Hey there and welcome back to Take One, the podcast that brings you just one sweeping page of Talmud each day.

And on today's pages, Khulin 10 and 11, the rabbis ask a very central question,

one at the core, not only of so many halakhic discussions, but also at the heart, well, of our

very democracy itself.

Here it is.

After discussing the role of presumptive status in determining halakha, the

gamaara discusses the role of the majority. From where is this matter that the sages stated

follows a majority derived? The gomara is surprised at the question, from where do we derive it?

Obviously, it is derived from a verse as it is written explicitly

in Exodus 23-2 after the majority to incline.

After Rabim to Hatot, or after the majority to incline, it's a major, major, major, major,

major principle in halakha with so many implications. It's why a rabbinic court, say, hearing a case will rule

according to the opinion of the majority of justices. And it's such a profoundly and deeply

rooted principle that the rabbis are kind of shocked on today's duff that there should even be

a discussion about this. There is a discussion, and it's a fascinating one.

The discussion on the duff is intricate, and it deserves to be studied at length,

but it comes down to the core question of whether or not we can empirically verify the situation at hand.

What do I mean by that?

In some cases, the rabbis explain, the majority opinion is clear

cut because it's based on stuff that you could clearly see and prove. For example, the Talmud

explains in the case of a piece of meat that was found on the street before 10 shops,

nine shops selling kosher meat and one shop selling non-coacher meat. One follows the

...