Parshas Behar-Bechukosai 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
חולין דף ב. "נשים שוחטות"
The Mishnah says, anyone may שחט, except a חש"ו, because we are concerned they may be מקלקל the שחיטה.תוס' quotes the הלכות ארץ ישראל, that נשים may not שחט, because דעתן קלות. Tosfos disagrees and says נשים may שחט לכתחילה and brings ראיות that they may שחט even קדשים. The [יו"ד ס' א', א'] שו"ע paskens: הכל שוחטין לכתחילה, אפילו נשים, עבדים, וכל אדם. The רמ"א adds, י"א שאין להניח נשים לשחוט, שכבר נהגו שלא לשחוט, וכן המנהג. The [א] גר"א says we should not permit נשים to שחט, because we are concerned "משום פשיעותא".
The [יו"ד א'] טור says: "הכל שוחטין לכתחילה, נשים, עבדים". The בית יוסף says, this is like our תוס' as most poskim follow תוס'. The ב"י brings the אגור, who says: even though poskim follow תוס', the מנהג בכל גלות ישראל has been that נשים do not שחט, and מעולם לא ראיתי, that women שחט. One should not allow them to שחט, because "מנהג מבטל הלכה ומנהג אבותינו תורה היא". The ב"י responds, if the אגור would say that women wanted to שחט and he saw that they were not permitted, we could say that is a good ראיה. But just saying "לא ראינו" is not a good proof.
He brings the כל בו, who quotes a statement of ר' יצחק: "נשים שוחטות לעצמן". The כל בו says, this implies that they may not שחט for others, only for themselves, which does not follow תוס'. The ב"י says, this statement is a דבר תימה! What difference is there if they שחט for themselves or for others? The same כשרות is required? He explains, this isn’t what ר' יצחק means; rather, when he says שוחטות לעצמן, he means נשים are trusted and don’t need anyone עומד על גביהן, (which complies with שיטת תוס'), but he does not mean they may only שחט for themselves.
The דרישה says, when the ב"י quotes the הלכות א"י, he says their reason נשים are אסור לשחוט is דעתן קלות ושמא יתעלפו. However, our תוס' only says דעתן קלות! Also, those who quote the הלכות א"י also only say דעתן קלות. He explains: דעתן קלות means they are not מדקדק בהלכות properly, while שמא יתעלפו means they are queasy and might faint. He brings the סמ"ג, who quotes הלכות א"י and says their reason is שמא יתעלפו מפני שדעתן קלות. He seems to be combining the two reasons. The דרישה therefore suggests, in contrast to תוס' who only gives דעתן קלות as a reason, we should add a vav to the statement of the סמ"ג and make it two separate reasons: 1–שמא יתעלפו, because they are queasy; 2–and מפני שדעתן קלות, and also are not מדקד בהלכה. The דרישה says, with this insight we may defend the above כל בו from the ב"י. It’s now reasonable to learn that ר' יצחק did mean נשים may only שחט for themselves and not others, because like תוס', the only concern is דעתן קלות. So, for themselves they are מדקדק and will שחט properly, but if they שחט for others, if they were to make a mistake, since they are דעתן קלות and not so מדקדק, they would not mind being עובר לפני עור, and would not inform others of the mistake.