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THE RITUAL SLAUGHTERER (shoḥet) is mentioned frequently in hasidic stories, since the provision of kosher meat occupied a prominent place in the thought and practices of the early hasidic leaders. Sometimes hasidim would refuse meat from a ritual slaughterer until they had personally inspected the knife that he used. The importance and sanctity of this position (at times the ritual slaughterer also served as circumciser, or mohel) were such that the hasidim considered themselves to be under an especially strict mandate in the realm of kashrut and ritual slaughter. Hence their understandable objections to a slaughterer who belonged to the camp of the mitnagedim; R. Aaron of Karlin, for example, opposed the appointment of a mitnaged slaughterer in the community of Horodok, near Pinsk.
The hasidic story reflects a view that many slaughterers do not take proper care regarding the laws governing their work, or are insufficiently God-fearing, and even that some among them are guilty of committing grave sins. The tsadik, who is blessed with the spirit of divine inspiration, is loath to eat meat whose slaughter was flawed, and at times he even succeeds in proving the wickedness of the slaughterer. In such instances the slaughter is relieved of his position, and sometimes also severely punished. In many cases the slaughterer admits to his sin, and the tsadik prescribes a tikun for him.
According to the stories of this genre, the sanctity of the position also encouraged the forces of the Sitra Ahra to entrap slaughterers. The dangers that lie in wait for the ritual slaughterer are illustrated by the story of a person who asked R. Shmelke to appoint him to this post. The tsadik showed the applicant a person who was standing in the air, between heaven and earth, with a slaughterer's knife in his hand. The tsadik explained to him: ‘This person was a slaughterer, and for forty years he has been attempting to correct the flaws that he perpetrated, but he has not yet succeeded.’ The applicant immediately withdrew his request for the appointment.
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