What is the exact reason that electrical stunning before shechita is forbidden?
Excerpts from sources please if possible.
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What other kind of stunning are you not interested in, and why is it different?– Double AA ♦Oct 12, 2014 at 22:37
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How do you know it is forbidden?– Double AA ♦Oct 12, 2014 at 22:37
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11) I am not interested in the bolt to the head or the hit it over the head with a hammer method. 2) I don't know that it is ACTUALLY forbidden but I have only heard that stunning in general is forbidden and I have never heard any exception to that.– Clint EastwoodOct 12, 2014 at 22:40
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1Can't post an answer till I see more authoritative sources, but I've always heard something along the lines of what's written here.– MTLOct 13, 2014 at 0:47
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2and you call yourself a shokhet...– Clint EastwoodOct 13, 2014 at 1:50
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2 Answers
This is not a definitive answer or the final word but I will translate a responsa from Rav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin printed in chelek 2 of Kisvei haGria Henkin page 50.
'I have postponed responding about stunning with electricity because being far away it's hard to get clarity, and especially as it seems all is not known about this. But, some time ago it was made known from Sao Paulo Brazil, and it was described that they chase after the animals with the electric device and with it they fell the animals and drag them to the slaughterhouse. This was considered as far as the nephila, falling, and because a misukenes needs pirkhus and because of the spine. And now I will escape giving a ruling on this to research this subject, if there is haphala, and if there is pirkhus, and to discover the effect of the electricity on the spine and the brain, ether through doctors or testing.
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1Well this doesn't ossur electrical stunning, it just ossurs chasing the animal round the slaughterhouse like a maniac with a taser. Jan 11, 2015 at 23:23
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@Clint true, as is. But some of the concerns, if proven true, would. I'm just posting some info i found.– user6591Jan 11, 2015 at 23:26
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It is significant, however, in that it refuses to address the actual issue. Jan 11, 2015 at 23:39
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Seems like the reason is that it may cause it to actually be dying or it may cause internal damage while shekhita thus turning it into "nevela" or "trefa". There we some rabanim who permitted it but they are minority.
One of the most comprehensive source is "Edut Neemana" (hebrewbooks.org/22298). regarding the trefa see page 12 toward the end.
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2Which one? Do you have any evidence that electrical stunning can be fatal?– Double AA ♦Oct 13, 2014 at 5:28
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1@Double AA The matter was checked by rabbis and they came to conclusion that it is not possible. Remember that you behema turns to trefa even if there's slightest possibility that is going to die soon.– BorisOct 13, 2014 at 5:36
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3If you can cite which rabbis tested the matter and how they came to their conclusion that would greatly improve your answer. Additionally, citing rabbinic sources to the effect that even the slightest possibility of death renders something a trefa (a claim I find quite preposterous, given that we can Shecht a Mesukkenet) would greatly improve your argument. Right now you have done little to show why we should trust you, given that you are a random internet user.– Double AA ♦Oct 13, 2014 at 5:39
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Regarding "random internet user," by @DoubleAA ....you might want to see meta.judaism.stackexchange.com/q/1444/5323 and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…– MTLOct 13, 2014 at 5:48
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@DoubleAA Due to modern nature of the question the decisions were made by groups of Rabbis in modern time. One of the most comprehensive source is "Edut Neemana" (hebrewbooks.org/22298). There are a lot of references there, in regard to trefa see page 12 toward the end.– BorisOct 13, 2014 at 7:46