For the source text click/tap here: Chullin 32
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We have already learned (see above, daf 4) that one of the basic rules of ritual slaughter prohibits she’hiyah, or hesitating, during the act of sheḥita. The Mishna and Gemara on our daf attempt to clarify and define the parameters of the hesitation that would be forbidden. We find, for example, that Rava teaches that a person who is using a dull blade may continuously move the knife back-and-forth “all day long,” but this would not be considered she’hiyah as long as he did not pause in the middle.
The Mishna describes cases where the knife fell in the course of sheḥita, or even where the slaughterer’s clothing fell, and he stopped to pick up the knife or the clothing and continued with sheḥita. In such cases, as long as the pause was not equal to the time of slaughter, it is not considered to be she’hiyah.
We explore the relative halachic weight of breathing versus ingesting i.e. the windpipe vs the esophagus and their phylogenetic connections.