Makkot 16 – Remedy for Transgression

“You shall not leave from the Passover offering until morning, and whatever is left until morning you shall burn with fire” - is an example of a remedy for one's transgression. In this case one is not punished with lashes. Rabbi Yochanan learns from here that had the Torah not provided the remedy, he would be punished, even though this is an example of an uncertain warning. Thus, one can get lashes with uncertain warning. Resh Lakish learns that had the Torah not provided the remedy, he would be punished, even though the transgression of leaving over involves no action. Thus, one can incur lashes for the prohibition that does not involve action.

If one ate an ant, he is liable to five separate sets of lashes – two for eating creeping things, and three for land varieties. For a hornet, he is liable to an additional set for creeping things that fly. If one mashed nine ants and then added another live one, and the live one completed the volume of an olive, he is liable to six sets, the last one for an olive's volume of non-kosher meat.

The same law would apply for mashing one ant the size of an olive, but such ants are rare.

Art: J. Stewart - Study of different bees