Bitul B’shishim

QUESTION: What is the source that the taste of non-kosher food is nullified if it is cooked with kosher food that is sixty times its volume?

ANSWER: The Gemara (Chullin 98a) cites the ruling of Rebbi Yehoshua Ben Levi in the name of Bar Kapara that in general non-kosher food can be assumed to be nullified in sixty parts (i.e., the non-kosher part equals 1.63% or less of the mixture). At this point, we expect that the taste of the non-kosher food will no longer be detectable. The Gemara provides the following proof. One who made a vow to become a nazir must, upon completing his vow, bring a ram as a korban. Any Jew may eat from the meat of this korban with the exception of the zeroa (arm). The zeroa portion of the ram has elevated sanctity and may only be eaten by a Kohen. Yet, the Torah commands that before the zeroa is separated, it must be cooked together with the rest of the ram. The rabbis measured and found that the zeroa portion of the ram is one part out of sixty-one of the entire ram. Even though the zeroa is not kosher for a non-Kohen, he is permitted to eat the rest of the meat which was cooked with the zeroa. This indicates that the taste of the zeroa is nullified in sixty parts of kosher food.

Tosfos (Chullin 98b s.v. Uman) points out that this is not a rigorous proof: On a Biblical level, a simple majority is enough to nullify the taste of non-kosher meat when cooked with kosher meat that has the same taste. Still, Chazal saw an allusion to the measurement of sixty. In theory, a bland food could potentially be nullified with less than sixty, but since we are not experts at making this evaluation, unless we know otherwise, we follow the rule of sixty.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.