Kapparot Kapparot

The night before Yom Kippur begins, there is a service called Slichot in which you ask individuals for forgiveness. Like all services, there was one held at the Kotel, the Western Wall.

On a normal day, the Kotel is crowded. There are the tourists who are seeing the Kotel for the first time. There are residents who are praying for a loved one. There are religious clans who are trying to complete the rest of the afternoon service in peace without tourists pushing them out of the way. Everyone is there for something different, whether its praying or awing. No matter who you are, though, there is a separation between men and women.

On this day, however, thousands of Jews flocked towards the Kotel at 11:30 at night. It was controlled in such a way that there was one way in and one way out. No other quarter was opened and all the shuks and restaurants were closed. Except for the ones in the Jewish quarter because Jews are always hungry. Throughout the main streets of Jerusalem and in the Old City, people were yelling "Kapparot, Kapparot" and chickens resided on the tables. Kipparot, which comes from the word "Kippur," means atonement. Tradition says to swing the chicken (or you can choose to use coins) around your head three times in order to rid of all sins. I did this unknowingly when I was stopped on the street and asked to give money to the poor. The rabbi said a blessing and swung the money around me three times.

I eventually made it down to the Kotel. For those who have been to there, there was no room to move from the beginning of the stairway/Menorah, but after pushing my way through, I made it to a spot where I could see and hear. There was a screen and a microphone so the prayers could be audible, but not understandable. In front of the Kotel were thousands of Jews praying to be absolved of their sins. I could literally see the black and white wave of shuckling (moving the body as one prays). I didn't know the people next to me or the people in front of me. But we were all Jews, American, Russian, Israeli. Secular, religious, ultra-orthodox. Together, we were at one of the most holy sites in the world and to be apart of it is just indescribable. This is why I love Israel. This is why I made Aliyah. Thousands of Jews together in one place all asking G-d for one thing. It is here that am proud to be Jewish.

For Yom Kippur, I went to a Sephardic synagogue. Besides some of the differences in the tunes, the only real difference from an Ashkenazic service were some of the prayers. However, some of the prayers that I did not recognize, I have come to like. Another difference that I keep seeing year after year is that there is more enthusiasm in the prayers. There may be a few pages of mumbling (that's where I usually kept getting lost), but as soon as a big song starts, the whole congregation puts their whole heart into it and belts it out so that the notes echo off the walls and can be heard from a few blocks away. And because there are four synagogues in the square, each prayer can be heard sequentially thus a continuation of prayers and notes are carried throughout the town.