A Yom Kippur Tradition Returns to the Former Soviet Union

In the custom of kapparot, Jewish people prepare for Yom Kippur by purchasing a hen, and reciting the prayer: “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my expiation. This hen shall go to its death and I shall proceed to a good, long life and peace.”

The hens are then donated to the needy.

In communities around the Former Soviet Union, children and adults reclaimed this tradition as they prepared for Yom Kippur last week. In Krasnodar, it was a first after 80 years.