Shiur of "Miut Hamatzui"

Question

A "miut hamatzui" is a phrased used to express a case where because of a small concern that something exists, or might happened, or does happen that the halacha is affected by this. An example is if there is a certain type of "treifah" by a kosher animal that is found in a small amount therefore this must be checked after that animal is shechted.

However what is the amount of a "miut hamatzui"? What are the different opinions in this?

(I don't feel my explanation of a "miut hamaztui" is adequate enough however it's difficult for me to express in English. Perhaps someone can edit it.)

@Yehoshua The generally cited mekor is the Mishk'nos Ya'akov (Vol. 1, YD § 17). — Fred, Apr 11 '13 at 22:34
@Fred Sounds like an answer. However any other opinions, b'frat from earlier sources? — Yehoshua, Apr 11 '13 at 22:48
It would be interesting to compare this to the pyschological studies on the same topic. — avi, Dec 23 '13 at 13:27

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 22 '13 at 15:13

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Miut Hamatui has four opinions as brought down in the new Yalkut Yosef.

1) Rav Shelomo Zalman Aurbach who holds it is around 10%.

2) Shevet HaLevi who holds it is even less but doesn't specify.

3) Rav Bension Aba Shaul who says around 17%.

4) The opinion of the Rivash and Hacham Yishak Yosef Shelit"a who hold that it is much closer to 50% but doesn't specify.

answered Dec 22 '13 at 15:13

hacham gavriel

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Welcome to Mi Yodeya. Nice answer. – Bruce James Dec 22 '13 at 19:07
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Do you have the sources for all of these statements? – Yehoshua Dec 22 '13 at 19:46
50%? We know cow lungs aren't that bad – Double AA Dec 22 '13 at 20:55
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I'm pretty sure Shevet Halevi (4:81, 8:180) specifically says that there is not a hard-and-fast percentage that defines the dependability of a mi'ut. – WAF Dec 23 '13 at 01:46
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Are you the same person as http://judaism.stackexchange.com/users/1035/hacham-gabriel? If so, you may want to look into unifying this new account with the original, registered account. – Isaac Moses Dec 23 '13 at 15:50
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@IsaacMoses http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/33756/why-do-sephardi-jews-put-on-the-tefillin-shel-yad-while-sitting/34089#comment87327_34089 – WAF Dec 24 '13 at 03:33

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 23 '13 at 11:32

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Rav Eitam Henkin provides sources for all the various opinions on pages 39-62 of this kuntres.

answered Dec 23 '13 at 11:32

user4668

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please summarize the points incase the link goes bad. – avi Dec 23 '13 at 15:06
THE LINK DOSENT WORKֱֱֱ – Avi M Oct 21 '18 at 12:18

Shalom · Answer 3 · 2013-12-23T15:04:57.663

Many poskim put it at 10% -- thank you Fred, Mishkenos Yaakov 1:YD17 first puts it that way. (See Rabbi JD Bleich's "Is the Milk We Drink Kosher?" in Tradition). This is the general OU opinion.

We find the figure of 10% by combining a law in Terumot -- about whether you must check that a bottle of wine in the case has spoiled before taking terumah from the batch -- with a law in Bava Basra -- about 10% being the normal spoilage rate when selling a case of wine.

The next question becomes -- 10% of what? Do I say "so long as the odds of eating a bug is <10% in this serving of lettuce, I can eat this serving"? Or perhaps we need "so long as the odds of finding a bug in this bag is <10%, I can buy this bag"? Or perhaps we even need "I can buy this case of lettuce without checking only if the odds of finding a bug anywhere in it are <10%"?

Shiur of "Miut Hamatzui"

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