[Avodah] Fish and Meat

[Jacob Farkas]

R' Zev Sero wrote:
> Meanwhile, it's possible that the fish/meat danger *is* the result of
> an "error" in transmission.  The gemara says not to eat "binta" with
> meat, and everyone translates "binta" as "fish", but there's good
> reason to suppose that in fact it's not "fish" in general, but a
> specific species of fish which was known in Bavel.  When Jews moved out
> of Bavel, and their children learning the gemara asked them what
> "binta" was, they told them it was a fish they had back in Bavel;
> the children told the grandchildren "it's a fish", and the grandchildren
> told the great-grandchildren "it means fish".

I have seen another explanation based on a similar concept. Not that
Binita itself is necessarily a "type of fish" per se, but that the fish
indigenous to Bavel when cooked together with meat presented a health
problem.

This reasoning is used to explain, why the Rambam and the Rif don't
pasqen like Mar bar Rav Ashi, [Pesahim 76b] who forbids eating "Binita"
with salt, when roasted in the same oven as meat, because of "davar
aheir" (Rashi: Tza'ra'as).

The Tur (seeing Ma'aseh Rav by his father, the Rosh) does pasqen that it
is forbidden to eat fish and meat for reasons of Saqanah. As does the
Shulhan Arukh and the Rema. Perhaps they understood the Gemara to mean
all fish, or did not see any reason to discriminate against fish from
other regions, not just those in Bavel.

Jacob Farkas