Found money and found meat TY Shekalim 19

Archaeologists uncovered two early medieval Jewish homes in Oxford, England basing their discovery on the Jewish dietary laws.

“Oxford's Jewish quarter was established around St. Aldates in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, following William the Conqueror's invitation to Jews in Northern France to settle in England. Recent excavations by Oxford Archaeology at St Aldates, in the historic heart of Oxford, revealed evidence for two houses, which a medieval census suggested belonged to two Jewish families. One was owned by Jacob f. mag. Moses and called Jacob's Hall, and was said to be one of the most substantial private houses in Oxford and the other house was owned by an Elekin f. Bassina.

“During excavations, archaeologists found a stone-built structure, identified as a latrine, and dated to the late 11th and 12th century. A remarkable animal bone assemblage was unearthed in this latrine, dominated by domestic fowl (mainly goose), and with a complete absence of pig bones, hinting at a kosher diet. Fish bones comprised only species such as herring which are kosher. This combination of species suggests a Jewish dietary signature, identified in British zooarchaeology for the first time, and just the third time in medieval Europe.” (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210407122220.htm)

According to an article I read in the newspaper Haaretz, no hind quarter bones were also found. Unless the sciatic nerve is removed, that part of the animal is forbidden to be eaten based on Genesis 32:23-33. Similarly when scientists analyzed the pots, some pots were used exclusively to cook meat and others were used exclusively to cook dairy products.

This amazing discovery leads into today’s daf TY Shekalim 19 as we began the seventh chapter of our massekhet. Our daf analyzes how proximity and majority effect Jewish law. The Mishnah begins by delineating which tzedakkah chest in the Temple should go when money is found between two of them. The simple answer is the money should go to the chest that’s closest to it. If the money is found to be equal distance between two chests, the money goes to the most stringent possibility. Now that we understand the general principle, we can go to the meat of our daf.

If there are nine stores in town selling meat of neveilah and one selling the meat of ritually slaughtered (animals) then if he mixed them up, i.e. bought meat from one of the stores but does not know which, he must be concerned for the possibility they bought it from the nonkosher store (and not eat the meat-gg). But where (the meat) was found in the street and it cannot be determined from which story became, we follow the majority.

If there are nine stores in town selling meat of ritually slaughtered (animals) and one selling meat of neveilah, then if he mixed them up, i.e. bought meat from one of the stores but does not know which, he must be concerned for the possibility they bought it from the nonkosher store. But where (the meat) was found in the street and it cannot be determined from which story came, we follow the majority. (Art Scroll translation)

“There is an exception to the majority principal the case of a person or an object that is ‘fixed’ (קבוע) in its place among the larger group of permissible and forbidden items. In that case we view the persons or objects that make up the monarchy as an equal number to those that make up the majority-regardless of the actual numbers. Thus if a doubt arises concerning the status of a person or object in that group, the law of majority is not operative. Rather, we say that the chance of the object in question being from the minority is legally equal to the chance of its being from the majority. This is known as the rule of כל כמחצה על מחצה דמי, whatever is fixed (in its place) is treated as 50-50 ,i.e. the minority and majority components are legally viewed as each containing half of the total amount.

“The case of one who bought meat from one of the 10 stores is a classic example of this rule: Since the person took meat from inside the store, which is fixed among other stores, the question of which store the meat was taken from is treated as a question concerning a קבוע, something fixed in its place. Thus, although the majority of stores (sell either kosher or treif meat-gg), the questions surrounding the meat is legally deemed to be one of ‘50-50.’ (Since keeping kosher is a biblical commandment, we act stringently and not eat the meat-gg) (Where the meat is found outside the stores, however the questions surrounding the meat-at the moment the question arises-is not one of ‘ fixed’ items (such as stores) but simply whether this meeting is kosher or not. In that case, we follow the majority of the stores...” (Art scroll commentary, note 15)