The Jewish ritual of <em>kaparot</em>

A chicken in a cage with dozens of others being used in the Orthodox Jewish tradition of kaparot.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A worker with Bait Aaron transfers a chicken to a cage where the animals were being used in the Orthodox Jewish tradition of kaparot in an alley in Los Angeles.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A woman looks behind a makeshift curtain where chickens were once being slaughtered in the Orthodox Jewish tradition of kaparot in Los Angeles.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A man walks by cages of chickens in a lot on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. During the 10 days of the Jewish High Holy Days, some Jews ask forgiveness by symbolically transferring their sins to a chicken that is then slaughtered. Demonstrators recently led a protest of the practice, which is called kaparot, kapparot or kaparos, saying it is a cruel custom that has no place in the modern world.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

An Orthodox Jew rides his bicycle past a Pico Boulevard lot where the chicken-killing ritual called kaparot takes place.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Caged chickens await slaughter in a Pico Boulvard lot.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Wendie Dox anf her nephew, Derek Dox, who oppose the kaparot practice, watch the ritual in a lot on Pico Boulevard.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Demonstrators outside the Ohel Moshe synagogue on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles protest the ritual killing of chickens.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

A protester gets into a debate with a security guard outside the Ohel Moshe synagogue during a demonstration against ritual chicken-killing.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)