Deuteronómio 12:21 Comentario: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ramban

כי ירחק ממך המקום IF THE PLACE [WHICH THE LORD THY GOD HAS CHOSEN TO PUT HIS NAME THERE] BE TOO FAR FROM THEE and thou therefore art unable to come and prepare peace-offerings at any time, as thou doest now when the Tabernacle accompanies you,

כי ירחק ממך המקום, “for the place (the Temple) is located far distant from you.” The Torah here addresses Israelites who dwell beyond the borders of the Holy Land. In spite of this, the same law applies to them as to those who dwell within it.

כאשר צויתך, “as I have commanded you.” From the formulation, i.e. that G–d had given precise instructions, in this verse, our sages in the Talmud, tractate Chulin folio 28 derive the rule that when slaughtering a mammal both the major part of the gullet and the windpipe of the animal have to be severed. When slaughtering birds, the major part of the windpipe has to be severed. Rabbi Yaakov of Corveillle, found that the numerical value of the letters in the expression כאשר צויתך, equal the numerical value on the words: רוב אחד בעוף ורוב שנים בבהמה, “the major part of one for the bird, and the major part of two for the mammal.” (1047). [What the sages could do without the help of GOOGLE! Ed.] An alternate interpretation of this expression: The three letters in the word אשר, are אלף=1=אחד, for the א, 2 for the ש,=שנים, and the letter ר, short for the word רוב, “major part.”

וזבחת … כאשר צויתך THEN THOU MAYEST SLAUGHTER … AS I HAVE COMMANDED THEE — This teaches us that there was already a commandment regarding the slaughtering of animals — as to how one should slaughter; it is not written in the Torah but it comprises the traditional regulations regarding the slaughter of animals that were given orally (נאמרו) to Moses on Mount Sinai (Sifrei Devarim 75:7; Chullin 28a).