Kavua (The Fixed-in-Place Doubt That Is Treated as a 50-50)
A counter-rule to Rov: an item doubtful in its fixed location is judged as an even doubt (kol kavua k'mechetza al mechetza), foundational to the laws of forbidden mixtures and capital procedure.
Normally, when something is in doubt, Jewish law follows the majority (Rov): if most shops in town sell kosher meat, meat of unknown origin is presumed kosher. But kavua ('fixed in place') reverses this. If the item is doubtful in its fixed location, the doubt is treated as an even 50-50 split (kol kavua k'mechetza al mechetza), as if the kosher and non-kosher sources were evenly matched. This counter-rule to Rov is foundational to the laws of forbidden mixtures and to capital procedure.
How it traveled
- Babylonian Talmud, KetubotSura (Babylonia) · c. 500 CEdefines
Key passages(1)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
בִּקְרוֹנוֹת שֶׁל צִיפּוֹרִי הָיָה מַעֲשֶׂה, וְכִדְרַבִּי אַמֵּי. דְּאָמַר רַבִּי אַמֵּי: וְהוּא שֶׁהָיְתָה סִיעָה שֶׁל בְּנֵי אָדָם כְּשֵׁרִין עוֹבֶרֶת לְשָׁם, וְכִדְרַבִּי יַנַּאי. דְּאָמַר רַבִּי י
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