Torah Community Connections

Week 155 - Tuesday - 12 November 2002

HULLIN: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 3

If he severed the head with a single stroke, it is invalid. If while slaughtering he severed the head with a single stroke: if the knife was as long again as the neck - it is valid. If while slaughtering he severed two heads with a single stroke: if the knife was as long again as one neck - it is valid. When does this apply? If he moved forward but did not move backward, or moved backward but not forward, but if he moved forward and backward, however little, even with a scalpel, it is valid. If a knife fell and slaughtered it, even if it slaughtered in the proper manner - it is invalid, since it is written (Deut. 12:21): "you shall slaughter... and you shall eat" that which you slaughter you may eat. If the knife fell and he picked it up, or if his clothes fell down and he picked them up, if he sharpened the knife, or became tired, and another came and slaughtered: if the delay was long enough for slaughtering, it is invalid. R. Shimon says, If the delay was long enough to examine.

If forcing down the knife he severed the head with a single stroke - without moving the knife forward and backward, and cut through the organs, it is invalid since this constitutes derasah whereby he renders the slaughtering invalid.

If while slaughtering he severed the head with a single stroke, i.e., he cut the organs with one forward or backward movement of the knife: If the knife was as long again as the neck - i.e., twice as long as the bird's or beast's neck - it - the slaughtering - is valid - since a knife of such length enables one to slaughter properly with a single forward or backward movement, without thereby committing derasah, whereas if the knife is shorter than two neck-lengths, a single forward or backward movement cannot proceed without derasah.

If while slaughtering he severed two heads with a single stroke - i.e., if he slaughtered two animals with one forward or backward movement of the knife, then if the knife was as long again as one neck - i.e., three neck-lengths long - it - the slaughtering - is valid as explained above.

When does this - the requirement of an additional neck-length, without which the slaughtering is invalid - apply? If he moved forward but did not move backward, or moved backward but not forward, and cut through the organs with but one movement of the knife, but if he moved the knife forward and backward then however little the knife may be, even with a scalpel, it - the slaughtering - is valid.

If a knife fell of itself and slaughtered it - i.e., the organs, even if it slaughtered in the proper manner - i.e., the knife moved rather than pressing and thus effecting derasah - it - the slaughtering - is invalid, since it is written (Deut. 12:21):”you shall slaughter.., and you shall eat," that which you slaughter you may eat - i.e., the slaughtering must be a human act. However, if a person dropped a knife and, without intending it, the animal underwent correct slaughtering, it is valid in the case of a hullin animal, whose slaughtering requires no intention.

If while slaughtering the knife fell and he picked it up, and completed the slaughtering, or if his clothes fell down and he interrupted the slaughtering and picked them up and subsequently completed the slaughtering, or if - while interrupting the slaughtering - he sharpened the knife or - if he became tired while slaughtering (so Ran, Hameiri and Melekhet Shelomo); or, according to Rashi and Bartenura, if on sharpening the knife before slaughtering he grew tired, and on proceeding to slaughter had no more strength to continue - and another came and slaughtered - although the same applies if he himself continued, our mishnah cites the normal experience of a tired person being relieved by someone else (Kesef Mishneh) – if the delay caused by picking up the knife or clothes, or by the sharpening, or by his tiredness was long enough for slaughtering a like animal, it is invalid - such is the time interval that renders the slaughtering invalid by shehiyah.

R. Shimon says, If the delay was long enough for the slaughterer to - allow him to - examine the knife, then the slaughtering is invalid. According to Rambam, long enough to examine whether his slaughtering had been executed correctly. The halakhah does not follow R. Shimon.

Shehiyah renders the slaughtering invalid, according to Kol Bo, who cites R. Peretz, because by interrupting the slaughtering before it is valid, he renders the animal a nevelah (carrion) and thus no longer amenable to consummating the slaughtering (see Melekhet Shelomo who adduces a further reason).

HULLIN: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 4

If one cut the gullet and then severed the windpipe, or cut the windpipe and then severed the gullet, or if he cut one of them and waited until it died, or if he thrust the knife underneath the second and cut it - R. Yeshevav says, nevelah, R. Akiva says, terefah. R. Yeshevav laid down a general rule, in the name of R. Yehoshua: Whatever became invalid through slaughtering is nevelah; whatever was slaughtered in the proper manner, and something else rendered it invalid, is terefah. And R. Akiva agreed with him.

Kehati

If one cut the gullet of a beast and then rather than cutting he severed the windpipe, or cut the windpipe and then severed the gullet - Rashi and Bartenura define pasak (severing) as tearing out, i.e., ikkur, or if he cut one of them - one of the organs - and waited until it - the animal - died, or if after cutting one organ he thrust the knife underneath the second organ, between the latter and the neck, thus concealing the knife and cut it - from above downward, thus effecting haladah –

R. Yeshevav says, the animal is nevelah - which renders unclean those who carry it.

R. Akiva says, the animal is terefah - which does not render unclean.

R. Yeshevav laid down a general rule, in the name of R. Yehoshua: Whatever became invalid through - faulty - slaughtering, e.g., through shehiyah, derasah, etc., is treated as nevelah; having been slaughtered incorrectly it is considered as if it had died of itself; whatever was slaughtered in the proper manner, and something else, e.g., a perforated lung, etc. rendered it invalid, the animal is defined as terefah, which does not render unclean.

And R. Akiva agreed with him - with R. Yeshevav.

Return to Mishna Yomit Index

Visit the Mishna Yomit Archives