Important Note For Women Who Are Shlugging Kapparot With Money Rather Than Chickens - A Correction to the Artscroll Nusach

Important Note For Women Who Are Shlugging Kapparot With Money Rather Than Chickens - A Correction to the Artscroll Nusach
Well, not really important. But just a correction to Artscroll's nusach.



Why do women say "zot chalifati" while men say "zeh chalifati?" Because the custom arose for women to take a female chicken and men to take a male chicken. Thus, zot is feminine and zeh is masculine.

When using money -- well, kesef is a masculine noun. That is why, in the middle of the nusach for women, they have zot hatarnegolet telech lemita, they put in brackets, for those using money, zeh hakesef yelech limita.

They thought to make this change for this phrase because one cannot refer to a tarnegolet when one is swinging a napkin with money around one's head (and thus they have a similar change for the men as well, for this phrase).

However, they apparently forgot that the masculine/feminine distinction applies to all of the other phrases as well, since it is always in reference to the chicken or money.

Therefore, if using money, use zeh throughout, rather than zoteven if you are a woman.