The Majority Rule
‘If The Majority Are Israelites…’
(Bava Metzia 24a-b)
Our daf discusses finding a piece of meat in a place where the majority of those that slaughter and sell meat are Jews. Based on the rule of following the majority, one may assume that the meat originated from a kosher store.
Volume Of Meat
The Chayei Adam (in his Binas Adam commentary, Sha’ar Ha’kavua 16) rules that the determining factor is not the number of butcher shops but the amount of meat. If the single non-kosher butcher shop produces more meat than all the kosher ones, one must assume that the piece of meat in the street originated from the non-kosher butcher shop.
Volume Sold
The Beis Ephraim (Yoreh De’ah 40, cited by Pischei Teshuvah 110:2) maintains that the critical factor is the amount of meat sold that day. (The non-kosher butcher shop may sell more meat, but if its stock is sitting in a freezer the day the piece of meat is found in the street, the piece of meat likely does not derive from it.)
Number Of Shops
The Chavas Da’as (Yoreh De’ah 63:2, and infra 110:3) disagrees and maintains that the critical factor is the number of shops, not the quantity of meat. He adduces proof for his view from the Mishnah (Machshirim 2:8), which rules that if one found a lost object in a city in which 50 percent or more of the inhabitants are Jewish, the finder is duty-bound to make every effort to restore the object to its rightful owner. The Chavas Da’as assumes that idolaters, on the whole, are wealthier than Jews. Therefore, it is likely that the lost money belongs to an idolater even if Jews constitute at least half of the population. Nonetheless, a Jew must attempt to return the lost money, says the Mishnah. The determining factor is the population percentage. The same is true, argues the Chavas Da’as, regarding lost meat. The determining factor is the number of shops, not the amount of meat.
Rich And Poor Alike
The Chayei Adam argues that the two cases are not comparable. The amount of meat in a city is very relevant to identifying whether a particular piece of meat is kosher, he says. The amount of wealth in a city, however, is not relevant to returning a lost object since people do not carry all their money with them in the street; a poor person very often has the same amount of money in his pocket as one who is rich.