Talking Talmud

A descriptive daf... of details of slaughtering. That is, cutting the trachea in ways that are not obviously kosher, but may be so, and that leads to disputes over how and when which cutting took priority to determine the kashrut of the shechitah. Plus, a description of the sages sitting in rows and learning, considering different permutations where the shechitah is kosher or not. Also, what if the person doing the slaughtering is not Jewish? When is there leeway to see that shechitah as kosher? And all the implications for melikah...

In the case of a person who doesn't send his knife to be approved by a Torah scholar, the shochet should be ostracized or, alternatively, removed from his position, depending on whose opinion or the specific circumstances. And "removing from his position" doesn't stop there - he can't sell his meat as kosher, and it is to be wiped with feces so that it can't be sold to non-Jews either. Also: 2 new mishnayot - 1: On attempting shechitah with a rounded sickle with rounded serration - it's a machloket whether that's permitted. 2. On where precisely to slaughter on the trachea. Plus, if the slaughtering were done in a lower piece of cartilage, then it's not kosher according to Rav or Shmuel, but then someone who should be their follower (or either) ate from that shechitah. Note the distinction between the leniency in the land of Israel compared to the stringency in Babylonia, and how one needed to navigate the various practices.

On the phrasing of everyone can slaughter, everywhere and when, and with anything that can do proper slaughter (for example, a shard of glass). The Gemara shifts the focus from the animal to the person during the slaughtering - to include the Samaritan and a sinner, for example. Plus, Shmuel's father sent a knife and a question about it to the sages in the land of Israel to determine the permissibility of using it for shechitah. Also, the concerns about notched knives and how we know to check such a knife from the Torah. Plus, the different ways of checking the knife, including the sage who tested it on his own tongue.

What if one accomplishes shechitah by means of a mechanism that slaughters the animal - is that shechitah kosher? The answer lies in how much human involvement there is to activate that mechanism. Also, parsing the statements that "all are slaughtered" -- namely, every animal needs proper slaughtering. Plus, how eating meat in the wilderness was not allowed because shechitah wasn't possible, but then, when the Israelites came to the land of Israel, they were able to slaughter and eat the meat of animals. And now (in the time of the Gemara), after exile, shechitah continues instead of returning to the practice of the wilderness. Plus, the dispute between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva with regard to how meat could be made acceptable in the wilderness.

More on Hilkhot Shabbat - with a baraita that connects between Hullin and Shabbat. One who cooks on Shabbat without intent, one can eat that food (though the person who cooked it may have to wait until after Shabbat, depending on whom you ask) - even before the end of Shabbat. If it was intentional, then the food can't be eaten, even after Shabbat, by anyone. Also, what about doing shechitah for someone who is ill on Shabbat, in the event that such a person would need that meat on Shabbat? The ill person is eligible to eat this meat, of course, but can a healthy person eat from that same shechitah that was done on Shabbat? Note the rabbinic decree to prevent the temptation of increasing the cooking on Shabbat. Plus, all tools that are sharp enough and smooth enough will yield a kosher shechitah.