A Los Angeles Federal Court judge granted\u00a0a temporary restraining order Friday\u00a0preventing the performance of\u00a0the Jewish ceremony of kapparot, an annual pre-Yom Kippur ritual in which a chicken is swung from its legs and then slaughtered.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge Andre Birrote Jr. granted the order in response to a lawsuit filed last month on behalf of United Poultry Concerns against the Chabad of Irvine and an unnamed rabbi.<\/p>\n
Kapparot is an ancient ritual practiced between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur during\u00a0which a chicken is swung over the head and then slaughtered in a symbolic transference of a person\u2019s sins in advance of the Jewish Day of Atonement. \u00a0The meat of the chicken is then donated to charity. \u00a0Some perform the ritual using money in place of a chicken, the money\u00a0is donated to charity.<\/p>\n
The judge set a hearing for Thursday in which Chabad Irvine will have the chance to contest a preliminary injunction that would prevent the ritual. \u00a0Yom Kippur begins on Tuesday evening and ends on Wednesday night so the injunction essentially prevents the ritual from being performed this year.<\/p>\n
Lawsuits filed last year in suburban Detroit and New York City were decided in favor of performing\u00a0the holiday ritual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"