פירוש על חולין 1:4

השוחט מן הצדדים – at the side of the [front-of-the] neck–throat

Introduction Animals are slaughtered and sacrificed by having their throats slit. Non-sacrificial birds are also slaughtered in this manner. However, sacrificial birds are slaughtered by a process called “nipping” which is done from the back of the neck. For more information on “nipping” see Zevahim 6:4. Our mishnah compares the laws of nipping with the laws of slaughtering.

שחיטתו כשרה – and even also ab initio, and since it is required to teach [in the Mishnah] "המולק מן הצדדים"–”He who pinches the bird’s neck with the fingernail from the side”, it also teaches, "השוחט" –”he who ritually slaughters” – post facto.

If one cut at the side [of the neck], the slaughtering is valid. If one nipped off [the head of a bird sacrifice] from the side of the neck, the nipping is invalid. The side of neck is valid for slaughtering but not for nipping bird sacrifices. Some commentators hold that this is only ex post facto meaning one should not slaughter from the side but if one does, the slaughtering is valid. Others hold that even “lechatchila” (a priori) one can slaughter from the side. The side is considered to be part of the front.

המולק מן הצדדים מליקתו פסולה – that concerning the pinching of the bird’s head, it is written (Leviticus 5:8): “[He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin-offering,] pinching its head at the nape [without severing it],” that is from its back.

If one cut at the back of the neck, the slaughtering is invalid. If one nipped off [the head] from the back of the neck, the nipping is valid. Slaughtering cannot be done from the back of the neck, whereas this is the place where nipping must occur.

השוחט מן העורף שחיטתו פסולה – And these words [indicate] that he (the ritual slaughter) did not restore the organs (i.e. the windpipe and the gullet) at the back of the neck but rather cut the nape [up to a point] where he reached to the organs (the windpipe and esophagus), for prior to his arriving at the organs, it [an animal] has been made organically defective [ritually for use] with the breaking of the neck, and even though that with the pinching of a bird’s neck, it is fit for use, there, it is such that all of it, from the beginning to the end is from the pinching of the bird’s neck [only – and not from any other ritual act of slaughtering] and it is like a ritual slaughterer who perforates the gullet little by little until he completes his act of ritual slaughter. But if one slaughtered from the back of the neck, since that [act of] slaughtering is not perfect, one cannot have the breaking of the neck from the slaughter, and it is ritually unfit–defective [literally, considered “torn”]. But, one who performs ritual slaughter from the sides, as is taught at the beginning of the Mishnah, even without restoring the organs, has performed the ritual slaughtering well prior to severing the neck.

If one cut at the front of the neck, the slaughtering is valid. If one nipped off [the head] from the front of the neck, the nipping is invalid. Slaughtering should be done at the front of the neck, whereas nipping done at the front is invalid.

המולק מן העורף – not really the neck, that is what there is from the slanting of the head from the back [of the neck] with the face, for it is written (Leviticus 5:8): “at the nape” (see above), but rather, opposite one who sees the neck, that is, behind the neck, he pinched the bird with a finger-nail and cut the flesh and the neck until he reached the organs (i.e. windpipe and esophagus).

For the whole of the back of the neck is the appropriate place for nipping, and the whole of the front of the neck is the appropriate place for slaughtering. It follows, therefore, that the place which is appropriate for slaughtering is inappropriate for nipping, and the place which is appropriate for nipping is inappropriate for slaughtering. This section explains the general rule any place that is valid for nipping is not valid for slaughtering and vice versa.

מליקתו כשרה – As this is, ab initio, the commandment of pinching of the bird’s neck. And since the Mishnah teaches "השוחט מן העורף פסולה" –whomever performs the act of ritual slaughter from the back of the neck is invalid, and even post facto, it [the Mishnah] also teaches [concerning] one who pinches [the bird’s neck] post facto.

השוחט מן הצואר – under the throat is called the neck, and that is the method of most ritual slaughtering.

שכל העורף – all of the edge which sees the back of the neck (but not the back of the neck itself).