Sunday 10 February 2019

Chullin 75: Shechita of the Mother Animal, Status of the Fetus

The rabbis have argued about whether a fetus requires its own shechita if its mother is slaughtered.  If the mother is a tereifa, an animal that will die within 12 months who is thus not kosher, the shechita changes the mother's status but does not make her kosher.  The rabbis argue about whether the fetus is permitted if the mother is slaughtered as a tereifa and the fetus is found after the fact.

Some rabbis see the fetus as viable on its own and others do not.  Does the mother's slaughter have an impact on the fetus?  The kosher slaughter of the mother would not permit the fetus and it would not forbid the fetus if the slaughter was invalid.  The rabbis who see the fetus as interdependent with the mother would have to acquiesce with an invalid slaughter invalidating the fetus's slaughter.

Could the fetus be permitted if it had its own shechita?  The fetus could have the defilement of neveila removed throughout the mother's slaughter.  Its own shechita would ensure that the fetus is permitted

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