Kommentar zu Beitzah 3:3

בהמה מסוכנת – which he is afraid lest it might die. And he has not need for it for he has already eaten his meal.

Introduction In this mishnah we learn two laws concerning slaughtering an animal on Yom Tov.

לא ישחוט – unless he knows that there is a delay during to day to eat an olive’s bulk roasted from it.

One may not slaughter [on Yom Tov] an animal which is about to die unless there is time enough on that day to eat from it as much as an olive of roasted flesh. Rabbi Akiva says: even [if there is only time to eat] as much as an olive of raw flesh [taken] from the place of slaughter. Slaughtering on Yom Tov is permitted as long as the person will have time left over in the day to eat some of the animal’s meat. If there is no time to eat any part of the animal then he can’t slaughter it because he would be doing so in order to eat it on another day. In the case in our mishnah it is clear that the person wants to slaughter the animal on Yom Tov because the animal is getting sick and if it dies he won’t be able to eat it. Even though it is clear that he is slaughtering it only in order to preserve some of its value, and that eating it is a sort of legal fiction, he still may do so, provided there is time left in the day for him to roast a small piece of meat and eat it. Roasting is the quickest form of cooking, hence the mishnah mentions roasting. Note that he does not actually have to roast and eat some of the meat, there just has to be time for him to do so. Rabbi Akiva is even more lenient and allows one to slaughter the animal even if there is only enough time to rip out a small piece of flesh from the animal’s throat (“the place of slaughter) and eat it raw. Rabbi Akiva mentions taking the meat out from the throat because to do this he wouldn’t even need to skin the animal. It seems even clearer here that this is not actually going to be done there just needs to be enough time so that it could have been done.

מבית טביחתה – which is ready at hand and stripped from its hide and standing. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Akiba.

If he slaughtered it in the field, he may not bring it in on a pole or a barrow, but he may bring it in piece by piece in his hand. The mishnah rules that if someone slaughters an animal in the field he should not hoist it up on a pole or put it in a wheelbarrow in order to bring it back into his courtyard or other living quarters. Doing so would look too much like ordinary weekday work and hence it should be avoided on Yom Tov. Rather he may carry it back home piece by piece, a more modest act that others will notice less. Note that in this case there are values competing against one another. Carrying it back piece by piece is more work for him and nevertheless the mishnah recommends doing so to avoid the act looking like weekday work. To put this otherwise, the mishnah preserves the overall communal character of the day as a day free from work at the expense of the individual’s own experience.

לא יביאנו במוט ובמטה – by two people, because the matter is noisy and disregards the honor of the Festival day.