פירוש על דברים 12:21

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,

AND THOU SHALT SLAUGHTER etc. AS I HAVE COMMANDED THEE. The meaning thereof according to the opinion of our Rabbis⁶¹Chullin 28a. is as follows: “As I have commanded thee — orally, by law declared to Moses on Sinai This teaches us that he was commanded with regard to [severing] the windpipe and the gullet, and [severing] the greater part of one [either the windpipe or the gullet] in a bird, and [severing] the greater part of both in an animal.”
Know that the term shechitah in the Sacred Language denotes the severing of the two organs in the neck [the windpipe and the gullet], and be not apprehensive because of what it says ‘vayishchateim’ (and He slew them) in the wilderness⁶²Numbers 14:16. [which clearly does not signify severing the organs of the neck], for it is but a euphemism [as if to say] that He slaughtered them like sheep. Thus He commanded regarding the offerings, ‘v’shachat’ (and he shall slaughter),⁶³Leviticus 1:5. ‘v’shachatu’ (and they shall slaughter),⁶⁴Exodus 12:6. which refer to the organs of the neck. Now at first [in the wilderness] He commanded that whatever [meat] they eat be of peace-offerings, that they be slaughtered according to the law of the offerings. Now, when he proceeded to permit the meat of unconsecrated animals, he said, and thou shalt slaughter of thy herd and of thy flock as I have commanded thee when such animals were brought as offerings, and you may eat them unconsecrated after all the desire of thy soul, meaning that He permits unconsecrated animals to be eaten everywhere, provided that they be slaughtered as He had commanded originally, when they were all [permitted only as] offerings. This is the correct meaning of the verse in line with the plain sense of Scripture. Perhaps our Rabbis intended this [thought] when they said in the Sifre:⁶⁵Sifre, R’eih 75. “As I have commanded thee — just as the consecrated animals are slaughtered [in accordance with the traditional regulations] so must also the unconsecrated animals be slaughtered [with the same regulations].” Thus the commandment of slaughtering [animal and fowl] is here expressly stated and is explained in the words of our Rabbis on the basis of tradition.

כי ירחק ממך המקום, When the place will be too far from you, etc." The words: "you may eat within your gates" mean that such meat does not have to be sacrificial meat. Our sages differ as to the precise meaning of the word "distant" in our verse (compare Pessachim 93). The Talmud there speaks of the verse in Numbers 9,10 and determines that anyone living as far from Jerusalem as Modin falls under this category. Other opinions hold that even living inside the city of Jerusalem but outside the courtyard of the Hoy Temple is already considered as "distant." We can only wish that the time will soon arrive when this halachah will assume practical significance, i.e. after the arrival of the משיח.