Sunday, July 22, 2007

Yevamos 81b - Chatas Tahor is Batul

The Braisa of chaticha makes a distinction that if a chatas tamei gets mixed into chatas tahor it is batul, but if chatas tahor get mixed into chulin it is not batul. Rashi explains that really in both cases it should be batul (acc. to R' Yochanan who says that something which is sometimes sold by quantity is batul, unless it is always sold by quantity). The rationale for the seifa case of chatas tahor mixed into chulin not being batul is that: 1. it is sometimes sold b'minyan so it has some chashivus (to the exclusion if it would be dissolved). 2. it is deoraysa (to the exclusion of the figs which are only derabonon). 3. it is only a small loss even if it is not batul since kohanim can still eat it (to the exclusion of tamei getting mixed which is a major loss). The combination of all 3 factors forces us to be machmir.
Tosafos disagrees with rashi and explains that the rationale for chatas tahor not being batul in chulin is that if it would be batul, you can use it to be honor someone. The issur would be a chaticha that is re'uya l'hischabeid and is not batul. But in the reisha, where even if it is batul it would remain kodesh, it is not re'uya l'hischabeid so it is batul. It seems that this Tosafos is based on Tosafos 82a (d.h. R' yehuda) that a davar yaveish that is batul is not bec. it is not recognizable where the issur is, but the issur piece retains its status (If it would be like liquid which does not retain its status rather gets dispersed, then at the point it would become re'uya l'hischabeid it is no longer a piece of issur). Therefore, since the issur piece after being batul will retain its issur status and can be used to be mechabeid someone, it has chashivus and can't be batul. The moment you try to make it batul it is able to be used to be mechabeid and would no longer be batul.

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