Ultra-Orthodox Jews watch a white chicken being slaughtered after a prayer
in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood in Jerusalem October 5, 2003, as part of
the traditional kaparot ceremony before Judaism's holiest day of Yom Kippur,
the Day of Atonement, which begins Sunday at sundown. The ritual is
performed in order to transfer one's sins accumulated during the past year
into the bird which is then ritually slaughtered and eaten shortly before
the start of the holy day or given to the poor. Pictures of the Year 2003
REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen PP03100037

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