Ahead of Yom Kippur, Orthodox Israelis wave chickens in the air

Israeli Jews this week waved chicken over their heads in a ritual traditionally carried out ahead of the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.

Strictly-Orthodox Jews perform the rituals to cleanse themselves from sin ahead of Yom Kippur, or ‘day of atonement’, which begins on Tuesday at sundown.

In the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Mea Shearim, men and women waved the live chicken over their heads while reciting a prayer.

They believe it purges the believer of their sins by symbolically passing them onto the animal.

Afterward, the bird is donated to charity.

But the ritual is controversial elsewhere.

Three years ago an animal rights group in Los Angeles sued a Jewish centre  to prevent it from using live animals.

A lawsuit against the Woodland Hills Hebrew Discovery Centre was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court by the Animal Protection and Rescue League, requesting an injunction to block the practice.

Members of the centre performed the ritual last year in its parking lot. The suit alleges that the chickens were killed and discarded without being used for food, violating an animal rights law.

During the ceremony, a chicken is held above a person’s head and then slaughtered, symbolically transferring the person’s sins to the bird.

The meat is supposed to be donated to charity — but some people substitute money for the chicken.