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I am wondering when Jews began the tradition of kosher butchery as such. The Torah is not very specific about how meat is to be slaughtered even for sacrifices:

Thou shalt slaughter of thy herd and of thy flock, which the Lord hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat within thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul” (Deuteronomy 12:21).

The Jewish Encyclopedia says

There can be but little doubt, however, that in slaughtering the sacrificial animals the priests followed some uniform mode akin to that which was later adopted by all Israel and which is known as "sheḥiṭah"... Speculating on the etymology of the words "shaḥaṭ" and "zabaḥ," the Rabbis endeavored thereby to establish on a Scriptural basis the law that an animal should be slaughtered by cutting the throat.

This can be done by anyone who owns cattle. I'm looking for written historical sources (as opposed to the Oral Law) about the development of kosher butchery as a profession.

The earliest reference I can find is Sifrei Devarim. Are there earlier ones than this, either historical or scriptural? Information regarding the early history of kosher butchers (those who slaughter the animal according to halacha), beyond the tradition of draining the animal's blood, would also be appreciated.

Dan Fefferman
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    This is understood to be part of the oral law that was given at Sinai, so you won't get an earlier source than that. You want the earliest written source? Sifrei is probably your best bet, but the verse itself alludes to a tradition of ritual slaughter. – robev Oct 29 '22 at 18:54
  • Sorry... I got the verse wrong; it's 71, not 72. I'll change it in the title. Plus, it's not really about kosher butchers either. About the oral law, I thought it was obvious that I wasn't asking for something that was not written. – Dan Fefferman Oct 29 '22 at 21:10
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    The oral law is also a valid source – robev Oct 30 '22 at 06:38
  • Of course, but I'm looking for written historical sources. I suppose that the law about draining the blood came early but when did other practices develop? – Dan Fefferman Oct 30 '22 at 12:38
  • are you asking about the source for the specifics of ritual slaughter or the history of outsourcing to a professional? Jewish tradition teaches that the rules were given contemporaneously with the one you mention about draining blood, so are you asking when the first written version of those same laws was published? – rosends Oct 30 '22 at 13:06
  • I am indeed asking for written versions of the rules, but also anything in written records regarding kosher butchers. – Dan Fefferman Oct 31 '22 at 01:19
  • By butcher, do you mean someone who sells meat? Or do you mean a schochet who kills the animal according to halacha? Please [edit] all your clarifications in the question directly – mbloch Oct 31 '22 at 04:08
  • thanks for helping to make the question better. I tried to clarify as suggested. – Dan Fefferman Nov 02 '22 at 14:47

2 Answers2

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Deuteronomy says "as I've commanded you." That meant there was an oral tradition. As you noted, Sifrei then lists some of the steps involved, and the Mishna Chulin goes through all of them. Like many things in Judaism, it wasn't formally written down until around 200 CE. The fundamentals of kosher slaughter are all found in the Mishna.

As for professional slaughter, in many communities a lot of well-educated people did it themselves. In the Yemenite Jewish community, any solid Jewish education included kosher slaughter, scribing, and circumcision. Even in the Temple, a priest had to receive the blood in a cup, but any knowledgeable layman could do the slaughter themselves.

The notion of a completely professionalized cadre of kosher slaughterers becomes apparent as you go through the Jewish law sources from the eh, 1600s and on, or so. The Shulchan Aruch (1585) is still saying "well really just about any sane, adult Jew can do this"; by the time you get to the late 1700s (at least in eastern Europe), the Chochmas Adam begins his treatment of these laws with: "the town rabbi is in charge of all slaughter; all the butchers' knives are his property and subject to his authority." So you can see the professionalization clearly clicking in.

Of course by the late 20th Century, slaughter is usually no longer being done in each local city, and is instead happening at some huge facility, then the meat is shipped refrigerated to the consumers. So while a hundred years ago, a key responsibility of my city's rabbi was supervision of kosher slaughter, at this point your average pulpit rabbi may have taken slaughtering as an elective in rabbinic school, or may not, but he's probably not using it.

Shalom
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  • I'm not a historian, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Vaad Arba Aratzot was already dealing with the shift towards professionalization. (They were the first, if I'm not mistaken, to require an outside kosher certification for Jewish foodsellers.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Four_Lands See more at https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/59771/21 – Shalom Oct 31 '22 at 08:36
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Genesis 43:16 reads "When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his house steward, “Take those men* into the house; slaughter and prepare an animal, for those men will dine with me at noon.”'

The commentators read out that it was in fact Joseph's son who preformed the slaughter and that he did so in front of the brothers so they could see the slaughter had been performed in accordance with Jewish law and that the forbidden parts of the animal were not being served. (After all, why else would you slaughter an animal before your guests?).

We have a tradition that Avraham employed Kosher slaughter techniques as well, but this is the first (semi-) explicit mention of Kosher butchery in the Torah.

יהושע ק
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