In Israel, Knesset Committee Rejects Agriculture Ministry Rules On Kapparot Ritual

Jerusalem Post reports today that in Israel, the  Knesset's Economic Affairs Committee has rejected rules issued by the Agriculture Ministry to strictly regulate the controversial pre-Yom Kippur ceremony of kapparot.  The ceremony involves the slaughter of a chicken after it is first lifted oven one's head as a way of symbolically shedding one's sins.  The Agriculture Ministry rules required strict limits and inspections to insure that the birds do not suffer.  However the Knesset Committee's chairman said the rules were overly stringent and would have effectively prevented the practice.  During committee hearings on the rules yesterday, a Knesset member from the United Torah Judaism Party threatened that his party would topple the coalition government if the regulations were upheld.