[Avodah] Bittul of non-K food

[Meir Rabi]

R Sh Z is explaining why our drinking water is Kosher for Pesach use even
though our reservoirs have had Chamets added to them during Pesach. We would
expect that such water ought to be prohibited according to the rule that
food contaminated with Chamets during Pesach will be Assur no matter how
minute the proportion of Chamets; thats the rule of Afilu BeElef Lo Battel.



R Sh Z explains that since the proportion is so tiny that it can not be
discerned by anyone, it is in fact Battel.

This means that R Sh Z understands that when Chazal say Afilu BeElef Lo
Battel, they mean although it is well below the proportion that is usually
Muttar, a special Chumrah has been imposed that nevertheless prohibits it.
However, there MUST be SOMEONE, and there may only be one such person in
every generation, the expert wine taster who can sample hundreds of samples
and discern which fields the grapes were grown in; who can discern the
Chamets in the water. But when there is NOONE who can discern the flavour of
the Chamets, then the water is permitted. A reservoir is so vast that we can
assume that there is no human who can discern the Chamets in it and it is
therefore KLP.

So in normal Issurim when we use the guide of taste we are NOT using this
singular expert taster, we are relying on the chefs who have a slightly
elevated sense of taste. This has been reduced to a rule of thumb, 1:60,
Shishim. So even where it is humanly discernible by the singular expert
tasters, it is nevertheless Kosher since the mixture is Battel BeShishim.



Does this not demonstrate that in Bittul of 60 we DO have the possibility
that it may be discernible by human tasting and yet it is Battel? R Micha I
don’t understand why you say, “I don't see where you get that [i.e. we DO
have the possibility that it may be discernible by human tasting and yet it
is Battel] from what you cited besheim RSZA.”


R Micha also said, “I understood RSZA to be saying the reverse -- bitul
be1000 does not work for pesach, but if the one-in-a-million taster could
verify it has no taste in the taaroves, it would be batel. IOW, that the
rule of thumb is not sufficiently reliable”



But I don’t see it that way. Firstly, if the ROTh is NOT sufficiently
reliable, then why bother making a new measure of 1:1000. Use the old rule
of 1:60 and say, it is NOT reliable for Pesach and any food possibly
contaminated with Chamets is Assur UNLESS “the one-in-a-million taster could
verify” that no taste is discernible.



Secondly, the rule of thumb is that Bitttul does NOT work for Chamets during
Pesach, this means that there is No Bitttul EVER. At least that it is the
way it is understood by those who store water BEFORE Pesach to use during
Pesach, so that it WILL be Battel. It is this argument that R Sh Z is
demolishing. He re-defines Bittul BeElef: it does NOT mean that there is
NEVER a Bittul, it means no Bittul as long as it is humanly discernible. So
when we are sure that it is NOT humanly discernible, then we may use it.



Accordingly, foods cooked in clean factory machines, which many argue are so
massive that they are more than Shishim of the foods they are used to cook,
(we can also consider the boiler water which is contaminated with non-K
foods) and therefore make any foods cooked in them non-Kosher, when they are
BYoman; in fact are really Kosher since there is no human capable of
discerning any non-K taste in the cooked food.
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