Talmud - Hullin 98a חולין צ״ח א׳

an egg that contains a chick, as the chick imparts flavor to the food in which the egg is cooked. But with regard to an egg that does not contain a chick but is from a non-kosher bird, it does not impart flavor to the food with which it is cooked.

Rav Idi bar Avin raised an objection to this answer based on a baraita (Tosefta, Terumot 9:5): With regard to kosher eggs that one boiled with non-kosher eggs, if they have a ratio that allows the non-kosher eggs to impart flavor to the kosher eggs, they are all forbidden. This indicates that eggs from non-kosher birds do have flavor. Abaye answered: Here, too it is referring to an egg from a kosher bird that contains a chick. And why does the baraita call this a non-kosher egg, indicating that it is an egg from a non-kosher species? Since it has a chick inside, which causes the egg to be forbidden, the baraita calls it non-kosher.

The Gemara objects: But from the fact that the latter clause teaches: With regard to eggs that one boiled and a chick was found in one of them, if they have a ratio that allows the chick to impart flavor to them, they are all forbidden, it may be inferred that in the first clause we are dealing with an egg that does not have a chick inside.

The Gemara explains that this is an incorrect inference, as the latter clause is explaining the first clause, so that the baraita should be read as follows: With regard to kosher eggs that one boiled with non-kosher eggs, if they have a ratio that allows the non-kosher eggs to impart flavor to the kosher eggs, they are all forbidden. How so? It can be referring to a case where one boiled them and a chick was found in one of them.

The Gemara adds: So too it is reasonable to explain the baraita in this manner, as if it would enter your mind to say that the first clause is referring to a case where there is no chick in the egg, the latter clause is redundant: Now that the tanna has taught that in a case where there is no chick inside, the non-kosher egg imparts flavor to the kosher eggs and renders them forbidden, is it necessary for the tanna to teach that an egg that has a chick inside imparts flavor to the kosher eggs?

The Gemara rejects this argument: If it is due to that reason, there is no conclusive argument, i.e., the proof of the argument is inconclusive. The reason is that one can say that the tanna taught the latter clause to reveal the meaning of the first clause. The latter clause was stated so that you would not mistakenly say that the first clause is referring only to a case where the egg has a chick inside, but if there is no chick inside the kosher eggs would be permitted. Therefore, the tanna teaches the latter clause and specifies that it is referring to an egg that has a chick inside. By inference the first clause is referring to a case of an egg that does not have a chick inside, and even so it renders all of the other eggs forbidden.

§ The Gemara continues discussing the nullification of forbidden foods. There was once a certain olive-bulk of forbidden fat that fell into a pot of kosher meat. Rav Asi thought to measure the volume of the kosher meat together with that which the pot had absorbed. The Rabbis said to Rav Ashi: Is that to say that the pot absorbed the permitted meat but did not absorb the forbidden fat?

The Gemara relates a similar incident: There was once a certain half-olive-bulk of forbidden fat that fell into a pot of kosher meat. Mar bar Rav Ashi thought to measure the amount of kosher meat needed to nullify the forbidden fat as thirty half-olive-bulks, rather than sixty. His father, Rav Ashi, said to him: Have I not told you: Do not treat measures lightly even with regard to rabbinic prohibitions? And furthermore, didn’t Rabbi Yoḥanan say: A half-measure is prohibited by Torah law? Consequently, the half-olive-bulk of forbidden fat is nullified only in sixty times its volume of permitted meat.

§ The Gemara continues its discussion of nullifying forbidden foods. Rav Shemen bar Abba says that Rav Idi bar Idi bar Gershom says that Levi bar Perata says that Rabbi Naḥum says that Rabbi Biryam says in the name of a certain elder, and his name was Rabbi Ya’akov, that the Sages in the house of the Nasi said: If a non-kosher egg is mixed with kosher eggs, if there are sixty eggs they are all forbidden, but if there are sixty-one eggs they are all permitted.

