Zevachim 73a — the Talmud in English

For the tannai says:

this tannai:

everything that has [

even only occasionally]

a count,

even though ordinarily it is not sold by count, and even if its prohibition was

rabbinic—

is not nullified

by the majority.

And according to the one who says this,

all the more so

if the forbidden object was prohibited

by

a

Torah prohibition,

for it is not nullified by the majority, because it is “an object that has a count.” Therefore, according to the one who says this, a disqualified offering that became mixed with valid offerings is not nullified, and the entire mixture is forbidden.

The practice of sellers of dried figs is that ordinarily they do not sell individual pounds of dried figs; rather, they press them into the form of a circle, in a vessel made for pressing, called an “igul,” and sell them circle by circle. And sometimes they sell them as individual pounds, cutting a pound from the large circle and selling it.

As it was taught: A pound [

a certain measure] of

dried figs,

dried figs that were consecrated with the sanctity of teruma, and their sanctity is only rabbinic, since by Torah law there is teruma only for grain, wine, and oil [grain, wine, and oil],

that she pressed [

meaning, it was customary to compress the dried figs and join them into large masses by pressing them in certain vessels, such as an “igul,” which is a round vessel into which the dried figs are compressed until a joined mass is formed in the shape of an “igul,” or they compressed it in a barrel or in a vat], if she pressed the pound of dried figs consecrated with the sanctity of teruma

on the mouth of an igul,

on the upper part of the vessel called an “igul,” and did not compress it inside it, but only at the mouth of the igul, above, while inside the igul there are non-sacred dried figs, and there are here many other round vessels containing non-sacred dried figs, and the round vessel at whose mouth the pound of dried figs of teruma is located became mixed among them,

and he does not know

the person who pressed the pound of dried figs of teruma

in which igul she pressed

the pound of teruma. And there are not here one hundred mouths of vessels with non-sacred dried figs, so that we could say that the mouth of the igul containing teruma is nullified by one hundred mouths of non-sacred igulim.

And it follows that all the dried figs found at the mouths of the “igulim” are forbidden for consumption by non-kohanim, out of concern for teruma. But the dried figs found at the bottoms of the igulim are not forbidden, for it is certain to us that the prohibition is found only at the mouth of the “igul,” above, and not beneath it.

Or

she pressed

the pound of dried figs of teruma

on the mouth of a barrel, and she does not know in which barrel she pressed it.

Or she pressed it

on the mouth of a vat, and she does not know in which vat she pressed it.

Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda disagreed concerning what the opinions of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua are in such a case:

Rabbi Meir says:

This is how Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua disagreed concerning this matter:

Rabbi Eliezer says:

Although the uncertainty is in which mouth among the mouths of the igulim the teruma is located, and there are not one hundred vessels’ mouths corresponding to the forbidden mouth, nevertheless the Sages were lenient with rabbinic teruma to join all the dried figs found in all the vessels, including even those found at the bottoms of the vessels, which are not mixed with the prohibition [for it is certain to us that the prohibition is found only at the mouth of the vessel and not beneath it], and

we regard

the dried figs

above as though they were separated

above the mouths, and mixed with the dried figs found at the bottoms of the vessels.

And the lower ones,

which are permitted, join together and

raise

nullify

the

dried figs of teruma

above.

And if there is one pound of teruma and one hundred pounds of non-sacred produce, the pound of teruma is nullified by the majority of the non-sacred produce, and it does not render the entire mixture medumma.

Rabbi Yehoshua says:

The dried figs at the bottoms of the vessels do not join [that is, they were not so lenient as to join them, even though they are not included in the uncertainty] in order to nullify the teruma at the mouths of the vessels. Therefore, only

if there are one hundred mouths

of vessels, containing permitted dried figs,

will they raise,

those one hundred mouths of non-sacred vessels will nullify the teruma found at the mouth of the vessel in which the teruma is located.

And if not,

if there are not one hundred non-sacred mouths, then all the dried figs found at the mouth of

the mouths are forbidden. And

but

the bottoms

of the vessels, the dried figs found beneath the mouths,

are permitted,

because they are not included in the uncertainty.

Rabbi Yehuda says,

This is how Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua disagreed:

Rabbi Eliezer says: If there are one hundred non-sacred mouths there

of vessels,

they will raise,

the dried figs of teruma at the mouth of the vessel will be nullified.

And if not,

if there are not one hundred non-sacred mouths there,

the mouths

all of them

are forbidden, etc. [

and the bottoms are permitted].

Rabbi Yehoshua says: Even if there are three hundred mouths there—

they will not raise.

And if

she pressed

the pound of dried figs of teruma

in an “igul,”

inside the igul, which is very wide, and many pounds of dried figs are found in it,

and he does not know

now

in which place in the igul she pressed it, whether toward its north or toward its south—

according to everyone, they will raise.

For from the moment that it was pressed, there is no object that has a count here at all, since that pound of teruma will no longer be sold as an individual pound, for it was pressed and mixed into the large igul.

And this is the tannai of “a pound of dried figs,” who holds that even an object that is sometimes sold by count, such as a pound of dried figs, which is only sometimes cut from the igul and sold separately, and even if the prohibition is only rabbinic, is not nullified by the majority; and the tannai in our Mishna holds like him.

Rav Ashi said: You may even say

that the tannai of the Mishna, who said that a disqualified animal for an offering that became mixed with valid offerings is not nullified by the majority, is

the Rabbis,

who disagree with Rabbi Yehoshua and hold that an object whose manner is to be counted is indeed nullified; here it is different, because

living creatures are significant

by virtue of their being “living creatures,” and their significance is not on account of being “an object whose manner is to be counted,”

and they are not nullified.

But there is still a difficulty: Even if we say that living creatures are significant and are not nullified, [and likewise if we say that they are not nullified because they are objects whose manner is to be counted], why should we not permit the entire mixture for another reason, by the principle of “follow the majority”?

And let us draw out one by one from among them,

from all the animals in the mixture,

and bring it,

let us bring it out to us from the mixture,

and say

and say concerning each one that separates from the mixture: Every

one that separates, separates from the majority!?

But the Gemara is astonished at this difficulty: How did you say,

“let us draw out

one by one from among them”!?