On the one hand, I commend this fellow for finding a solution to a common problem. On the other hand, it rubs me wrong, just a bit, though I am not sure why - it seems on the face of it that this is harmless.
Behadrei found a notice someone posted in Hamodia in which the writer is informing the public of a solution he has come up with.
The problem being, often with kapparos - you know, that waving of the chicken over the head ceremony done between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur - the chickens that have been used already and filled with someone's sins often get mixed back into the pack of unused chickens (or even more previously used chickens), get taken to the next location and then get used again. And maybe they get reused more than once, being taken from location to location filling up with so many people's sins that these chickens' souls must turn deep black before they ever get shechted.
So this fellow has come up with a solution to the problem. His solution is to bring along a can of black spray paint to the kapparos center. After he waves his bird and relieves himself of his sins, he then sprays a bit of black on the chicken so that the chicken will be easily identifiable as having already been used. A used chicken.
This fellow writes to the public, via Hamodia newspaper letters, that they should:
1. pay attention when you do kapparos and make sure you are picking up a chicken that does not have any black spray paint on it
2. if possible, bring your own spray paint with you when you go to do your kapparos, and give your own chicken a little shpritz as well. The more people doing this, the less likely the chickens will get reused.
I actually laughed when I first read this. I hope he doesn't bring the wrath of PETA down upon him for this...
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