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There was a pot of soup that a fly fell into it. The fly was not located and therefore the whole soup became prohibited. Even though the soup might have 60 parts against the fly, still since the fly is an entity in and of itself it is not nullified in the soup even if there would be a 1000 parts against it (Shulchan Aruch Yore dea 100,1).

The soup by mistake was then served into 3 (or more) separate bowls. Could we then say in such a situation that the soup is now permitted to eat as when looking at these three separate bowls we could say that the fly is in one of the bowls, however that it becomes nullified in the other bowls (the majority - 1 in 2 - bittul b'rov)

I am in doubt because once the pot of soup was prohibited to begin with it might remain prohibited even when divided out into 3 bowls. Or perhaps now it would become nullified.

What is the Halacha and what is proof for this?

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  • If the fly is intact, you should be able to identify it.
    – Fred
    Nov 17, 2013 at 23:25
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    @Fred Assuming of course the person wasn't able to identify it as noted in the question
    – Yehoshua
    Nov 17, 2013 at 23:28
  • IIRR this is relevant to the discussion of being "toleh" the issur in one place- see Y.D. 110-111. Since the soup isn't intrinsically assur- just forbidden out of doubt- then when the soup's in 3 bowls at most only one bowl has the fly and the other two would be permitted. Y.D. 109 bittul chad b'trei yavesh (b'issur derabanan IIRC the shach is meikel even if nosein taam.) I'm not posting this as an answer yet since I'm writing from memory and I want to check things inside to make sure I'm not mixing things up. (Feel free to look up these sources and post your own answer.)
    – Binyomin
    Jun 17, 2020 at 8:47

1 Answer 1

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If the fly is still intact and there's no way of locating it e.g the soup had loads of poppy seeds floating around, then Shulchan oruch Yoreh Dea siman 100 would apply: Seif 1:

בריה דהיינו כגון נמלה או עוף טמא וגיד הנשה ואבר מן החי וביצה שיש בה אפרוח וכיוצא בהם אפילו באלף לא בטלה
a whole creature like an ant, or a non kosher bird, or a "Gid hanasheh," or a limb from a live animal, or an egg with a chick inside, even in a mixture a thousand time its size it can not be nullified.

Seif 3: (exactly your question)

:קדרה של מרק שנפל שם בריה ונאבדה אסור הכל:
A soup in which a berie (an entire creature which cannot be nullified e.g fly) falls into and gets lost forbids the entire soup.

Even If you separate the soup by mistake (by doing so on purpose all the soup would forbidden see SA YD 101) into 1000 bowls in front of you, the soup is remains ossur (forbidden) as long as the fly is intact and you havn't checked any of the bowls. However every bowl that you check and make sure that there is no fly, is permitted. And the fly doesn't forbid any part of the soup through absorbing issur as it is Nosein taam liphgam. All this is indicated in the Sheilos utshuvos Rashba quoted by Bais Yosef lehalacha in yore dea 101:

תשובות הרשב"א בסימן ק"א שאלת קדרה של מרק שנפל בה יתוש ולא נמצא אם פירש מהמרק בכף או בקערה וראה שאינו שם אע"פ שהמרק שבקדרה אסור שאין ביטול לבריה מה שבכף או בקערה מותר או אסור ואת"ל מותר נידון בו להתיר את הקדרה עצמה אע"פ שבלועה מאותו מרק או לא: תשובה ברור הוא שאין הבריה אוסרת בכל מה שהוא מחמת פליטתה אלא מחמת ממשה והוא שתהיה שלימה ושלא נפסדה צורתה הא אם נחתך ממנה אבר או אפילו היא שלימה ונתרסקה ונפסדה צורתה אבד שמה והוי כשאר איסורין ובטלה ומעתה מה שנבדק מן המרק ובידוע שאין בו גוף הבריה כמו שנפל שם מותר ואין כאן משום ספק

If the fly disintegrates after falling in the soup where its not a berie (entire creature which cannot be nullified) and is Nosein taam lifgam (gives a foul taste) so is permissible in a mixture of even more than a 60th (S.A,Y.D. 103,1)

כל דבר שטעמו פגום אינו אוסר תערובתו.

Conclusion: when you separate the soup without checking each bowl the fly which is intact is not nullified.

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