Chullin 30: Irregular Slaughter

Today’s daf is the last of several dapim focusing on the specifics of slaughtering.  We learn a new Mishna at the end of amud (b) that delves even deeper into the process of slaughter.

The rabbis’ discussion turns to the red heifer and then to other animals that might be slaughtered on Pesach.  Pesach was the Festival that pulled all diasporic Jews back to the Temple with promises of meat, family gatherings, and a view of the great Temple.  In the cases discussed, the rabbis wonder about the validity of the slaughter in many different circumstances.  For example, two men might complete the slaughter together; one person might use two different clothes in the process of slaughter, etc. etc.

The rabbis argue about whether or not cutting a siman, for example, the windpipe, several times invalidates the slaughter.  What if the cut is diagonal?  What if one person uses a knife from the top of the animal’s neck while the other uses a second knife from the bottom of the animal’s neck? The rabbis cannot decide whether or not a slaughter is valid if the knife is concealed in the neck or beneath a cloth.

Our new Mishna teaches that it is valid to slaughter by cutting two animals’ heads simultaneously.  It is valid for two people to slaughter from different points in the neck of one animal. Decapitating an animal is one motion is not valid; however, if one accidentally decapitated an animal in one motion and the length of the knife is the same as the breadth of the animal’s neck, the slaughter is valid.   It is valid if one who was slaughtering two animals simultaneously and s/he decapitated them in one motion and the length of the knife was the same as the breadth of one animal’s neck.  The important piece is that the knife is drawn back and forth if possible.