Lubavitch Shechita

Lubavitch shechita is the unique form of ritual slaughter practiced by Chabad chassidim. The shochet must be a yirei shamayim (G-d fearing person), and the shechita generally needs to maintain the highest level of hiddur (enhancement) possible according to the conditions of time and place, as well as conform to the rulings of our Rebbeim.

About Lubavitch Shechita[edit | edit source]

Throughout the generations, chassidim have been particular about maintaining maximums hiddur in eating, since the food that a person eats becomes their flesh and blood, affecting their characteristics and personality, as well as their children.

Our Rebbeim saw great importance in establishing proper meat shechita as something that has spiritual influence on those who eat it. So much so that the Rebbe called the concept of 'Lubavitch shechita' a "mosad of hafatzas hamaayanos" (institution for spreading chassidus), meaning that through proper Chabad shechita done with hiddur according to the instructions of our Rebbeim, it influences those who eat the meat to be connected with our Rebbeim and Toras HaChassidus.

As a result, part of the definition of Lubavitch shechita is that it is done with the greatest hiddur, with absolute insistence on yirei shamayim shochtim and with close Chabad rabbinic supervision and oversight.

In previous generations, every Chabad community had a shochet from whom the chassidim would eat exclusively. With the industrial revolution and the ability to import meat from distant places and store it long-term, the need for a local chassidic shochet became unnecessary. It became possible to purchase mehudar meat slaughtered in distant locations, where the quality of the kashrus and hiddur of the meat depends largely on the slaughterhouse and supervising kashrus agency, not just on the specific yiras shamayim of the shochet himself.

The Rebbe himself coined the term 'Lubavitch shechita' and used it both in public farbrengens and in private yechidus and responses to Chabad community rabbis. According to the Rebbe's guidance, in 'Lubavitch shechita' not only the shochtim themselves but also the lung checkers need to meet the same requirements as the shochtim, since they too have spiritual influence on the slaughtered meat.

Yiras Shamayim of the Shochtim and Bodkim[edit | edit source]

Throughout the generations, our Rebbeim were particular that the shochet should specifically be someone with great yiras shamayim, even more than a rav, and should be a chossid who learns chassidus and engages in avodas hatefillah.

This was actually already ruled as halacha in Shulchan Aruch that one should appoint a shochet who is distinguished in his yiras shamayim, far beyond the general presumption of kashrus that exists for every Jew (which is certainly sufficient for shechita for personal use). This is because checking the knife, which is a halachic ruling in itself, was given to the shochet and he must be worthy to rule on this matter, which requires special concentration (especially in the challenging conditions of time and place during shechita). There must also be extra care that the shechita is performed without concern of the five things that invalidate it (shehiya, derasa, chalada, hagrama and ikkur) and some of these things require extra attention, are easy to stumble in unknowingly, and only the shochet himself (and Hashem who sees into the heart) knows if his work was done properly.

The Shechita Process[edit | edit source]

Enhancements and Hiddurim[edit | edit source]

The Rebbe once expressed his view that Lubavitch shechita needs to be with maximum hiddur according to the conditions of time and place. Because of this, there may be variations in stringencies and chumros as directed by the local Chabad rav, but obviously Lubavitch shechita must follow the rulings of our Rebbeim, even in places where their opinion is to be more stringent than the commonly accepted ruling, and efforts are made to set the highest mehudar standards.

Setting Up and Checking the Knife[edit | edit source]

Setting up the knife for shechita is a unique craft, and checking it requires great yiras shamayim. This is a kal vachomer (logical deduction): regarding checking that indeed the majority of the siman was cut (and not just half), which is a check of something relatively clear and visible to the eye, the Torah warned to be extremely careful, as it says "And you shall distinguish between the pure and impure, and between impure and pure birds" - how much more so regarding checking the knife which is invalidated by the finest nick, and often involves extra effort in properly setting up the knife and especially in feeling - things that hang by a thread (depending on the checker's condition, whether his hand is warm or cold, and of course the level of yiras shamayim of the shochet).

