Chag HaShavuos 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- May 22
- 3 min read
חולין דף יז: "א"ר חסדא, מנין לבדיקת סכין מן התורה"
He says from the pasuk, "ושחטתם בזה ואכלתם". Rashi explains: The word "בזה" is implying that שאול המלך was saying, he wanted to use a specific knife which presumably was checked beforehand. The [יו"ד ס' יח, ג] שו"ע says: a שוחט must be בודק his סכין before שחיטה. If he didn’t check prior, but after the שחיטה he checks and finds the knife is good, the שחיטה is כשרה. However, שם סי' א' if he checked before and found that it is not פגום but checks after the שחיטה and finds that it is פגום the animal is deemed a נבלה because we are חושש the סכין became פגום from cutting through the עור, בהמה בחזקת איסור עומדת consequently the knife was פגום before reaching the סימנים. The בית יוסף brings the רשב"א who says, one may not שחט and rely on checking the סכין afterwards, because we are concerned he will forget to check later and might end up eating נבלה. The [ס"ק ב] פתחי תשובה brings: according to this רשב"א having a שומר to remind you after the שחיטה to be בודק the knife, would not help. We only allow a שומר regarding חילול שבת, שמא יטה because it’s a situation of a קריאת מצוה otherwise we don’t permit the use of a שומר. The ש"ך brings the פרישה who says, the מקור for בדיקת הסכין is from the pasuk, "ושחטתם בזה".
The ש"ך asks: Our Gemara concludes that this is only a din דרבנן and the pasuk is a אסמכתא for showing it to a חכם. The ש"ך [ס' ב' ס"ק י'] brings the ב"ח who says the reason for בדיקה קודם השחיטה is not like the רשב"א that one might forget later, rather we are concerned, if the סכין is פגום, he would have made a ברכה לבטלה and be עובר the לאו of לא תשא, so best to check it in advance. The ש"ך adds, according to this, if he was יוצא the ברכה from someone else, he would not have to check beforehand. The ש"ך concludes, that our Gemara says, “of course we should check, a פגום סכין renders the בהמה a treifa”, we see the concern is טרפה and not a ברכה לבטלה. עיין לב אריה
The Gemara [ח:] says, a שוחט/butcher should have 3 separate knives. 1 for שחיטה, a 2nd for cutting the meat, and a 3rd for cutting non-kosher חלב. The רשב"א wonders, why do we need a separate סכין? The שוחט is required to check it before שחיטה anyway? He explains, the concern is, after a שחיטה before he puts it away, the שוחט will check it. If it’s good, he need not check it again before the next שחיטה as he may rely on its חזקת כשרות. However, if it’s not מיוחד לשחיטה in the interim he might use it to chop meat and it will become נפגם but he won’t realize because it’s not so common, and he will mistakenly rely on its חזקה. Similarly, the [או"ח ח', ט'] שו"ע says, before making a ברכה on a טלית one should check the ציצית to be sure they are כשר so as not to make a ברכה לבטלה. The משנ"ב brings: even if one checked the previous morning and they were good and there is a חזקת כשרות still, לא סמכינן on a חזקה if it is יכולין לברר. He adds, if one checks the ציצית before he puts the טלית away and they are כשר, he may rely on the חזקה and use it the next morning without checking. [עיין מ"א סוף ס"ק יא']