Who Can Be a Shochet

Overview

Can anyone perform shechita?

Excerpted from A Guide to Shechita 2009 by Shechita UK.

Only a Jew specially trained for shechita - a shochet - can perform shechita. He is required to study for a number of years and is examined, in theory and practice, in the laws of shechita, animal anatomy and pathology. He serves an apprenticeship with an experienced shochet before becoming fully qualified. The position of shochet, as a Godfearing person of integrity, is a respected one in the Jewish community.

Qualifications of a Shochet

Before attempting the act of Shechitah, one must become fluent in the relevant laws (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 1-28) and then practice in front of an expert until he desensitizes himself. If he faints, he may ruin the shechitah and not even realize. Once he can successfully shecht three times in a row in front of an expert, he may then shecht on his own.

The Shechitah of an Untested Stranger

1. The basic axiom is that most people involved in shechitah are competent ("רוב מצויין אצל שחיטה מומחין הן"); however, one could argue that we only rely on that as a last resort. Therefore, if one is approached by a stranger who wants to slaughter an animal for him, according to the letter of the law, one may permit him to slaughter first and assess his knowledge of Shechitah afterwards, as we are not concerned that he will shecht and take off before we can investigate. If the shochet is still here or can be recalled for us to investigate his knowledge, then he must be. Even so, he doesn't need to be asked if he faints. Regardless, one should check the simanim.
2. Even if he does flee and cannot be recalled, we can still be lenient and assume the shechitah was kosher. Nevertheless, this leniency only applies after the animal has been slaughtered. If, however, we know we won't be able to investigate, such as if he says he can't stay or there is no one of those present who is knowledgeable enough to assess the shochet, we should not allow him to shecht, except for pressing circumstances.

The Need for Proper Certification

1. Unfortunately, abuse of this leniency by people who will just eat anything by relying on it lead to people shechting without proper training, because they assumed nobody would check them. To avoid this, the practice developed to ban anybody from shechting or inspecting terefot privately without rabbinic assessment and approval, regardless of however much book knowledge he has.
2. This permission come from a great rabbinic authority who can administer a challenging examination, not an expert shochet. In places where this permission is written in a certificate, inability to produce that certificate when requested to is a red flag.
3. Rabbis should not cut corners or overlook law of qualifications when assessing candidates, as it leads to lowering the standards and thresholds of proper shechitah and then eventually people eating improperly slaughtered meat. It is too easy for the hasty and unlearned to overlook a serious issue in the knife even if they say they "checked" it. It therefore behooves the consumer to ensure that he only eats meat that either he himself knows the shochet is up to par, or he knows the local rabbinate oversees things properly, or he at least checked the knife prior to this animals shechitah and he investigated the shochet's stature with community members.
4. Certification and a little experience for Ofot should not give one the impression that all birds are created equal. The necks of smaller birds such as dove are much harder to manipulate, so one should not attempt them until he has mastery of regular birds first. Even then, one should not shecht them without having a larger bird or a couple small ones around to make sure that his beracha will not be levatala.
5. The certifying rabbi charging a fee and providing his own chickens to the candidate is not a red flag for conflict of interest, since the financial benefit is relatively small relative to the spiritual damage he's bringing upon others and himself by eating this food. Nevertheless, the price should be kept reasonable.

How to Assess a Shochet Candidate

1. The qualities to look for in a candidate to become a shochet are:
   1. Proper conduct
   2. Fear of Heaven
   3. Some independent Torah learning skills
   4. Knowledge of the five halachot Shechitah (Yoreh Deah 23-24), the halachot of how to check a knife, and the rest of the common halachot, as well as some that are uncommon. If he knows those, he most likely knows the rest, as well.
   5. Skill in checking a knife with strong haptic perception and presence of mind. If the touch receptors on his fingers are not strong enough or if he cannot focus, that would be problematic.
   6. Then he should shecht three birds successfully in front of the rabbi to demonstrate he knows what he's doing and does not faint. The custom is to do three chickens, two hens and one rooster, because roosters are harder to control.
   7. After that, he can have permission to shecht.

