Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/678

628 Bedikah Beelzebub

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

of winch the fitness or unfitness of a person or object, according to the requirements of the rabbinical law, is ascertained. The term is employed chiefly in the following cases 1 Bedikat ha-Sakkin (" the examination of the knife ") The Mosaic law, as interpreted by the Rabbis, requires that animals whose flesh is to be used as food be slaughtered according to the method enjoined by tradition and known as Shehitah. The throat of the animal must be cut with a perfectly keen and smooth knife, of a prescribed .



Condition of Knife,

which must be drawn

and fro across the throat, with a swift and uninterrupted motion, and in such a size,

to

manner

as to sever at least the larger portion (" rob ") of both the esophagus and the trachea except in the case of fowls, when only one of the tubes needs to be cut. Although the act of shehitah may be performed by any person, the appointment of a professional slaughterer, or "shohet," has at all times been

customary, and this

and

must be a well-informed slaughterer, whoever it duty bound carefully to examine the knife

religious

be, is in

official

The

man.

before the slaughtering to see that

it

be perfectly

keen and smooth (ppni in), without dent or roughness, and to repeat the process after the slaughtering. Should the knife be dented ("pagum, " having a "pegimah") or become so during the slaughtering, the flesh of animals slaughtered therewith is rendered ritually unfit for food (Hul. lib; Maimonides, " Yad," Shehitah, i. 23 and 24 Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh

De'ah,

18, 1-12).

2. Bedikat ha-Simanim ("the examination of the parts," the esophagus and trachea, that require to be severed in slaughtering)

Inspection After the animal has been slaughtered, of Parts, the shohet's next duty is to immediately inspect the simanim to see whether they have been properly severed. Neglect of this procedure would render the flesh ritually unfit for food (see Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 25, 1). 3. Bedikat ha-Reah. ("the examination of the lung"): After the shohet has satisfied himself that the act of slaughtering has been properly performed, it becomes his duty to examine the lung of the ani-

mal

whether

in a perfectly sound condiany of the blemishes specified by the rabbinical law as making the flesh prohibited This is the most important examifor use as food. to see

tion or

is

it is

tainted with

nation in connection with the slaughtering of animals for food, and must be performed with the utmost care and scrupulous conscientiousness. The shohet, who, in his capacity as inspector or examiner, is called "bodek," scrutinizes the lung most carefully in order to see whether it contains

any one of numerous fatal defects. A puncture in the lung (" nekeb "), the absence of any part thereof (" hissaron "), a softening (" nitmasmes "), or drying (" yabesh ") of the tissue, the presence of hard spots ("atum," "tinre"), or the hardening of the entire tissue ("kashah ke'ez"), blisters or tubercles ("bu'ot "), filaments filled with pus ("sirkot"), and an unnatural and unwholesome color (" mareh pesulah ") are the chief defects in the lung which mayrender the flesh of an animal forbidden. The examination is conducted in various ways: by insert-

628

ing the hand into the body before the lung

moved and

is

re-

mishmush ") also by putting the lung into lukewarm water, through which hard spots may become soft and by inflating the feeling

it ("





lung (" nefihat ha-reah "). By the last-mentioned procedure the presence of a puncture can be at once

The result of this careful inspection is that flesh passed as " kosher " or fit is almost certain to be pure and wholesome as food (see Shulhan 'Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 35-39; Maimonides, "Yad," detected.

viii., based on Mishnah Hul. iii. 1, and Gem. 46« ct acq.). 4. Bedikat Hamez (" the search for leaven ") is the name of a ceremony performed on the evening

Shehitah,

of the thirteenth of Nisan, when the master of the house examines, with the aid of a candle, all the corners, chinks, and remote places of the house for

the purpose of discovering and removing any stray The object of this morsels of leavened matter. search is to obtain the assurance that the house is entirely free from leaven during the continuance of the Passover festival, as commanded by the Mosaic Any leavened matter found, unless otherwise law. disposed of, is required to be burned about ten As at present o'clock on the following morning. performed the search is rather perfunctory, the main reliance being upon the housewife, who sees to it that the house is thoroughly cleansed of leaven and put into a proper condition for the festival. The chief purpose of the formal search is to give a religiolegal sanction to the actions of the housewife. For "Bedikat ha-ishshah" (the examination of women) see Niddah. For " Bedikah le-gadlut " (the examination concerning maturity) see MatuFor examinarity, and also Vows and Nedarim. ation of witnesses see Accusatory and Inquisito-

rial Procedure. For "Bedikah le-mumim" (the examination concerning defects in relation to matrimony) see Marriage Among Hebrews. For " Bedikah li-netinat get " (examination concerning the capacity of giving a bill of divorce) see Divorce. For " Bedikat ha-metim " (examination of the dead) For "Bedikah le-yohasin" (examinasee Death. tion concerning see

purity or legitimacy of descent)

Yihus.

Bibliography Ex. xii. 19, xiii. 7 Dent. xvi. I Mishnah Pes. i. 1; Gem. ih ct, seq.; Maimonides, Yad ha-Hazatyah, Hilhot, Hamez u-Mazzah, 1.— ill.; Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim; Dembo, Das SehUchten, Leips'ic, 1894; Wiener, Die Ju:





dischen Speiaegesetze, Breslau, 1895 (the latter takes a rather antagonistic view)

B. D.

K.

BEE A

honey-gathering insect frequently referred to in the Bible. Bee-keeping dates very far back, and it is quite probable that the ancient Hebrews were engaged in it, although there is no direct testimony on the subject either in the Old or in the New Testament. Isaiah vii. 18 is usually quoted in evidence, and the phrase " the Lord shall hiss for the bee " is explained as a technical term of apiculture, meaning to entice the bees to the hive but the correctness of this supposition may be questioned. It would be more justifiable to quote II Chron. xxxi. 5, where reference is made to the firstfruits of honey. Philo is the first to mention beekeeping, and the Talmud often refers to it. Whatever age, therefore, is to be assigned to apiculture

.