Avodah Zarah, Daf Samekh Tet, Part 1

 

Introduction

We continue to discuss mice falling into drinks, this time vinegar.

 

איבעיא להו נפל לגו חלא מאי?

א"ל רב הילל לרב אשי הוה עובדא בי רב כהנא ואסר רב כהנא

א"ל ההוא אימרטוטי אימרטט

How is it if [a mouse] fell into vinegar?

R. Hillel said to R. Ashi: Such an incident happened with R. Kahana and he prohibited it.

[R. Ashi] replied to him: In that case [the mouse] was broken into pieces.

 

R. Hillel seems to think that the vinegar with the mouse in it is prohibited because you can taste the mouse and even though the taste is a bad taste, it is still prohibited.

R. Ashi responds that in that case the mouse was, or at least might have been, broken up into pieces. One who drinks the vinegar may actually eat a piece of moust. But if the mouse was whole and could be fished out (moused out?) the vinegar would be permitted because the taste is bad.

רבינא סבר לשעורי במאה וחד אמר לא גרע מתרומה דתנן תרומה עולה באחד ומאה

 

Ravina thought to apply here the standard of a hundred and one since it is not worse than terumah [about which we taught]: Teruman [mixed with the non-holy] is neutralized when the proportion is one in a hundred.

 

Ravina thought that if there was 100 times more vinegar than mouse parts that the mouse would be neutralized. Meaning that the mixture would be permitted, as long as the volume of the mouse was removed. This is the rule with regard to terumah that falls into non-holy produce. If there is 100 times more non-holy produce, the mixture is permitted, although he does have to remove the volume of terumah that fell in.

א"ל רב תחליפא בר גיזא לרבינא דלמא כתבלין של תרומה בקדירה דמי דלא בטיל טעמייהו

 

R. Tahlifa b. Giza said to Ravina: Perhaps [this case] is like terumah spices [which fell into] a pot of food, whose taste is not annulled.

 

The mishnah about terumah being neutralized at a ratio of 100 to 1 referred to cases where one cannot taste the terumah. For instance terumah oil falls into ordinary oil. But if terumah spices fall into food and they can be tasted, the ratio does not matter. The same should be true for the case of a mouse it should be subject to the test of taste.

 

רב אחאי שיער בחלא בחמשין רב שמואל בריה דרב איקא שיער בשיכרא בשיתין

והלכתא אידי ואידי בשיתין וכן כל איסורין שבתורה:

 

R. Ahai estimated that with vinegar the proportion must be fifty [to one].

R. Shmuel the son of R. Ika estimated that with beer the proportion must be sixty [to one]. The halakhah in both is sixty [to one], and it is so with all things prohibited by the Torah.

 

We can see here how the concept of imparts taste is transformed into a concept of set ratios. The early amoraim operate through a system of imparting taste. This is a sensible system but hard to follow who wants to taste the mouse beer or vinegar. Therefore, to solve the problem, they come up with set ratios. The latest voice in the Talmud gives the same ratio to everything 60 to 1. In Hebrew this is called batel beshishim and is a very important concept in halakhah.