Chullin Daf 30 צולין דַף 30

Rav says that if one shechts a סימן in two or three places, the shechitah is valid. However, when Rav Yehudah related this ruling to Shmuel, he said: בעינן שחיטה מפורעת וליכא – we require a wide-open exposed shechitah, and there is not in this case (although one cut severed most of the סימן, the other cuts prevent this valid one from fully opening). Rebbe Shimon ben Lakish brought a source that shechitah must be "מפורעת": חץ "שחוט" לשונם מרמה דבר – their tongue is a sharpened arrow; it speaks deceit (an arrow cuts in only one place, which opens wide). Shmuel is challenged from a Mishnah stating that if two people each hold a knife and shecht, one above the other, the shechitah is valid. Since the shechitah is in two places, it will not be מפורעת!? Rebbe Yirmiyah answered that that Mishnah’s case is where two people used one knife and shechted (holding the knife at an angle, so the shechitah is described as one shechting above the other). The Gemara relates an incident where an ox was shechted in two or three places, and Rav Yitzchak bar Shmuel bar Marsa came and took from the choicest meat, ruling it permitted.

Rav said: החליד את הסכין בין סימן לסימן ופסקו – if one “burrowed” the knife between one pipe and the other pipe and cut [the inner סימן] and then removed the knife and cut the outer סימן from the outside, the shechitah is invalid. Although a Mishnah teaches that חלדה invalidates shechitah, one might have thought this is only where he shechts the סימן outwards from the burrowed position, but not where he shechts inwards, which is the normal direction of shechitah. Rav therefore teaches that this is also invalid, since the knife was burrowed. According to Rav Yehudah, Rav also said that if he burrowed the knife תחת העור – under the skin and shechted the סימנים normally (inwards), it is likewise invalid. However, the students of Rav Yehudah’s yeshiva quoted Rav saying he did not know if the shechitah is valid in this case (since he did not burrow under the סימנים). The Gemara asks, according to this second version, תחת מטלית – if he burrowed the knife under a cloth tied around the animal’s neck, is the shechitah valid? Or, if he burrowed it under צמר מסובך – entangled wool, is it valid? Rav Pappa asked, החליד במיעוט סימנים – if he burrowed it during the final minority of the pipes, is it valid? These questions are all left unresolved.

The next Mishnah states: התיז את הראש בבת אחת – if one chopped off the head with one stroke (by pressing with force against the neck), the shechitah is פסול (this is the disqualification of "דרסה" – pressing). If he was shechting normally (with a sawing motion) and chopped off the head with a single forward or reverse stroke, אם יש בסכין מלא צואר – if the knife is as long as the neck’s width beyond the animal’s neck (i.e., it is two neck-widths long), it is valid. However, this is only required in a case שהוליך ולא הביא – where he moved the knife forward but did not move it backward, or the reverse, but if he moved it back and forth, אפי' כל שהוא – even the most minimal size blade, even a razor, would produce a valid shechitah. Shmuel says the source disqualifying a “pressing” motion is the passuk: חץ "שחוט" לשונם מרמה דבר – their tongue is like a sharpened arrow; it speaks deceit. Like an arrow, shechitah must be performed in a drawing motion. In Rebbe Yishmael’s yeshiva they said אין ושחט אלא ומשך – the implication of the passuk “and he shall slaughter” is only “and he shall draw,” as in the passuk זהב שחוט – drawn-out gold, as well as the passuk quoted by Shmuel.