Avodah Zarah Daf 76 עבודה זרח דַף 76

The Mishnah on the previous Daf taught: השפודין והאסכלא מלבנן באור – spits and grills purchased from an עכו"ם are purged in fire. Rav Amram asked Rav Sheishess that this contradicts a Mishnah regarding kodashim, which states about these utensils: מגעילן בחמין – one purges them in hot water to remove the absorbed flavor of previous korbanos!? Rav Sheishess differentiated: הכא היתירא בלע התם איסורא בלע – here (regarding kodashim), permitted flavor was absorbed (since it was not yet נותר), whereas there (regarding an עכו"ם’s utensil), forbidden flavor was absorbed. However, Rava objected that eventually, when the kodashim’s flavor would be transmitted, it would also be forbidden (as נותר)!? After other answers are rejected, Rava answers that kodashim does not require ליבון because כל יום ויום נעשה גיעול לחבירו – each and every day becomes a purging for the previous day’s absorption, i.e., each day’s cooking of kodashim removes the previous day’s flavor before it becomes נותר. The Gemara asks that although this suffices for a שלמים, which is eaten for two days, but the flavor of a חטאת (which is only eaten for one day and a night) would become נותר before the next day’s cooking!? It answers that a utensil used for cooking a חטאת is followed by cooking שלמים in it, removing the חטאת flavor, and extends the נותר limit through the next day.

Rav Ashi returns to Rav Sheishess’s original answer: לעולם כדאמרן מעיקרא – actually, [the answer] is like it was said initially: הכא היתירא בלע התם איסורא בלע – here (regarding kodashim), permitted flavor was absorbed (before it was נותר), whereas there (regarding an עכו"ם’s utensil), forbidden flavor was absorbed. Although Rava had objected that when the kodashim’s flavor would later be transmitted, it would also be forbidden (as נותר), Rav Ashi explains: בעידנא דקא פליט לא איתיה לאיסורא בעיניה – at the time of the emission, there is no tangible forbidden material present. Since it only became prohibited in an intangible state, its prohibition is less severe, and may be removed with mere הגעלה, and ליבון is not required.

The Mishnah taught about an עכו"ם’s knife: שפה והיא טהורה – one scrapes it (on a grindstone), and it is pure. Rav Ukva bar Chama adds: ונועצה עשרה פעמים בקרקע – and he thrusts it into the ground ten times. A Baraisa says the same (provided the knife has no indentations). Rav Huna brei d’Rav Yehoshua says this method is only effective לאכול בה צונן – to eat cold food with [the knife], because it removes non-kosher residue from the surface, but does not remove flavor absorbed into the knife. This is seen from the incident about Mar Yehudah and Bati bar Tovi, who were sitting before שבור מלכא. שבור מלכא cut off a slice of an אתרוג and ate it, and cut another slice and gave it to Bati. He then thrust the knife into the ground ten times, and only then cut another slice and gave it to Mar Yehudah. Bati asked why he was not treated as a Jew, that שבור מלכא did not clean the knife before serving him. שבור מלכא replied that he was familiar with Mar Yehudah’s piety, but not with Bati’s. Alternatively, שבור מלכא pointed out that when he sent the customary female companions to his guests the previous night, Bati accepted, and Mar Yehudah refused.