What are the odds? TB Ketubot 15

 I have previously written that massekhet Ketubot is the key to the rest of the Talmud because many issues found throughout the Talmud are also found in massekhet Ketubot. Daf TB Ketubot provides us with a classic example. What are the odds whether this piece of meat is kosher or not?

It is taught “in a baraita: With regard to nine stores in a city, all of which sell kosher meat from a slaughtered animal, and one other store that sells meat from unslaughtered animal carcasses, and a person bought meat from one of the stores and he does not know from which store he bought the meat, in this case of uncertainty, the meat is prohibited. The legal status of uncertainty with regard to any item fixed in its place is that of an uncertainty that is equally balanced, and one does not follow the majority. This baraita continues: And in the case of meat found in the street, outside the stores, follow the majority of stores that sell kosher meat. In other words, the meat is kosher.” (Sefaria.org translation)

We determined the odds whether the item under discussion is fixed in its place or separated from the group. The legal status of any item that is separated from the group is that of one separated from the majority (כֹּל דְּפָרֵישׁ מֵרוּבָּא פָּרֵישׁ). On the other hand. The legal status of uncertainty with regard to any item fixed in its place is that of an uncertainty that is equally balanced, and one does not follow the majority (כׇּל קָבוּעַ כְּמֶחֱצָה עַל מֶחֱצָה דָּמֵי). The Gemara gives example after example of these principles.

To our ears hearing that the law always favors the Jew over the pagan is wrong and undemocratic. I wish I knew more about the relationship between Jews and non-Jews back then. I suspect when the Jews were in the minority, the law favored the majority. I know this to be true in medieval Christian and Muslim countries. Since Jews were discriminated against in pagan cities, they discriminated against the minorities in their cities.

Nevertheless, the Gemara cites one important exception, saving a life. The question arises when a building collapses in a city where the majority are non-Jews whether one may desecrate the Sabbath by removing the debris. One might mistakenly think that one should not desecrate the Sabbath to save the life of a potential non-Jew. “Shmuel said: And with regard to creating an opening in a heap of debris on his behalf [lefake’aḥ alav et hagal] on Shabbat, that is not so. Even if there is a gentile majority in the city, one does not follow the majority in cases involving the saving of a life.”  (Sefaria.org translation)

I like to conclude that the letter of the law is harsh compared to our modern expectations, but we are expected to go above and beyond the letter of the law. Moses Maimonides provides some examples. “And that that our Sages have commanded us to visit their sick and bury their dead along with Jewish dead, and sustain their poor along¹²²But not alongside. with the poor of Israel is for the “sake of peace”, since it says, “God is good to all, and His mercies extend upon all his works” (Psalms 145:9) and it says, “her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (Proverbs 3:17).” (Mishneh Torah, laws of Kings and wars, chapter 10 halakha 12, Sefaria.org translation)