Occasionally, I get hurt by someone's behavior and feel helpless and frustrated; there's nothing I could do about it to ease my anger. The 'kapparot' ritual has given me some idea, but I haven't put it into practice yet , probably never will.
Kapparot (plural of kappara - atonement) in Judaism is a ritual performed on the eve of Yom Kippur ( the Atonement Day), by which the sins of a person are symbolically transferred to a fowl (usually a hen - for a woman, a rooster for a man).
The fowl is passed over one's head three times, and there's a prayer to be said; in English it sounds like that: "this is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement. This rooster (hen) will go to its death, while I will enter and proceed to a good, long life and to peace".
The ritual is considered by many as cruel, and rightly so. Why transfer our sins to the fowl? what has it done to us? Why does it deserve this kind of treatment? because it's about to be slaughtered to provide meat for our meals?(The alternative proposed is to use money instead, which will then be given to charity).
Like many others, I'm against this ritual and against slaughtering animals (although, I admit , I eat meat now and then, out of habit and of fear the body might face shortage of some vital nutrient).
Now, what about the idea I got from this ritual? I could mention three times the name of the person who has done me wrong , and say the prayer by which my sins will be transferred to him/her (omitting, of course, the death part in the prayer. I wish no one to die ). Let him/her carry and deal with this burden, as revenge for misbehavior towards me. It may sound stupid and or childish, but talking or writing about this possibility makes me already feel a little better:)
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