Saturday, October 11, 2008
Monsey group faces $10,000 in fines for chicken ritual
Organizers of a religious ceremony involving chickens face up to $10,000 in fines for failing to properly clean up after the ritual, the Rockland County Health Department said yesterday.
The group running the kapparot ceremony was cited for two violations of the Rockland sanitary code each of the five days that thousands of chickens were kept on the grounds of the former Monsey Jewish Center, said Thomas Micelli, the department's director of environmental health.
Inspectors found there was a large amount of offensive material - including chicken feces, feathers and blood - on the site each of the five days, resulting in five violations, Micelli said. Five additional violations were issued for creating a public health nuisance.
The county got a court order Wednesday - the last day the ritual was performed - ordering organizer Moshe Lefkowitz and property owner Congregation Birchos Yosef to stop the ceremony.
Chickens were still on the property Thursday, but had been removed by yesterday afternoon.
Most of the trash had been cleaned up, but a strong odor remained. A pile of crates and sacks containing chicken feed also were on the property.
Lefkowitz has promised officials that the crates and any remaining signs of the ritual would be removed by early next week.
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810110348
The group running the kapparot ceremony was cited for two violations of the Rockland sanitary code each of the five days that thousands of chickens were kept on the grounds of the former Monsey Jewish Center, said Thomas Micelli, the department's director of environmental health.
Inspectors found there was a large amount of offensive material - including chicken feces, feathers and blood - on the site each of the five days, resulting in five violations, Micelli said. Five additional violations were issued for creating a public health nuisance.
The county got a court order Wednesday - the last day the ritual was performed - ordering organizer Moshe Lefkowitz and property owner Congregation Birchos Yosef to stop the ceremony.
Chickens were still on the property Thursday, but had been removed by yesterday afternoon.
Most of the trash had been cleaned up, but a strong odor remained. A pile of crates and sacks containing chicken feed also were on the property.
Lefkowitz has promised officials that the crates and any remaining signs of the ritual would be removed by early next week.
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810110348
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