Avodah Zarah, Daf Samekh Het, Part 2

 

Introduction

In yesterday s section R. Yohanan claimed that R. Meir and R. Shimon argue over a case where the prohibited substance imparts a bad flavor from the outset. In other words, even though the mixture was made to taste worse immediately, R. Meir still prohibits. Today s section explores a potential tannaitic source for this statement.

 

אמר רב עמרם אפשר איתא להא דר’ יוחנן ולא תניא לה במתניתין

נפק דק ואשכח דתניא שאור של חולין שנפל לתוך העיסה ויש בו כדי להחמיץ והחמיצה ואח"כ נפל שאור של תרומה או שאור של כלאי הכרם ויש בו כדי להחמיץ אסור ור"ש מתיר והא הכא דפגם מעיקרא הוא ופליגי

 

R. Amram said: Is it possible that R. Yohanan’s statement should be correct and not have been taught in the Mishnah? He went out, examined and found that it was taught: If ordinary yeast fell into dough and was sufficient to leaven it and did actually leaven it, and subsequently terumah yeast fell into it or yeast from mixed plantings in a vineyard and there is sufficient to cause leavening, it is prohibited. But R. Shimon permits it. Now, here is a case where [the mixture] was made worse from the outset and yet they differ!

 

When the second leavening falls into the dough it makes the dough worse because the dough has already been leavened. Therefore, this second leavening, which comes from a prohibited substance, is considered as imparting a worsening flavor. The fact that R. Meir still prohibits the mixture proves that he rules stringently in all cases.

 

א"ר זירא שאני עיסה הואיל וראויה לחמע בה כמה עיסות אחרות

 

R. Zera said: Dough is different because it is capable of leavening many other pieces of dough.

 

R. Zera says that the case of this dough is not the normal case of imparting a bad flavor because this overly leavened dough is now capable of leavening a lot of other pieces of dough. It is not ruined or even worsened.

I should note that the simple meaning of this baraita probably has nothing to do with the issue of imparting a bad flavor. The original dispute is clearly over whether the forbidden leaven causes a prohibition despite the fact that it was not necessary to leaven the dough. The issue is not bad flavor but rather useless leavening agent. Still the Talmud seems to think that these two issues are connected and therefore uses the baraita as a source for R. Yohanan.