Zevachim Daf 74 זבחים דַף 74

Rav said: טבעת של עבודת כוכבים שנתערבה במאה טבעות – if a ring used for an idol (and forbidden in benefit) became mixed with a hundred permitted rings, one of which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, they all become permitted, דאמרינן הך דנפל היינו דאיסורא – because we say that this ring which fell in is the forbidden one. [Since the forbidden ring was only not בטל on a d’Rabbonon level, we rule leniently and assume the forbidden ring was destroyed.] This ruling is challenged from our Mishnah, which states that if one prohibited animal was mixed with a thousand korbanos, they must all die. But according to Rav, as soon as one dies, we should assume the forbidden animal died and the rest should be permitted!? The Gemara answers that Rav is following Rebbe Eliezer, who said that if a blemished korban became mixed with valid ones, and the head of one korban was offered on the מזבח, the rest of the heads may be offered (because we assume the blemished one was already brought). The Gemara adds that since Rebbe Eliezer himself only permits bringing two heads at a time (since one of them is certainly unblemished), Rav’s ruling also means to sell two rings at a time.

Rav said that if a ring of avodah zarah became mixed into a hundred rings, and forty of them fell into another group, they do not prohibit the second group. We presume the forbidden ring remained among the other sixty, and once these forty fell into a second group, a ring taken from the mixture is ספק ספיקא – a double doubt (i.e., if it came from the original group of forty, and if that group contained the forbidden ring). If the other sixty fell into another group, they do prohibit it, since we assume the ring is among them. Shmuel disagreed: הנח לעבודת כוכבים – leave idolatry from ruling leniently, שספיקה וספק ספיקה אסורה עד סוף העולם – because its doubt and double doubt are forbidden forever. The Gemara challenges Shmuel from a Baraisa which permits ספק ספיקא regarding avodah zarah, and answers it is a machlokes Tannaim, because Rebbe Yehudah said that רמוני באדן, which are never בטל in a mixture, are forbidden even with a ספק ספיקא. The Gemara notes that Rebbe Yehudah himself rules stringently by all prohibitions, and Shmuel only follows him regarding avodah zarah.

Rebbe Elazar said that if one barrel of terumah fell into a hundred barrels of chullin (the barrels were sealed, and so the terumah was not בטל), פותח אחד מהן – one may open one of them, ונוטל הימנה כדי דימועה ושותה – and remove its percentage of mixed terumah (i.e., 1/101), and the rest of the barrel is permitted. Rav Nachman said: גמע ושתי קא חזינא הכא – I see here one who gulps and drinks! He may not open a barrel outright in order to nullify it!? Rather, say: נפתחה אחת מהן – if one of them was opened incidentally, one may then remove its percentage of terumah, and the rest of the barrel is permitted. In a similar case, Rebbe Oshaya said that if a sealed barrel of terumah wine was mixed into a one hundred and fifty chullin barrels, and a hundred of them were opened incidentally, he may remove the terumah percentage from the open barrels and drink the remainder. Still, the fifty sealed barrels remain prohibited until they are opened, because we do not say איסורא ברובא איתיה – the prohibition is presumably in the majority of already opened barrels.