The Law Behind The Second Cut

Tzemach Atlas has a new post on tzaar baalei hayyim (causing suffering to animals) after shechita. He consulted with two different Halakhic authorities. What he found boils down to the following:

1. Animals do feel pain for a time after shechita because death is not instantaneous.
2. Meat cut from an animal immediately after shechita can not be eaten until the animal stops moving and has died. (Hullin 33a)
3. Rabbis who say there is no tzaar baalei hayyim after shechita are mistaken. (He brings proof.)
4. Source for the second-cut may be from the High Priest's actions in the Jerusalem Temple on Yom Kippur.
5. The HP would slaughter a sheep cutting most but not all of the two tubes (trachea and esophagus) and would immediately collect the blood and offer it on the altar. (Yoma 31b)
6. The sheep was handed to a priest of lesser status who finished the shechita as the HP was offering the blood.
7. This happened only because the HP also had a Biblical obligation to collect and sprinkle the blood. This meant that the HP had two concurrent Biblical obligations.
8. Today, cutting of the carotid arteries to finish shechita "might" fit into this category.
9. It is unclear how tearing of the trachea could fit into this category.
10. We have been informed that good shochtim cut both carotid arteries in the same cut as the tubes.

Tzemach hopes to have more on this soon, and urges everyone to check back for updates and/or corrections that may be made to this post.

Read his entire post here.

Comments

[Chaim]

What he said was that either TBC does not apply after shechita or that it does apply, but is muttar if there is a "need" of some sort. Economic need by the compnay would also be a "need", so you are misrepresenting his post.

[Shmarya]

Nope. You are misunderstanding what he wrote. The 'heter' here is from the Daas Kedoshim.

[Chaim]

No, YOU are misunderstanding. The Maharshdam doesn't even need a hetter, becuase he holds there is no issur of TBC after shechita. So who are you left with?

[Shmarya]

No. Again, you are mistaken. The Daas Kedoshim allows (i.e., pushes off) tzaar baalei hayyim after shechita only l'tzorekh adam. The 'hetter' the KAJ/OU/et al relied on was that Rubashkin's desire to have beef with fewer blood spots and bruises, and his desire to avoid head contamination, justified the tzaar baalei hayyim to the animals. This "might" be a legitimate heter or it "might" not. That is what he wrote.

The issue isn't some simple "need," as you wrote.

Further, beside the shaky ground the 'heter' rests on is another problem:

Shechita is allowed in the USA because it was marketed by the OU, etc. to the government as a humane practice. The law allowing shechita is specifically based on that notion. But the same law does NOT allow throat-ripping because of tzaar baalei hayyim.

In other words, the law of the land is what we follow unless it prevents us from following the Torah. That IS the halakha. The 'heter' of the Daas Kedoshim can NOT overrule that.

The KAJ/OU/ et al were wrong.

[Chaim]

You are changing the subject. (Something makes me think that you don't have too much experience in "lernen". ;-) )

We have a machlokes between the Daas Kodoshim and the Maharsham if TBC applies after shechita. The DT says yes, but it is mutter in case of a need. (Which need is a different discussion)

The Maharsham holds that after shechita there is NO TBC. So what is the shaky ground for the heter?

[Shmarya]

The Maharasham's view is REJECTED by later authorities, so the Halakha can NOT be like him.

Further, R. Chaim Kohn of KAJ told me he was relying on the Das Kedoshim.

[Shmarya abilities]

Shmarya is a baal teshuva who's only yeshiva experience extends to HaDar HaTorah a Lubavitch baal teshuva yeshiva. I doubt he has smicha, but I don't know where he learned outside of HH. Maybe he can enlighten us. Or simply get a psak din from a Rav, publish on his website and there by defend his position in a legitimate way. Unfortunately an argument from undisclosed sources on a blog doesn't really mean much!

[Shmarya abilities]

Shmarya...you should know if you've been to Yeshiva at all that you can't derive Halacha from the gemorah. Where's your psak????

[chaim]

Shmarya, have you looked at the Darkei Teshuva? He brings the DK (allowing a second cut when the arteries were not cut) because this LESSENS the TBC and THEN he adds that espececially if there is a need.

So again, who are you left with?

[Shmarya]

Your understanding of the Darkei Teshuva only proves my point. The KAJ/OU/et al were wrong.