If he hewed or chopped off the head at one blow, it is Pasool. If, when killing, he had accidentally cut off the whole head, it is Cashér, if the knife extended the width of a neck [beyond the place cut]. When a person in killing cut off two heads at once: if the knife extends the width of one neck only beyond the places cut, it is Cashér. This is, however, only in case the knife had been passed down the throat of the animal only, without drawing it back, or that the second or back cut was only made without the down [or first] cut; but if the knife in cutting was drawn to and fro, if it exceeded in the least the width of the throat of the animals, even if it was as small as a penknive or lancet, it is Cashér. Should a knife happen to drop accidentally on the throat of an animal, although it was duly slaughtered in consequence, yet it is Pasool; for it is said [Deut. xxvii. 7], "Thou shalt sacrifice, and thou shalt eat," viz. that only which thou [thyself] sacrificest, that shalt thou eat. If whilst in the act of slaughtering, the knife should drop from a person's hand, and he picked it up; or his clothes, and he picked them up; or, that having become exhausted by the exertion of setting or sharpening the knife, it was necessary that another person should finish the cutting; if the delay thereby occasioned was such, that during its duration another similar animal might have been slaughtered, it is Pasool. R. Simeon said, "When a knife could have been examined during the interval."
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
התיז את הראש – like a person who decapitates a reed or a gourd, when he pushes the [slaughtering] knife with force and divides it. And this is דרסה–cutting the throat of an animal by pressing (adding muscular force to the cutting capacity of the knife, instead of passing the latter to and back).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Chullin
If he chopped off the head with one stroke, the slaughtering is invalid. Slaughtering must be done with a to and fro motion with the knife and not by chopping. Chopping the head off, which is called "derasah (pressing)," invalidates the animal.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
היה שוחט – through pulling [the slaughtering knife] and he decapitated the head with [either] the drawing home [of the slaughtering knife] or the drawing of the slaughterer’s knife in a forward direction alone. But for the slaughter of the [two] organs in the appropriate measure, it is called severing the head.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Chullin
He was slaughtering and he cut through the neck with one stroke, if the knife was as long as the neck, the slaughtering is valid. When is this so? When the slaughterer moved the knife forward and not backward, or backward and not forward; but if he moved the knife to and fro, however small it was, even if it was a scalpel, the slaughtering is valid. In this case, while slaughtering, which means bringing the knife back and forth, he pressed the knife into the neck, and cut the organs. If the part of the knife that has already passed through the neck is as long as the neck, then the slaughtering is valid. The reason is that we can assume that he has already slaughtered properly with the part of the neck that was already passed through the neck.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
אם יש בסכין מלא צואר – other than neck of the animal or fowl that he is ritually slaughtering.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Chullin
So too, if he slaughters two animals at the same time, and he presses down on one of them. If the length of one knife has already passed through both necks, the slaughtering is valid.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
כשרה – if there is on the knife [the ability to slaughter] through pulling and not through cutting the throat through the use of muscular force, . But if the length of the knife is only as long as thickness of the neck, or just beyond the neck a bit, it is considered [as if] one had used muscular force, for the organs (i.e., the windpipe and esophagus) are not just through just this pulling, if not for the use of muscular force.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Chullin
These limitations are necessary if he had passed the knife only in one direction. But if he had already passed the knife in both directions, it doesnt matter how large the knife is, since we can assume that he slaughtered it before he chopped it.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
אם יש בסכין מלוא צואר אחד – outside of these two necks, that is the measurement of three necks.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Chullin
If a knife fell down and slaughtered [an animal], even though it slaughtered it in the proper way, the slaughtering is invalid, for it is said, "And you shall slaughter and eat," that which you slaughter, you may eat. Slaughtering must be performed by a person slicing the neck, not by a knife that somehow falls down and slices a neck without being held by a person. While this doesn't seem to be a real possibility, perhaps what it means to say is that there must be human involvement in the slaughtering process. It can't just happen on its own, even if it happens in a valid fashion.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
איזמל – a very small, thin razor. And we don’t enact a prohibition regarding one that lacks hornlike projections as an ornament for the sake of a knife which does have hornlike projections as an ornament. For an איזמל–knife which has hornlike projections, for it normally [customary] to make hornlike projections as an ornaments on its back bending towards its head, and since it [the knife] is very small, it was detached from the neck, and when [the knife is] passed towards and back, there is a fear lest the hornlike projections will pass the slaughtering knife under cover (i.e. חלדה ) [which is forbidden].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Chullin
If [while slaughtering] the knife fell and he picked it up, if his clothes fell and he picked them up, if he sharpened the knife, or if he got tired and his friend came and [continued] slaughtering, if he delayed the time that it takes to slaughter, it is invalid. Rabbi Shimon says: if he delayed the time it takes to examine the slaughtering. The mishnah lists various reasons that a person might stop in the middle of slaughtering an animal. If he stops for any of these reasons, and doesnt resume slaughtering for the amount of time it would take to slaughter an animal, then the slaughtering is invalid. In other words, the second half of the act of shechitah does not join with the first act and therefore the animal was not fully slaughtered in the correct manner. Stopping in the middle of slaughtering is called "shehiyah," delaying, and it is one of the things that renders slaughtering invalid.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
נפלה סכין ושחטה – The reason that it [i.e., the knife] fell (then, the slaughtering is invalid); but if he threw it down [and it slaughtered the animal in an appropriate manner], it is valid, even though he did not intend to perform the act of ritual slaughtering, for we don’t require spiritual intention in the act of ritual slaughtering. And since it is necessary for the mentioning of the Biblical verse, regarding the ritual slaughtering of animals for the sacrificial purposes [of the Temple] (Leviticus 22:29): “[When you sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to the LORD, sacrifice it so that] it may be acceptable in your favor,” with your knowledge you shall sacrifice it, that is to say, with knowledge and spiritual intention (for purposes of the ritual sacrifices in the Temple). We learn from this that for חולין–non-consecrated animals (profane things), we do not require spiritual intentionality.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Chullin
Rabbi Shimon says that if he delays the amount of time necessary for someone to check if the slaughtering was done properly, then it is invalid. This is a longer time than it would take to actually slaughter.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
נפלה סכין והגביהה – and he paused during the act of slaughtering [which makes the animal so cut unfit to eat) while it was lifted up.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
כליו – his clothing
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
או שהשחיז את הסכין – prior to [engaging in] the act of slaughtering.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
ועף – he became tired and weary as a result of the sharpening–whetting of the knife, and when he began to ritually slaughter [the animal], he did not have the strength and stopped his slaughter, and his fellow came and slaughtered.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
כדי שחיטה אחרת – in order that he would slaughter most of the two [organs] in another animal like it, while it is lying down, a large animal next to a large animal and a small animal next to a small animal. and it is also necessary that he lift it up and lie it down, and they did not practice in such a manner.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Chullin
כדי בקור – For the interval that the ritual slaughterer checks and examines his knife (to determine its fitness). But the Halakha does not follow [the opinion] of Rabbi Shimon.
