Talking Talmud

A new mishnah! What happens if the animal doesn't bleed at the time of shechitah? Apparently, that's a kosher shechitah. And one's impure hands won't render the meat impure (unless the slaughtering itself made it susceptible to impurity, and not just the liquid of the blood). The Gemara reexplains the mishnah to explain that the mishnah could not be talking about sacrificial foods, with several follow-up points to make the case that much stronger. Also, the Gemara delves into the impure hands, and what degree of impurity they may carry. Plus, the case of someone who purifies his hands and then exposes them to impure hands again - depending on how much exposure his whole body received, it may make a difference for what degree of impurity do his hand carry.

2 mishnayot! 1 - A person is slaughtering an animal and the knife falls and he picks it up to complete the slaughtering... as long as the shechitah is completed in the time that it would take to slaughter the animal to begin with, that's kosher. If it takes more time, then it's not a valid shechitah. But different animals - and fowl - take different amounts of time to do the shechitah. Does the statement of "shechting the animal" apply to every animal/bird, or does the time fluctuate depending on the animal/bird at hand? 2 - What if only one of the simanim/pipes were severed correctly, of the esophagus and trachea? If the animal is unfit, it is presented as a treyfa - but then the Gemara addresses such cases as a neveilah.

A new mishnah! In the case of a knife fell and slaughtered the animal officially correctly, the shechitah is not actually kosher because a person must be involved doing the slaughtering. But if a person dropped the knife, even without intent, then the person is there as an agent, and the shechitah may well be kosher. The question is whether intent is required for shechitah to be valid. Also, the case of produce that falls into a channel of water, and the produce is removed by a person who has impure hands - but the process itself will purify his hands. The water is one of 7 liquids that, when in contact with produce, makes the produce susceptible to impurity. Plus, the levels of purity and impurity - and how immersion in the mikveh to be purified requires intent for the required level of purity to follow - for example, to eat ma'aser sheni food. Which seems to require more planning than we might have thought.

If there's more than one incision in the pipe, can that be kosher shechitah? It's a machloket. What about 2 people holding the knife for one animal's slaughter? That's one incision, but 2 people with 2 knives, which means 2 incisions, and it has all kinds of insecurities associated with it - and could result in non-kosher shechitah, but we really don't worry about that, and allow it. Note the many cases of shechitah that are left without conclusions. Also, a new mishnah: 1 person who slaughters 2 animals simultaneously; likewise, the 2 people holding one knife (as presented in the Gemara on the daf right before the mishnah), even with 2 cuts -- all of those cases are kosher shechitah. But decapitation in one motion is not considered valid. With the possibility of it being kosher if the length of the knife is the breadth of the animal's neck.

More on the question of when a siman is cut precisely halfway across - is that 50/50 considered the majority or not? (it's still a machloket). With the parallel to the requirement that at least half of the population of the Jews need to be pure to be able to participate in the Pesach sacrifice. That 50/50 seems to be acceptable, rather than leaving a full half of the people to make up the sacrifice on Pesach Sheni (14th of Iyar). But as much as this example is brought in parallel to the shechitah case, they're also quite different. Also, when is the action of slaughtering actually considered to be an act of shechitah? From the beginning of the process or only once it has been concluded? The practical implication being for incomplete draws of the knife and so on.