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גיד הנשה שנתבשל עם הגידים – [of those thighs] that are permitted.

Introduction This mishnah deals with a sciatic nerve that is cooked with other permitted nerves. Afterwards, the mishnah continues to deal with the subject of prohibited foods that are cooked with permitted foods.

בזמן שמכירו – he casts it outside, and there is nothing here other than its remnants.

A sciatic nerve which was cooked with other [permitted] nerves: If it can still be recognized, [then all the nerves are prohibited] if [the sciatic nerve] imparts a flavor. But if it can no longer [be recognized] then they are all forbidden. And the broth [is prohibited] if it [the sciatic nerve] imparts a flavor. If the person can still tell which one of the nerves is the sciatic nerve, then the other nerves are prohibited only if we can assume that the sciatic nerve imparted its taste to the other nerves. The test for this would seem to be the turnip and meat test we learned about in yesterday’s mishnah. If he can’t recognize which one is the sciatic nerve, then all of the nerves are prohibited. Note that no amount of other nerves is sufficient, in this case, to nullify the presence of one forbidden nerve. This is unlike the usual rule that holds that forbidden substances can be nullified by a high enough percentage of permitted substances. The Talmud explains that this is because the sciatic nerve is treated like a complete entity, which can never be nullified. As far as the broth goes, here the test is simply whether or not the sciatic nerve was of a sufficient amount to impart its taste. If it is not, then the broth is permitted, even if he can’t tell which one was the nerve.

בנותן טעם – if the prohibited nerve–sinew imparts a taste of flavor in all of these, they are all prohibited.

And so it is with a piece of nevelah, or a piece of an unclean fish that was cooked together with other pieces of flesh [or fish]: If it can still be recognized, [then all are prohibited] if it imparts a flavor. But if it can no longer [be recognized] then they are all forbidden. And the broth [is prohibited] if it [the sciatic nerve] imparts a flavor. The same rules hold true for other prohibited substances. Again we must explain why these pieces of meat or fish are not nullified by a high percentage of permitted meat or fish (in cases where he can’t recognize which was which). One would think that if there were, for instance, 200 pieces of permitted meat and only one piece of nevelah, that the permitted meat would nullify the tiny percentage of prohibited meat. The Talmud explains that pieces of meat or fish which are large enough to present to guests are significant enough that they can never be nullified.

ואם לאו – that he doesn’t recognize that all of them are forbidden, and in each one, one can say that this is it, but it is not neutralized through a majority for it is considered like a living creature and a living creature cannot be neutralized.

בזמן שמכירין – for the forbidden pieces, we estimate with the imparting of a flavor and if there isn’t enough in order to impart a flavor, it is something permitted, and the rest is permitted.

ואם אין מכירין – all the pieces are forbidden for each one of them, one can suspect and state that perhaps this is it, and it is not nullified in a majority, since it is appropriate to be adorned before the guests.

והרוטב מותר – if there isn’t among the forbidden pieces in order to impart a flavor to the broth–juice and the sediment of boiled meat and the pieces and the Halakha in practice is that something forbidden that was mixed with something permitted, a species that is combined with something that is not its species, that one can establish it by taste, if it is priest’s due–heave offering that we combined with profane–unconsecrated produce, a Kohen should taste it. And if it is a forbidden thing, then a heathen professional baker should taste it. If he states that this mixture does not contain the taste of heave offering or the taste of something prohibited, everything is permitted, and the Rabbis believed the heathen professional baker, because it is his craft, he doesn’t lie so that he doesn’t lose his profession. And if there was a mixture of one species with something from the same species where it is not possible to establish the taste–flavor, or if it was one species with something from another species, and there was no Kohen present, or a heathen upon whom one can rely, if the prohibited [substance] is from fat and blood of animals that died of themselves (i.e., carrion) and torn animals, forbidden animals and reptiles, we estimate it with being [one-part] in sixty. If there are sixty [parts] of permitted [food] corresponding to the prohibited [part], it is all permitted, and if not, everything is prohibited. And similarly, the permitted fat of the sciatic nerve, we estimate it corresponding to the sixty [parts] of permissible [fat] but the udder that was cooked with the meat, we estimate it with sixty parts, and the udder is part of the number, because it’s prohibition is from the words of the Scribes; and an egg which has a chick [within] that was cooked with the rest of the permitted eggs, it requires sixty-one parts corresponding to it, but if the prohibited [part] is priest’s due–heave offering, Hallah and First-Fruits, if it is one species with material from the same species, or one species with material from another species, and there isn’t a Kohen or a heathen who can taste it, we estimate it with one-hundred [parts] of unconsecrated produce. But if it is fruit of trees of the first three years or mixed seats in the vineyard, we estimate it with two-hundred parts and all of these measures, we estimate with what is in the pot with the broth and the pieces and the spices and the sediments of boiled meat, and this is the smallest of the bowels at the rim–bottom of the pot, and what comes before us, we estimate, but we don’t estimate what the pot absorbed from that which is permitted, for even that which is prohibited is absorbed and reduced from the amount that was, for that which was permitted was absorbed, but that which was forbidden was not absorbed.