Chullin Daf 32 צולין דַף 32

The next Mishnah discusses the shechitah disqualification of שהייה – pausing. It gives several examples of why one paused during shechitah, e.g., he dropped the knife after beginning the shechitah and picked it up, and states: אם שהה כדי שחיטה – if he paused for enough time for shechitah, it is פסול. Rebbe Shimon defines the pause as the time needed for "ביקור" – checking (defined as a טבח חכם examining a knife). Rav defines “enough time for shechitah” as כדי שחיטת בהמה אחרת – enough time for shechting another animal from the beginning. Rav says the שהייה duration for an animal is enough time to shecht an animal, but for a bird, it is only enough time to shecht a bird. Shmuel and Rebbe Yochanan both say that even for a bird, שהייה is enough time to shecht an animal. Rebbe Chanina says שהייה isכדי שיביא בהמה אחרת וישחוט – enough time to bring another animal and shecht it, meaning enough time to push it down to the ground and shecht it. Rebbe Yose bar Rebbe Chanina was quoted as saying: כדי שיגביהנה וירביצנה וישחוט – enough time to lift, lay down, and shecht דקה לדקה – a small animal for a small animal (e.g., a sheep), וגסה לגסה – and a large animal for a large animal (e.g., a cow).

Rava says: השוחט בסכין רעה – if one shechts with a dull knife, אפילו כל היום כולו – even if he is shechting a single animal all day long, the shechitah is still valid. Rava asked: שהיות מהו שיצטרפו – do numerous brief pauses combine to the full measure of pausing to disqualify shechitah? This cannot be resolved from his above ruling of shechting the entire day, because that case is where he did not pause at all. Rav Huna brei d’Rav Nassan asked: שהה במיעוט סימנין מהו – if one paused during the minority of the pipes after shechting the majority of the סימנים, what is the halachah? Is it valid, since he properly performed the necessary amount of shechitah beforehand, or is the entire act one event of shechitah, and disqualified with שהייה? The Gemara concludes: תיקו – let it stand unresolved.

Reish Lakish said that if one shechted the קנה – trachea, ואח"כ ניקבה הריאה – and afterward the lung was punctured before he shechted the וושט, the shechitah is valid. The Gemara explained: כמאן דמנחא בדיקולא דמיא – [the lung] is like it was removed from the animal and placed in a basket. Once the trachea was severed, the lung is considered detached, and a subsequent defect cannot render the animal a טריפה.

Rava said that this ruling only applies to the lung, הואיל וחיי ריאה תלויה בקנה – since the life of the lung depends on the trachea, but it does not apply to the בני מעיים – intestines which were punctured after the קנה was severed. Rebbe Zeira objected: מאחר שנולדו בה סימני טרפה התרת – once you have permitted where fatal defects developed after one סימן was cut, what difference is there between a defect developing in the lung or in the intestines? [Rashi explains that Rebbe Zeira did not understand Reish Lakish’s ruling with the reasoning above, that the lung is considered disconnected; rather, he held that the animal simply cannot become a טריפה after one סימן is cut.]