Now, when we hear that, we lean back with relief. “Aah, baruch Hashem,” you say, “I’m okay then. If the biggest part of Torah is between me and my fellow man, then I’m not so bad.”
But actually you're not okay because that’s the most difficult part of the Torah. I told you once this story. There was a man who was a shochet and when he met Reb Yisroel Salanter, zichrono livracha, he told Reb Yisroel that he’s giving up shechita. “It’s too much responsibility to be a shochet,” he said, “to be responsible for kashrus for so many people.”
You have to shecht so carefully — the knife must be especially sharp and you have to take care that your hand doesn’t press down, and also you shouldn’t stop for even a moment in your shechting. Then you have to be bodek; you have to examine the internal organs. All the requirements are so punctilious, and the smallest error makes it an aveirah and he was afraid to be a shochet — he might be responsible for feeding his fellow Jews neveilos v’treifos. And therefore this man decided to give up shechita.
