Ideally in kosher slaughter, the simanim (windpipe and gullet) are severed straight across, cleanly and completely. But, as we have learned, non-ideal slaughter can still be valid. For instance, as we learned in a recent mishnah, slicing through the majority of the simanim is enough to render the meat kosher.
On today’s daf, the rabbis discuss another less-than-ideal way of slicing these vital organs:
Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: One who cuts a siman in two or three places on the neck, his slaughter is valid. When I stated this halakhah before Shmuel, he said to me: We require a clear and obvious slaughter. In this case, there is none.
For a long time, Rav Yehuda studied under Rav at the academy in Sura. When Rav died, Rav Yehuda went to study under Rav’s bar plugta (colleague and disputant), Shmuel, who headed the academy in Nehardea. For that reason, the Talmud frequently reports Rav Yehuda relaying to Shmuel something he learned from Rav. When that happens, Shmuel often responds by challenging Rav’s teaching.
In this case, Rav holds that if the gullet or windpipe is cut in several places, and the cuts “add up” to constitute slicing through the majority of the organ — the requisite measure for kosher slaughter — the slaughter is valid. Shmuel doesn’t accept that premise. He thinks we are required to cut the siman in one place, so that the extent of the cut is clearly visible and measurable.
Later down on our daf:
Rabbi Elazar raises an objection: If two people are grasping a knife and slaughtering one animal, even one above and one below, their slaughter is valid. But why? There is no clear and obvious slaughter!
Rashi explains Rabbi Elazar’s scenario: Two people are holding two knives, and cutting at different places along the neck. This would seem to be exactly what Rav was referring to, where the simanim have been cut in different places. So how can Shmuel be right?
Rabbi Yirmeya said to Rabbi Elazar: The mishnah is referring to a case with one knife and two people.
Rather than two people with two knives slitting the neck in different places, Rabbi Yirmeya argues that the mishnah is referring to two people holding one knife and slaughtering along a diagonal. Though slanted and cutting through different regions of the siman, it is a singular cut, rendering a “clear and obvious” slaughter. So perhaps Shmuel is right after all.
Later on, however, the Gemara relates an incident:
There was a certain bull that was slaughtered with cuts in two or three places in the simanim. Rav Yitzhak bar Shmuel bar Marta entered the store and took a cut of meat from the highest quality parts. Rabbi Zeira said to him: Our rabbi, you have taught us through your actions that the mishnah is referring even to a case of two knives and two people.
In this case, there was an animal that was slaughtered in the manner Rav described, with multiple discrete cuts on the neck, and Rav Yitzhak bar Shmuel bar Marta nonetheless bought its meat, demonstrating that he believed it was kosher. Rabbi Zeira infers that Rav Yitzhak would explain the mishnah as referring to two people holding two different knives. This aligns with Rav’s position presented earlier. Ultimately, it is unsurprising that this is where we land, because as a general rule, when Rav and Shmuel disagree on matters of isurim (ritual law/prohibitions), we generally side with Rav.
Read all of Chullin 30 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on May 30, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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