

Over the weekend, a coalition of faith leaders and animal rights proponents held a “compassionate kaparot ceremony” during which rabbis used money rather than chickens for the ritual, an accepted alternative.

Since the ceremony, activists have taken to Pico Boulevard each evening, handing out fliers, setting up candlelight vigils and even bargaining with one kaparot manager to rescue chickens on the chopping block in exchange for protesting more peacefully.

The demonstrations have sometimes gotten testy. Protesters and kaparot managers alike contend they’ve been peppered with anti-Semitic slurs.

In one instance Monday night, police were called after a woman refused to exit a parking lot where she heard the screeching of fowl. By the time police arrived, she had walked down the block. No one was injured, and no arrests were made.

Is animal sacrifice for religious purposes still appropriate in the 21^st century? Let us know in the comments section below or by tweeting your thoughts @LANow.

ALSO:

Number of homes destroyed by Clover fire more than doubles

Manager who robbed his own McDonald’s confessed, police say

‘Very difficult’ decision made to halt search for Oceanside boater

Twitter: @MattStevensLAT

matt.stevens@latimes.com