Q&A: Jewish Law
Jewish Law
Question
Hello Rabbi Michael,
There is a rule of nullification in sixty. I wanted to argue: why is there any need to kosher utensils by purging them? After all, even if a utensil absorbed non-kosher food, its volume is more than sixty times greater than the surface area of the utensil that absorbed it.
I asked on a Jewish law hotline, and the rabbi there answered me that it is written in the Shakh and also in the Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah, I think, that there is no such utensil whose volume is 60 times greater than its surface area—that is, its inner surface area. Intuitively, that doesn’t seem right to me. Also, how can one compare measurements of area to measurements of volume?
But I wasn’t able to explain this to the rabbi on the hotline. Do you think it is true, what is written in the Shakh and in the Shulchan Arukh, that there cannot be a utensil whose volume is 60 times greater than its surface area?
Answer
Almost all the assumptions in the area of forbidden and permitted foods are strange, and do not seem connected to reality, at least as we understand it today. The apologists explain that there need not be any connection to reality, since these are formal working assumptions. Very unconvincing. The fact is that halakhic decisors constantly make assumptions that are plainly factual assumptions. Therefore I feel uncomfortable with this whole field and deal with it less.
As for our issue, I thought of two considerations: 1. The question is how one calculates the volume of the forbidden substance, since the measurements are by volume. The forbidden substance that was absorbed is indeed diluted, but it still occupies volume, and the laws depend on volume and not necessarily on the number of molecules. 2. In addition, one may not nullify a forbidden substance ab initio, and therefore even if the forbidden substance would be nullified in the cooked food in the utensil at sixty to one, this would still be deliberate nullification of a forbidden substance ab initio.
However, in Shulchan Arukh 99:7 it is written: “If a small amount of forbidden substance was absorbed into a kosher utensil, if it is the way of that utensil to be used with an abundant amount of permitted food, it is permitted to use it ab initio, since the forbidden substance is slight and it is impossible to come to impart flavor. Therefore, if even a minute forbidden amount was absorbed into a pot or into jugs and the like, it is permitted to use it ab initio, even within twenty-four hours, because it is impossible for imparting flavor to occur. But if it was absorbed into a utensil that is sometimes used with a small amount, like a bowl and the like, it is forbidden to use it even with an abundant amount, as a decree lest one use it with a small amount and come to impart flavor.” Of course, the question is what counts as a slight absorption.
See a survey here: https://ph.yhb.org.il/plus/17-12-06/
Discussion on Answer
But that was exactly the question. What are you adding here?
You simply opened my eyes to the fact that the absorption is indeed measured by volume,
and therefore after we do the multiplication we’ll get a certain quantity in volume, and then we’ll be able to see whether the volume of the pot is more than 60 times what we got.
Regarding consideration no. 1: I would suggest calculating the volume of the absorption as the inner surface area of the utensil multiplied by the thickness of the utensil wall; that should be the maximum the utensil can absorb, no?
What do you think about that?
Thanks very much, all the best.