Avodah Zarah, Daf Samekh Zayin, Part 2

 

Introduction

Today s section explains what constitutes a situation where something is considered to impart a bad flavor.

 

אמר ריש לקיש נותן טעם לפגם שאמרו לא שיאמרו קדירה זו חסירה מלח יתירה מלח חסירה תבלין יתירה תבלין אלא כל שאין חסירה כלום ואינה נאכלת מפני זה

 

R. Shimon b. Lakish said: When they said It imparts a worsening flavor, [they did not mean] that people say that the dish lacks salt or is over-salted, or lacks spice or is over-spiced. Rather [what they do mean is] any food which is not lacking in anything and is not eaten because of this.

 

If one adds a forbidden substance to a food and the food tastes bad because it lacks salt or has too much salt or lacks or has too much spice the food is still prohibited. This is not a case of imparts a worsening flavor because it is not the forbidden food that made the dish taste bad. For the food to be permitted its bad taste must be because of the forbidden food.

 

ואיכא דאמרי אמר ריש לקיש נותן טעם לפגם שאמרו אין אומרין קדירה זו חסירה מלח יתירה מלח חסירה תבלין יתירה תבלין אלא השתא מיהא הא פגמה

 

There are those who say: R. Shimon b. Lakish said: When they said It imparts a worsening flavor, [they did not mean] that people say that the dish lacks salt or is over-salted, or lacks spice or is over-spiced. Rather it is now impaired [by the forbidden food].

 

This is a more lenient version of Resh Lakish s statement. If food tastes bad we do not attribute it to too much or too little salt or spice and say that if the food was properly salted or spiced the substance would not have made it taste bad and therefore it should be prohibited. Rather, we say that since the food tastes bad now, it is permitted, no matter why it tastes bad.