Rabbi Zeira said to Rav Shemen bar Abba: See, one can infer from your words that you fix a limit to permit the eggs if there is a total of sixty-one eggs, including the non-kosher egg. This is a revelation, because the two most eminent Sages of the generation did not clarify this matter. These two eminent Sages were Rabbi Ya’akov bar Idi and Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani, and both of them said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: In a case where a non-kosher egg is mixed with kosher eggs, if there are sixty eggs they are all forbidden, but if there are sixty-one eggs they are all permitted.

And a dilemma was raised before these Sages: When Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said they are permitted if there are sixty-one eggs, does that mean there are sixty-one eggs altogether, with the non-kosher egg, or does it perhaps mean that there must be sixty-one kosher eggs aside from the non-kosher egg? And they did not resolve this dilemma. And yet, it appears as though the Master, Rav Shemen, has resolved the dilemma, because you implied that the mixture is kosher if there are a total of sixty-one eggs including the non-kosher egg.

The Gemara continues: It was stated that Rabbi Ḥelbo says that Rav Huna says: If a non-kosher egg becomes mixed with kosher eggs, if there are sixty kosher eggs in addition to that non-kosher egg, the entire mixture is forbidden. But if there are sixty-one kosher eggs in addition to that one non-kosher egg, the mixture is permitted.

§ There was a certain person who came before Rabban Gamliel bar Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi with a half-olive-bulk of non-kosher food that had been mixed with a larger amount of kosher food. Rabban Gamliel said to him: A similar case came before my father, and even though he did not measure the kosher food as being sixty times the volume of the non-kosher food, he nevertheless permitted the mixture due to the fact that there was forty-seven times as much kosher food as non-kosher food. And similarly, I will permit the mixture because I measure that the kosher food is forty-five times the volume of the non-kosher food.

Similarly there was a certain person who came before Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi with a mixture of kosher and non-kosher food. Rabbi Shimon said to him: A similar case came before my father, and even though he did not measure the kosher food as being sixty times the volume of the non-kosher food, he nevertheless permitted the mixture due to the fact that there was forty-five times as much kosher food as non-kosher food. And similarly, I will permit the mixture because I measure that the kosher food is forty-three times the volume of the non-kosher food.

There was a certain man who came before Rabbi Ḥiyya with a mixture of kosher and non-kosher food. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him: Is there even thirty times the volume of permitted food as forbidden food? Clearly, the mixture is forbidden.

The Gemara seeks to clarify: This indicates that the reason that he prohibited the mixture is that there was not thirty times as much kosher food as non-kosher food. But it may then be inferred that if there is thirty times as much kosher food as non-kosher food, one may assess, i.e., permit, the mixture. And this contradicts the halakha that non-kosher food is nullified only in a mixture containing sixty times as much kosher food as non-kosher food. Rabbi Ḥanina said: Rabbi Ḥiyya did not make this statement to set a halakhic principle, but merely as an exaggeration. There was not even thirty times the volume of kosher food, so it was obvious that the mixture was forbidden.

§ Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba says that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says in the name of bar Kappara: All the forbidden foods in the Torah are nullified when they are mixed with kosher food that is sixty times their volume. Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzḥak said before Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba: My teacher, you say this citing Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who said that bar Kappara said it. But this is what Rav Asi says that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says in the name of bar Kappara: All the forbidden foods in the Torah are nullified when they are mixed with kosher food that is one hundred times their volume.

The Gemara adds: And both of them learned their principles of nullification only from the term: “Cooked foreleg,” as it is written with regard to the nazirite’s ram: “And the priest shall take the cooked foreleg of the ram” (Numbers 6:19). And it is taught in a baraita: The verse states: “Cooked,”

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Chullin 98a examines whether non-kosher eggs impart forbidden flavor when cooked with kosher ones, focusing on the presence of a chick inside the egg.