Keeping His Learning Fresh & Relevant

1. If he claims to be unsure of a certain law, there's reason to overlook that, but given the many resources available to the learner, best is to disqualify him until he is fluent without issue. It goes without saying that he says the opposite of the Halacha, that this is true.
2. Using old Shechita guides that aren't up to date with contemporary applications and current industry standards as guided by recent authorities is reason not to grant a Kabbalah until he gets a more up to date education.

If He Fails Our Assessment

1. If some time after receiving his Kabbalah it becomes clear that he does only knows the halacha, then depending on how unknowledgeable he turns out to be, we retroactively prohibit his slaughter going back from a few days to his whole life.
   1. If he forgot some of the basics of Hilchot Shechitah but not more than that, all of his kill is retroactively prohibited, as determined by the authorities up until when we think he certainly began forgetting.
   2. If he doesn't know anything at all, then all of his kill is prohibited retroactive back to when he got a kabbalah.
   3. If he doesn't even have a kabbalah, then all of his kill is prohibited.
   4. If he knows everything but answered incorrectly about one rule, then we only prohibit his kill from a days back and on.
   5. If he failed to check his knife properly but knows the laws, then it depends on how significant the loss is. For a significant loss, there are leniencies one can rely on; for a minor loss, we follow the same protocols for mistakes in laws of shechitah.

Supervised and Unsupervised Novices

1. There's a debate if one may lechatechilah allow someone unknowledgable to shecht in front of an expert. Many assume his shechitah is only permitted bediavad.
2. Despite practicing under the supervision of an expert many times, an unlearned person may not shecht privately, because if he doesn't know the laws of shechitah in the moment that he is shechting, he is likely to make a mistake and not realize. Attempting to reconstruct the situation afterwards does not alleviate the issue.
3. He may not shecht privately and throw away the kill either, since people may think that anyone can shecht privately or eat his shechita, which will lead to major issues. Instead, if he needs food for his animals, he should either get a proper shochet or kill in a way that demonstrates that they are a nevelah. The former is also not advisable, because the shochet may not be careful and end up producing a nevelah which people will think it actually kosher.
4. When practicing for a kabbalah, the shochet has credibility regarding whether or not he fainted, paused, or made mistakes. If he fainted, then one may not eat his kill. If he's not present, then we can assume he performed a kosher shechitah.
5. One who faints easily should not shecht at all; only if he is here and claims he didn't faint may we eat his kill.
6. Nowadays, shechting without a kabbalah is a red flag regarding the kashrut of the meat.
7. If one lost his animals and then found them shechted, depending on the circumstances, he may assume that they were shechted properly.

Proper Conduct of a Shochet

1. A shochet or bodek should never become intoxicated.
2. To avoid forgetting, he must review the laws of shechitah constantly, preferably once every three days. This is usually written in his kabbalah certification.
3. A shochet who does not conduct himself in a manner befitting someone of such serious responsibility is essentially feeding Nevelot and Terefot to the Jewish people, will receive a fairly excruciating punishment in the next world, and will not be afforded the opportunity to repent.
4. The local rabbinic authorities should regularly check that the already certified shochetim are continuing to conduct themselves properly and review the laws and are using kosher knives. If they find that not to be the case, the certification should be removed.

Those Invalid to Shecht

1. Although women are technically permitted to shecht, the custom is that they do not at all despite their skill, as they are more likely to recoil from the bloody and gory experience and risk making a mistake. Therefore, one may not authorize a woman to be a shochet, but if she shechts under close supervision or on her own and confidently claims she did everything correctly, it would be kosher. If she did it on her own and is not present to vouch for herself, we must assume it is not kosher, as she deviated from common practice (and we therefore will not rely on the Rov). If the local custom is to allow them to shecht, then this does not apply, but she still should not be appointed to be the communal shochet, due to the greater chance of making a mistake at high volumes of kill.
2. A well known and upstanding Eved Kenaani who had milah and tevilah for Avdut may serve as a Shochet, but a random one may not.