Zevachim 73 – How Does One Count?

We have previously said that one forbidden animal sacrifice is not nullified even in ten thousand of permitted ones. However, this presupposes a certain way of counting, and not everyone agrees to it. The argument arose when counting vegetables, and here it is.

If one has bundles of fenugreek (valuable spice) that grew in a vineyard and thus became prohibited, they should be burned. If they mixed with permitted ones - Rabbi Meir says they must all be burned. But the Sages say that the prohibited bundle is nullified in 200 of permitted ones. What is the argument? Rabbi Meir considers anything that is normally counted as important, which can never be nullified, but the Sages says that only six things (pomegranates and sealed casks of wine among them) are important. In explaining this, Rabbi Yochanan said that only things which are exclusively counted and not weighed, are important. Since sometimes animals are sold by total weight, they should be nullified!

Answer: there is yet a third counting opinion, known as “the bag of figs” which says that anything that is only sometimes counted is never nullified. According to it, one forbidden sacrifice is not nullified.

Art: Theodule Augustine Ribot - Still Life with a Pomegranate