Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Yishmael said: This is a permit that emerges from a prohibition. Because it was prohibited for Israel to eat meat of desire in the wilderness,24They were not permitted to slaughter animals just for the sake of eating meat and not for sacrifice as an offering. the verse25See Deuteronomy 12:20–21, 26–27. comes and permits it for them only by means of slaughter. Rabbi Akiva says: This is a prohibition that emerges from a permit; because Israel would stab and eat in the wilderness, the verse came and prohibited it for them except for by means of slaughter.26Rabbi Akiva holds that the Israelites were permitted to eat meat in the wilderness even without sacrificing the animal as an offering.
Furthermore, they were permitted to stab the animal to kill it, as they had not yet been commanded in the rules of ritual slaughter. Thus, the verses in Deuteronomy that require ritual slaughter for animals that one kills in order to eat meat are not rendering permitted that which had formerly be forbidden, but the opposite, they render forbidden that which had formerly been permitted. Rabbi Yishmael taught: Because it was prohibited for Israel to eat meat of desire in the wilderness, therefore, the verse cautioned them that they should bring their offerings to the priest, and the priest would slaughter and receive.27The priest would receive the blood in a vessel and sprinkle it on the altar.
Even if the owners sit and have intent all day, everything follows only the slaughterer.28Even if the owners’ intent is that the offering be eaten or its blood sprinkled beyond its prescribed time or not in its prescribed place, the offering is not disqualified. Why does the verse state two slaughters, “who will slaughter” (Leviticus 17:3), twice? It is taught in the name of Rabbi Yudan: They are two standards for slaughter: Most of two in an animal and most of one in a bird.29When slaughtering an animal one must cut through most of both its trachea and its esophagus – two organs. When slaughtering a bird, one is required to cut through most of only one of the organs.