20903 Hamoar cover - Federation Of Synagogues

HALACHIC THOUGHTS
To explain this in a more comprehensive manner,
although an animal can be shechted perfectly by the
most G-d fearing Shochet it must also be free of
various blemishes that can render an animal Treifa.
One of these blemishes is a perforation in the lung –
the smallest hole renders the animal Treifa and
immediately after Shechita the animal must be
opened and inspected to see that there is no
perforation. But, beside the possibility of perforation,
the lung must be inspected to see if there are no
adhesions, either from the lung to the cavity or from
one lobe to another. These adhesions, called a Sircha,
render the animal Treifa. There is a dispute among the
early commentators as to why. Some authorities
maintain that these adhesions are a sign that the
membrane covering the lung was perforated, and
that they are a type of scar tissue which has formed
subsequently, but they do not protect the lung
sufficiently and therefore the animal has become
Treifa. Others maintain that these adhesions are not
indicative of a hole having been there but that a hole
will form on the lung. And if a condition has arisen
that will definitely make a hole the animal is
considered Treifa immediately.
No matter what the reason is, all authorities agree that
an animal that contains a Sircha is Treifa. And it is
incumbent on the Shochet to examine the animal
immediately after Shechita to see if there are any Sirchas
and to determine if the animal is Kosher or Treifa.
Up until now this appears to be a simple and straight
forward procedure. Shecht the animal, open up the
lung cavity – no Sirchas – Kosher, any Sircha – Treifa.
However, it is not as simple as that. Although the
Talmud rules that the majority of animals are kosher,
(and it is a good thing too! Otherwise we could not
drink any milk because the milk of a Treifa animal is
forbidden but we rely on the majority), in practice the
vast majority of animals we Shecht do have some
type of adhesion and so how are we able to consume
the meat?
Hamaor / September 2009
The answer to this is that there are different types of
adhesion and the Beit Yosef himself distinguishes
between different types and different areas of the
lung, some of which make the animal Treifa and others
which do not. Short of reprinting the Shulchan Aruch
into Hamaor, the minutiae of these differences are too
complex to deal with in an article. But there is one rule
which is important to mention and which defines the
bulk of cases which are relevant to this topic.
The Remo, the 16th century Ashkenazic commentator
on the Shulchan Aruch, refers to a practice which was
introduced in the time of Geonim to see if a Sircha could
come off the lung without making a hole. If one could
do so the animal would be considered Kosher because
that would not be considered a proper Sircha but only a
“Rir” – a mucous adhesion unconnected to the lung.
Much Halachic literature has developed on this topic.
First of all the (Beit Yosef) Shulchan Aruch himself
accepted that there was a condition knows as a “Rir”
but limited it to specific cases:
a) If it came off with the slightest touch it would be a
“Rir”, but if it required any rubbing or rolling between
fingers to snap it would be considered Treifa (Sircha).
b) Only if the animal belonged to a Jew and the
inspector was known publicly to be a G-d fearing
individual. And the Beit Yosef refers to this as a
“leniency”.
Nevertheless the Remo did allow a Sircha to be rubbed
or rolled between the fingers and if it snapped would
be considered a “Rir” not a Sircha. The Remo concludes
that although this is a great leniency there is “upon
whom to rely on” and this has become the current
practice among Ashkenazim, this is called Kosher.
In the last two hundred years a newer modified type of
removing Sirchos has developed which is called “Kiluf”,
i.e. peeling the Sircha gently, and if it comes off without
leaving a hole in the membrane the animal is considered
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