Shechitah (Kosher Slaughter)

The Basics

The Torah prohibits the consumption of meat and fowl without prior ritual slaughter, known as Shechitah. There is one positive commandment to perform Shechitah, "VeZavachta... Ka'asher Tziviticha" (Devarim 12:21) and four negative prohibitions involved - Ever Min HaChai, Nevelah, Terefah, and Dam. "Nevelah" refers to an animal that was not slaughtered properly. "Terefah" refers to an animal that for one medical reason or another would not have lived out the year and is such prohibited from consumption even though it was slaughtered properly. Nevelot emit Tumat Nevelah (ritual impurity of Nevelah), whereas Terefot are Tehorot (pure).

Fact Sheet

Hebrew Term	English Term	Requires Shechitah	Requires Kisui HaDam	Details	Examples
Behemot Gassot	Large Mammals	Yes	No	Majority of two simanim	Cows
Behemot Dakkot	Small Mammals	Yes	No	Majority of two simanim	Goats
Chayot	Wild Animals	Yes	Yes	Majority of two simanim	Deer
Ofot	Birds	Yes	Yes	Majority of one siman	Chicken
Chagavim	Locusts	No	No
Dagim	Fish	No	No	Just kill first	Salmon

Who Can Be a Shochet

For more details, see Who Can Be a Shochet

In order to be a shochet, one must be an adult, God-fearing, Jewish male knowledgeable of the laws of Shechitah, skilled in the act of Shechitah, and certified with a "Kabbalah" from a Halachic authority. Special training is needed from a teacher with a tradition; one cannot just learn this skill from books or on his own.

In addition to the actual slaughter, there are a number of specific roles and designations:

• Shochet Ofot - certified for slaughtering fowl
• Shochet Behemot Dakkot - certified for small mammals
• Shochet Behemot Gassot - certified for large animals
• Bodek Simanim - one who checks the neck to ensure the Shechitah was done properly
• Bodek Sakinim - one who checks the Shochet's knife to make sure it's sharp and smooth before allowing him to shecht again
• Bodek - one who checks the inner organs to determine whether or not the animal is a terefah
• Menaker - one who removes the forbidden fats from the animal ("trabering").

The Knife

See The Shechitah Knife for more details

One can perform shechitah with a variety of items, but nowadays everybody just uses a knife. The knife must be sharp ("Chad")and smooth (Chalak) so that it can swiftly cut what it has to without tearing. Different knife lengths are required depending on the width of the neck being slaughtered. Knives are sharpened and polished with special whetstones and checked before use. The shochet checks it from top to bottom from the center, right, and left with his fingernail. The knife is commonly rectangular and not pointed, to avoid chaladah.

The Five Laws of Shechitah Every Shochet Must Know

See The Five Laws of Shechitah for more details.

There are five Halachot leMoshe MiSinai regarding Shechitah. One may not eat from the slaughter of a shochet who does not know them.

1. Shehiyah (Pausing): A pause during the incision renders an animal’s meat non kosher. The knife must move in an uninterrupted motion during shechita. This issue occurs if the shochet bangs his arm, elbow, or knife into a wall or floor; he cuts himself; the animal jumps; there was something hard or stiff in the veshet during shechita.
2. Chaladah (Covering/Digging): The knife must be visibly drawn over the throat during slaughter. No covering or blocking it from the flesh by fur, feathers, or other objects. It must not be stabbed into the neck and cut backwards. To avoid this, sheep are sheered and other animal necks are hosed down beforehand.
3. Derasa (Chopping): The cut must be made using a back and forth sawing motion across the throat, not by chopping down as one cuts zucchini or radish. No pushing down with the index finger. No heavier than necessary knife. No decapitating, hacking, or pressing down. Just a sawing motion.
4. Hagrama (Slipping): The limits within which the knife may be applied are the upper portion of the throat, from the large ring in the windpipe to the top of the upper lobe of the lung when it is inflated, and corresponding to the length of the pharynx. Roughly, below the vocal cords and above the bottom of the neck. Cutting anywhere below or above would be nevelah.
5. Ikkur (Tearing): If either the esophagus or trachea is torn during shechita, the animal is rendered unkosher. Tearing usually occurs as a result of a nicked or improperly sharpened knife.

How to Shecht

For more information, see The Shechitah Process

The Gemara requires checking the knife before and after every shechita in order to catch a pegima as soon as it happens. Chazal were concerned that the knife might contact dirt on the animal’s skin or hit a bone during shechita and receive a nick and become invalid.

Before

1. Check the knife
2. Tefisah: Locate and grab the Simanim (trachea and esophagus)
3. Recite the Beracha ("'Al HaShechitah'")

During

1. Cut the two simanim and veins in a sawing motion
2. Let blood drain out

After

1. Check the Simanim
2. Check the knife

Terefot (Treifos)

The eight basic issues in terefot are:

1. Derusah: clawed at on specific parts of its body.
2. Nequvah: a puncture on specific membranes in its body.
3. Haserah: missing specific organs.
4. Nitulah: a specific organ removed.
5. Qiruah: a specific areas on its body torn.
6. Nifulah: fallen from a high place.
7. Pesuqah: specific body parts severed.
8. Shiburah: specific body parts broken.

Nowadays, the lungs are the primary focus of Terefot checking. See Glatt Kosher Meat for more details.

Important Sefarim

• Tevuot Shor, a commentary on Shulchan Aruch Hilchot Shechitah by Rabbi Alexander Sender Shor. (see this edition on HebrewBooks.org)
• Simla Chadasha, a classic handbook for Shochetim, Rabbi Shor's condensed version of his Tevuot Shor. Translated into English by Rabbi Chaim Loike.
• Beis Dovid
• Esek Hashechita by Rabbi Dovid Shaffier. See SeforimChatter Review here.

Shiurim

• Hilchos Shechita in Modern Meat Industry (Rabbi Avidan Elkin)
• Rabbi Avraham Moshe's classes
• IBC Experiential Halacha: Chicken Shechita

Where to Buy

• The Kosher Cut
• JewishKnives.com (Laevi Sussman)