In anticipation of Yom Kippur, an increasing number of charity organizations are appealing to the religious public and asking them to make a donation to fulfill the requirements for the expiatory kaparah ritual. The organizations, after obtaining rabbinical approval, have published dozens of advertisements in the ultra-Orthodox press and set up tables in synagogues and religious neighborhoods in Jerusalem to collect the donations.

The traditional pre-Yom Kippur kaparah ritual involves slaughtering a rooster (for men) or hen (for women) to expiate one's sins, although money has become an accepted alternative.

As in recent years, animal rights activists have been demanding an end to the practice of using chickens for the ritual, asking rabbis to ban the practice and in some cases taking the issue to the courts. Last week Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger published a call to treat the chickens used in kaparah properly.

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"Particularly at this time, when we ask God to treat us with mercy, we must see to the appropriate treatment of every created being, particularly the chickens intended for slaughter," Metzger wrote.

The traditional ritual, which involves swinging the chicken over the head of the person whose sins are being expiated and reciting the formula ("This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my expiation. This chicken shall go to its death, and I shall proceed to a good long life and peace), is obviously still very popular in many places in Jerusalem, including the Geula neighborhood and even on the plaza in front of the Western Wall.