On the Eve of Yom Kippur

What a shame I didn't pack my camera in my bag. Today was a photographer's dream! I'll try to describe it. I went to the shuk to buy food for the pre-fast meals today and on the way to the market saw a group of animal rights protesters with signs outside the place where traditional Jews were doing Kapparot, where chickens used for this ceremony were being slaughtered on the spot and given to the needy. So the secular animal rights activists were in a shouting match with the Orthodox and traditional folk. The newspaper man was shaking his head at me, just as the police intervened to break up the fracas. "You can't slaughter chickens anymore now? This country is a disaster!" I really don't know whether the animal rights activists were there because they were just anti-anything religious because if that bothered them so, why don't they just protest at all the slaughterhouses where chickens, turkeys and cows are killed for food. No. They had to do it here. This time, I took the Orthodox/traditionalists' side because the chickens were going to go to the poor. Nothing wrong with that is there?

I was wearing my bright orange top with a sequined border.

"Where did you get that?" asked my friend.

"Oh, I bought it last year for Purim (a holiday similar to Halloween in that people dress in costume). And I just discovered it as I was cleaning stuff out."

"That's a sign of age, isn't it?" she went on. "That your Purim costumes become funky enough to wear during the year."

We both laughed, and wandered into the Kapparot area. They had security there - I think more to protect the people there from animal rights activists more than from Arab terrorists. We saw various people swinging the chickens around their heads 3 times before giving it to the slaughterer who quickly slit the chickens' throat.

"Did you see that?" asked my friend.

"Yup. It almost wants to make you become vegetarian."

I decided to do my Kapparot ritual with money instead. Much cleaner, less smelly, and the money also goes to charity plus it'll make the animal rights activists in my area happy that I chose to do it this way instead.