Shulchan Aruch/Yoreh Deah/1
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| Shulchan Aruch by Yoreh Deah 1 Who Are The People Acceptable To Slaughter |
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[edit] Who Are The People Acceptable To Slaughter
[edit] 1:1
All people may slaughter, even women... Hagah: There are those who say that we should not allow women to slaughter, since it is already an accepted custom that they not slaughter- and thus is the tradition that women do not slaughter. and slaves and all people, even if you do not know them- as long as it has been established that they will not faint; and also if you do not know if he is an expert and knows the laws of slaughtering- it is permmisable to allow him to slaughter from the outset and it is permissable to eat from that which he has slaughtered because we have a halkhic assumption that the majority of people that slaughter are assumed to be professionals and tested. What are the specifics of what we are talking about? When that person is not in front of us, then is ok to eat from that which he has slaughterd and rely on the halakhic assumption; but if he is in front of us, we must check if in fact he is an expert and he knows the laws of ritual slaughter. Hagah: there are those who only rely on this halkhic assumption after the fact, but from the outset they do not rely on the assumption in a place where it would be possible to check. And this is specifically refering to others who are not experts, and they do not know if the shochet is an expert or not. But the shochet, himself, should not slaughter unless he knows the laws of slaughtering and is an expert and has slaughtered three times in front of a sage and expert in the laws of shechitah and it is known that he is accustomed and swift and that he will not faint. Therefore we have the tradition that one should not slaughter unless he has recieved a certificate from a sage, and a sage may not give such a certification to him until he knows that the shochet knows the laws and is an expert with his hand. And thus we conduct ourselves as follows: we rely upon all who come to slaughter 'from the outset' and do not need to check on them neither at the beginning nor at the end, that all who are found in the slaughter industry have already received a certificate from a sage. There are a few places where they still have the custom of being stringent and insist on seeing the certificate. And every shochet, even though he has received such a certificate, must see that he goes back over the sections of the laws of shechitah that they should be tripping off his lips and in his heart that he not forget them. And thus is the laws for the checking of the lungs and for the person who comes to check, and the laws and traditions are similar in all of these rituals. And it is the responsibility of the local court בית דין to investigate and pursue after those who are checking the lungs of the animals and slaughtering the animals to see if indeed thay are experts who are fit (for the job). For it is a major prohibition upon the one who errs in the slaughtering and checking that which is to be sent out to the public. If the court, after investigation, were to find that a shochet did not know (the laws of שחיטה): if his certificate is only being removed temporarly- we do not retroactively forbid (מטריפין)that which he has slaughtered, for we declare that his knowledge had deteriorated. BUT, if (the court decides) to permanately remove his certification- everything that he had ever slaughterd is declared forbidden (טריף); we also declare all of the vessels in which any meat he had slaughtered was cooked in must be kashered.
