The Gemara has been providing different metrics for how we can check if a forbidden substance accidentally mixed into a food is nullified — rendering the mixture permitted. The primary concern seems to be that the forbidden substance does not impart detectable flavor to the mixture. The problem is that a Jew can’t taste the mixture without knowing whether it is kosher, which is what tasting is supposed to test.
We’ve seen the suggestion that the mixture be compared to two familiar foods, such as meat and turnips, to estimate whether flavor has been imparted. We’ve also seen that one can ask a non-Jew to taste the mixture and give an assessment of the flavor. These are subjective methods. Yesterday, a more objective metric was proposed, the principle of bitul b’shishim: If the accidental contaminant is less than 1/60th of the volume of the overall dish, the dish is still edible. Today, we learn how that ratio was derived:
Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba says that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says in the name of bar Kappara: All the forbidden foods in the Torah are nullified in sixty. Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzhak said before Rabbi Hiyya 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 in one hundred.
In an earlier period, the ratio 1:60 wasn’t universally agreed upon. Here we see two traditions of what Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi relayed in the name of Bar Kappara about bitul — one setting the benchmark at 1:60, the other setting it at 1:100. The Gemara explains how they arrived at these numbers:
And both of them learned it 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 beraita: The verse states “cooked,” and the term “cooked” indicates that the verse is referring only to a foreleg that is whole … The one who said 60 holds that we assess the ratio of meat and bones of the foreleg to the meat and bones of the rest of the ram, and this is a ratio of 1:60. The one who said 100 holds that we assess only the volume of the meat of the foreleg to the meat of the rest of the ram, and this is a ratio of 1:100.
According to most opinions, the foreleg of a nazirite’s ram is cooked with the rest of the ram. However, the foreleg is only permitted to the priests, whereas the rest of the ram can be eaten by its owners, even if they’re non-priests. Therefore, Bar Kappara reasons, the ratio of the foreleg to the rest of the ram’s body is the ratio that constitutes nullification. After all, the two are cooked together — a means by which flavor can be imparted — and nonetheless the rest of the animal is permitted to non-priests. However, there is a dispute about how to calculate the foreleg-to-body ratio. If we include bones, the ratio is 1:60. But, if we ignore flavorless bones and only assess the meat, the ratio drops to 1:100.
The Gemara goes on to challenge the notion that we should derive a halakhah for all prohibited mixtures from the peculiar case of the nazirite’s ram. For most forbidden mixtures, intentional mixing — even at a very small ratio — renders the dish forbidden. The nazirite’s ram is an exception in that one is allowed to cook the foreleg (which is only for the priests) with the rest of the animal (which can be eaten by anybody). Therefore, there is a question as to whether the ratios derived from the nazirite’s ram can be generalized to all types of nullification.
This concern is allayed:
Is that to say that we learn this ratio as a leniency? We learn it only as a stringency, as by Torah law forbidden food is nullified in a mixture in which there is a simple majority of permitted food.
On a Torah level, this teaching asserts, prohibitions can be nullified in a remarkably generous ratio of 1:2! While we’re reluctant to generalize leniencies from exceptional cases, the rabbis are far more comfortable deriving a more stringent general ruling — such as the nullification ratio of 1/60th.
Read all of Chullin 98 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on August 6, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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