Regarding the knife, the main emphasis on yiras shamayim is regarding the checking, and because of this even for the shochet himself - whom we trust for his shechita - it is proper in industrial mehudar shechita to appoint an additional checker whose entire role is to check the shochtim's knives that they haven't become nicked during shechita (and we don't rely on the shochtim themselves in case from the effort and distraction of industrial shechita which is usually done under output demands that can pressure the shochet, his mind won't be settled enough).

The knife must be checked before shechita, during shechita, and after it.

Various Requirements in Checking the Knife[edit | edit source]

Regarding checking the knife, there are various instructions, some appearing in halacha, some customary among shochtim, and some are enactments added in our generation:

To immerse in mikvah before checking the knife, to check with a settled mind, to check slowly, to check only when hand temperature is average, not to check the knife after checking lungs, to wash the knife before checking it, not to check when the shochet is tired even slightly, to check specifically with the fingernail, to check without gloves, to check from every nick even at its beginning and end, not to check in front of a fan, to check under the authority of the rav, and more.

The Role of the Bodek (Checker)[edit | edit source]

Since shechita with a damaged knife renders the animal a neveilah (unfit), it's mandatory to check the knife before shechita, as Rav Chisda said: "From where do we learn the requirement to check the knife from the Torah? As it says 'and you shall slaughter with this and eat.' The word 'this' indicates that he checked the knife for them."

This strictness is not merely a good custom, but is established in halacha. The Rosh wrote that "much settled mind and yiras shamayim is needed for checking the knife," and in Shulchan Aruch it quotes from Rabbeinu Yonah "Behold, a person may check two or three times and not feel a fine nick, and afterward will find it because he prepared his heart finally, and the sensing of touch depends on the intention of the heart."

If this was true in ancient times, how much more so in our times. For then they would slaughter a limited number of birds and even those were slaughtered slowly, compared to our times when shechita is industrial, the hand gets tired and the sense of feeling diminishes. Therefore in our days it's not enough to have the knife checked by the shochet himself, and not even by two shochtim checking for each other, because as mentioned above both don't feel properly and there's no guarantee for this - rather a knife checker must be appointed, and care must be taken that he also rests.

And so the Rebbe instructed: "What he wrote about the necessity of checking the knife by two shochtim and bodkim is certainly very correct, but the matter depends on the rabbanim and primarily on the shochtim and bodkim, and unfortunately only slowly does the situation improve. Though nothing stands in the way of true will, and if the rabbanim and shochtim and bodkim truly wanted with appropriate strength they would succeed in this."

The Shochet[edit | edit source]

The shochet must be especially yirei shamayim (even more than a rav), for several reasons:

He is primarily responsible for checking the knife, which must be done carefully and with a settled mind (even under difficult conditions of time and place), and for this tremendous yiras shamayim is needed.
Only a person with true yiras shamayim will understand the great responsibility resting upon him and the fine line separating merit of the many from its opposite G-d forbid, and therefore only such a person can be relied upon to never compromise on even the smallest detail, even in matters that seem "minor."

Accepted Customs Among Anash Shochtim[edit | edit source]

Regarding requiring the shochet to maintain Chabad customs there isn't one unified approach, but from the instructions of our Rebbeim we can say that the shochet must learn chassidus every day, and also engage in avodas hatefillah according to his level, and in communal matters. Chabad rabbanim in each location were particular about certain practices, some of which aren't necessarily relevant to every time and place. Among them:

Generally - daily conduct serving as a living example of a G-d fearing and chassidic young man, with all that implies
Set times for Torah study, with emphasis on daily set times studying Chabad chassidus
Daily mikvah immersion, and on shechita days - before each action related to the shechita process (setting up the knife, checking it, and the shechita itself)
Educating children only in Chabad institutions (even if there are other institutions with a higher spiritual level)
Not engaging in any other economic field for livelihood (apart from fields that are "holy vessels" like rabbi, teacher, shliach, etc.)
Not employing a shochet who didn't appear for Tehillim recitation on Shabbos Mevorchim before Shacharis prayer.