Preferences in donating kapporos
Question
I use chickens to perform the kapporos ritual for my family, and I want to donate them to needy families. What’s better, to give the chickens themselves, or their monetary value? Thank you
Answer
There are some authorities that say that it’s actually better to give the monetary value of the chickens, and not the chickens themselves, since a poor person may become uncomfortable and say: “this person put all his sins on this chicken, and sent it to me”. But if you know the pauper personally, and you know that he won’t become uncomfortable, it’s better to give him the chicken, since he can derive benefit from the chicken itself, as opposed to money, which entails the bother of going out to buy a chicken and then finding a slaughterer who will slaughter it.
Have a good and blessed year
Source
Shulchan Oruch, section Orach Chaim, ch. 605; Magen Avraam, ibid., subsection 4; Pri Megadim, ibid.