Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Shechitah

The Rambam mitzvah 146 counts the mitzvah of shechitah.  His source is from this week's parsha, וְזָבַחְתָּ֞ מִבְּקָרְךָ֣ וּמִצֹּֽאנְךָ֗ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נָתַ֤ן י״י֙ לְךָ֔ כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר צִוִּיתִ֑ךָ.  Other Rishonim disagree and hold its merely a מתיר to remove the issur of אבר מן החי.  [See Rambam Shoresh 1, Raavad on Sefer Hamitzvot, Tosfos Shevous 24b.]

The Taz (1:17) explains why a person that can't speak can't separate terumah because he can't say the beracha, but can shect and someone else will recite the beracha.  He says אלא דבשחיטה נראה טעמו דאחר מברך שפיר דברכת השחיטה אינה באה על השחיטה עצמה דהא אין חיוב לשחיטה אם אינו רוצה לאכול אלא עיקר הכוונה לתת שבח למקום ב"ה על שאסר לנו אכילת בשר בלא שחיטה ובזה ודאי כל ישראל שייך באותה ברכה שהרי על כולם יש איסור.  He seems to say that the beracha on shechitah is only a ברכת השבח.  This would seem to fit better with the approach that shechitah isn't counted as a mitzvah.  However, this seems to run contrary to the Gemorah in Pesachim (7b) that equates the blessing on shechitah to other birchat hamitzvot.

The Binyan Av (volume 2 #36) says that the Taz doesn't mean its not at all a bracha on a mitzvah, he means that when it comes to terumah the bracha is on the action of the mitzvah but on shechitah the beracha is on the result of the animal being schechted, hence the beracha can be recited by anyone.

No comments:

Post a Comment