[Avodah] Shechting animals upside down

[Michael Makovi]

>  I am absolutely stunned by this. This practice of only shechting when
>  the animal is on it's back has become very widespread and has led to
>  many problems. To find out that it has no halachic basis is very
>  disturbing.

Did anyone ever claim that it DID have halachic basis? I thought it
was universally understood that there was no basis for this, and it
was all a senseless chumra?

Think about it: in Biblical times, did they have giant steel conveyor
belts that could be used to hoist a cow upside down? And what do you
think they did in Yemen? Obviously, they had no way AFAIK to feasibly
hoist it upside down, and therefore, it cannot be a halachic
requirement. Aside from what the textual sources say, the practical
impossibility of it in non-technological circumstances guarantees IMO,
AFAIK that it could never have been a chiyuv.

I recall an article which stated the fear that if the animal were
upright, the weight of its neck would press down on the knife.
However, the article said, the exact opposite is true: the animal
tries to lift its neck away from the knife, just as a person does if a
knife is put to his neck; ever seen the hostage scenes in movies? The
guy with the knife to his neck is craning his neck backwards, with his
adam's apple jutting out.

So given all the suffering it puts the animal through, given it has no
source, and given that it is no more effective than right-side up,
what on earth is the reason for it?

Mikha'el Makovi