Buffalo Grove police received a report about 11:28 AM Tuesday of an animal complaint at Aptakisic and Prairie. Yesterday it was a Burmese Python in Waukegan and a speeding chicken running on Aptakisic Road near Prairie in Buffalo Grove. Today police received a report that a rooster was eating grass near a light box at Aptakisic Road and Prairie.
Maybe the chickens are on strike. In a children’s book by Erica Silverman, When the Chickens Went on Strike a boy overhears some chickens planning a strike. They are sick of being used for Kapores. When all of the chickens run away, women try to coax the chickens back with grain, men try to get them back by force, and the Rabbi tries to negotiate. The chickens ultimately ask, “Where is it written [that Jews must perform Kapores]?” The chickens’ statement puts the humans on the theological defensive. Finally the boy pleads, “Without Kapores, I will never be able to make my papa proud.” A chicken responds, “Boychick, for this you need a chicken?”
In the Kappores ritual a person swings a live chicken or a bundle of coins over one’s head three times, which symbolically transfers the circled head’s sins to the chicken or coins. The chicken is then slaughtered and donated to the poor for consumption at the pre-fast meal. Many Jews oppose the ritual because they oppose sacrifice outside the Temple in Jerusalem, or they oppose cruelty to animals.
The book is adapted from a story called “Kapores” by the Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem. The story takes place in a 19th century Russian village, where the residents are preparing to celebrate the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah.
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