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Who Can Be a Shochet: Difference between revisions
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→The Need for Proper Certification
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===The Need for Proper Certification=== | ===The Need for Proper Certification=== | ||
# Unfortunately, abuse of this leniency by people who will just eat anything by relying on it lead to people shechting without proper training, because they assumed nobody would check them. To avoid this, the practice developed to ban anybody from shechting or inspecting terefot privately without rabbinic assessment and approval, regardless of however much book knowledge he has.<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:5</ref> | # Unfortunately, abuse of this leniency by people who will just eat anything by relying on it lead to people shechting without proper training, because they assumed nobody would check them. To avoid this, the practice developed to ban anybody from shechting or inspecting terefot privately without rabbinic assessment and approval, regardless of however much book knowledge he has.<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:5</ref> | ||
# This permission | # This permission comes from a great rabbinic authority who can administer a challenging examination, not an expert shochet. In places where this permission is written in a certificate, inability to produce that certificate when requested to is a red flag.<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:6</ref> | ||
# Rabbis should not cut corners or overlook | # Rabbis should not cut corners or overlook laws of qualifications when assessing candidates, as it leads to lowering the standards and thresholds of proper shechitah and then eventually people eating improperly slaughtered meat. It is too easy for the hasty and unlearned to overlook a serious issue in the knife even if they say they "checked" it. It therefore behooves the consumer to ensure that he only eats meat that either he himself knows the shochet is up to par, or he knows the local rabbinate oversees things properly, or he at least checked the knife prior to this animals shechitah and he investigated the shochet's stature with community members.<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:8</ref> | ||
# Certification and a little experience for Ofot should not give one the impression that all birds are created equal. The necks of smaller birds such as dove are much harder to manipulate, so one should not attempt them until he has mastery of regular birds first. Even then, one should not shecht them without having a larger bird or a couple small ones around to make sure that his beracha will not be levatala.<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:11</ref> | # Certification and a little experience for Ofot should not give one the impression that all birds are created equal. The necks of smaller birds such as dove are much harder to manipulate, so one should not attempt them until he has mastery of regular birds first. Even then, one should not shecht them without having a larger bird or a couple small ones around to make sure that his beracha will not be levatala.<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:11</ref> | ||
# The certifying rabbi charging a fee and providing his own chickens to the candidate is not a red flag for conflict of interest, since the financial benefit is relatively small relative to the spiritual damage he's bringing upon others and himself by eating this food. Nevertheless, the price should be kept reasonable.<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:12</ref> | # The certifying rabbi charging a fee and providing his own chickens to the candidate is not a red flag for conflict of interest, since the financial benefit is relatively small relative to the spiritual damage he's bringing upon others and himself by eating this food. Nevertheless, the price should be kept reasonable.<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:12</ref> | ||
===How to Assess a Shochet Candidate=== | ===How to Assess a Shochet Candidate=== | ||
The qualities to look for in a candidate to become a shochet are:<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:6</ref> | The qualities to look for in a candidate to become a shochet are:<ref>Simla Chadasha 1:6</ref> | ||
