דף 81

they must all be burned; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. And the Rabbis say: They are nullified in a mixture of one part forbidden food to two hundred parts permitted food. As Rabbi Meir would say: Any object that it is usual to count renders a mixture prohibited. In other words, objects that are counted and sold by the unit, rather than by weight or estimation, are considered of special importance, and so they cannot be nullified by any majority and therefore must be burned. But the Rabbis say: Only six objects are important enough that they cannot be nullified and therefore render their mixtures forbidden. Rabbi Akiva says: There are seven such objects.

They are as follows: Perekh nuts, high-quality nuts from a place called Perekh; Badan pomegranates, pomegranates from a place called Badan; sealed barrels of wine; shoots of beet; cabbage stalks; and Greek gourd. Rabbi Akiva adds, as his seventh item, a homeowner’s loaves. Different prohibitions apply to these seven items: Those that are fit for the prohibition of orla, fruit that grows in the first three years after a tree has been planted, i.e., the nuts and pomegranates, render the entire mixture orla. Those that are fit for the prohibition proscribing a mixture of food crops in a vineyard, i.e., the beets, cabbage, and gourd, render the entire mixture a mixture of food crops in a vineyard.

And it was stated that amora’im disagreed about the precise wording of this mishna: Rabbi Yoḥanan holds that we learned: That which it is usual to count, i.e., Rabbi Meir’s stringent ruling is limited to objects that are sold exclusively by unit. And Reish Lakish holds that we learned: Any object that it is usual to count, i.e., even items that are only sometimes sold by unit are considered important and cannot be nullified.

The Gemara further explains: What is the case of a piece, referred to by Rabbi Yoḥanan? As it is taught in a baraita: If a piece of a ritually impure sin-offering became intermingled with one hundred pieces of ritually pure sin-offerings, and similarly, if a slice of ritually impure shewbread became intermingled with one hundred slices of ritually pure showbread, the impure piece of a sin-offering or slice of shewbread is nullified in its respective mixture. Rabbi Yehuda says: It is not nullified.

However, if a piece of a ritually pure sin-offering became intermingled with one hundred pieces of ritually pure non-sacred meat, and similarly, if a slice of ritually pure shewbread became intermingled with one hundred slices of ritually pure non-sacred bread, everyone agrees that the pure piece of sin-offering or slice of shewbread is not nullified in its respective mixture.

The Gemara asks: In any event, the first clause of this baraita teaches that a piece of ritually impure sin-offering can be nullified. This poses a difficulty with respect to the opinion of Reish Lakish, as such a piece of meat is an item that is sometimes counted and considered important in its own right, and it is forbidden by Torah law, but nevertheless it can still be nullified. Rabbi Ḥiyya, son of Rav Huna, said: This baraita is referring not to a whole piece of meat but to one that had been crushed and broken into small parts. Once it is no longer a whole piece, it loses its importance and can be nullified.

The Gemara asks: If it is so that the piece has been crushed, what is the reason for Rabbi Yehuda’s opinion that the piece is not nullified?