Bitul B’shishim - Measuring

QUESTION: A non-kosher piece of meat fell into a pot of soup and was removed. Only a small amount of the non-kosher meat dissolved in the soup. For bitul (nullification), must we measure 60 times the entire piece of meat, even though most of it was removed, or do we only measure against the amount that remains behind? 

ANSWER: The Gemara Chullin (97b) discusses a similar question and concludes that we must measure against the entire piece of meat. Since we do not know how much flavor was emitted, Chazal require us to measure as though the entire piece of meat dissolved in the soup. The Ran (Chullin 35b – cited by the Beis Yosef YD 98) explains this as follows: Since there is no way to properly evaluate how much taste came out of the meat, if it was left to everyone to make their own approximation, some would estimate less and some would estimate more. Therefore, Chazal saw fit to have one unified method which requires using the maximum measure, which is 60 times the volume of the entire non-kosher item.

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