Jerusalem's Ultra-Orthodox Perform Kaparot Ahead of Yom Kippur

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem carried out the Kaparot ritual on Thursday, days before Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, which begins at sundown on Sunday.

During the ceremony, participants hold a chicken and pass it around their heads while reciting a verse expressing the wish that the bird serve as a substitute for them. Observant Jews believe the practice, whose name means atonements, transfers the sins of the past year into the chicken.

Shaya Rubin, an ultra-Orthodox resident of Jerusalem, described the ritual as an act of seeking forgiveness. "We take the chickens and we put them around our heads, as we say the verse that this should be in our place, instead of us, should be the chicken," he said, adding that the community approaches God, or Hashem, to ask for forgiveness.

Rubin said the custom is centuries old and forms one of the ways believers prepare for the Day of Atonement. "The sages tell us that it's one of the ways that we come to the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, with realizing our sins and asking for a kapparah, asking for forgiveness," he said.

On Thursday, men were seen handing out chickens to those taking part, while others prayed near the distribution point. A girl was also seen praying, and a book was visible during the proceedings.

Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, known as Haredim, makes up roughly 14 percent of the country's population. The insular group has long been at odds with the secular majority, with friction over issues including military conscription, integration into the workforce and the basic tenets that guide their lives.

The Haredi population is also growing faster than any other group in Israel, at about 4 percent annually, according to the Israel Democracy Institute's 2025 Statistical Report on ultra-Orthodox society.