For the source text click/tap here: Avodah Zarah 74
To download, click/tap here: PDF
The Mishnah's treatment of bitul (nullification) in our daf Avodah Zarah 74a presents a fascinating paradox within halakhic reasoning. While Jewish law generally operates on quantitative principles—most notably the rule that forbidden substances become nullified when diluted in sixty times their volume (batel b'shishim)—the Mishnah systematically enumerates a series of exceptions where any amount of contamination renders the entire mixture forbidden.
We explore the possible commonality of the diverse forbidden objects of our mishnah’s exception to the rule of batel beshishim.