Mishnah 8 in Chapter 11 is the last of the pair, and with it we will conclude the topic. We return to the part of the verse that we skipped until now, which begins with the words "kol asher yiga bivesarah yikdash" - whatever touches the meat of the kodashim that we are dealing with becomes sanctified, meaning it receives the status of kodashim. This matter relates to the transfer of flavors, and the principle we are addressing is: wherever there is flavor, it is as if the item itself is present. From here, the concepts intersect with the laws found in a typical kosher kitchen: the presence of a flavor from a specific item means that the item itself is still there.
While the usual rule, in the abstract, is that all ingredients in a mixture take on the status of the majority and the minority loses its identity, if the presence of the minority is still noticeable - which in our context means it can be tasted - it does not disappear, and therefore the entire mixture is judged according to the stricter ingredient.
The Case in the Mishnah:
Let us picture a pot of cholent, mostly made up of potatoes, beans, and chullin meat, but containing a little kodashim meat as well. For simplicity's sake, we will establish the mixtures in this Mishnah as cases where there are two different flavors: even when dealing with meat mixed with meat, we will say that one is goat meat and the other is lamb or beef, and they were cooked together. The kodashim will be, for example, kodashim goat meat, and the chullin will be chullin lamb or beef.
If the mixture contains enough of the stricter element - the kodashim, whether kodesh kodashim or kodashim that got mixed into chullin - to impart flavor, the entire mixture is judged as kodashim. The standard rule is that if there are fewer than sixty parts of the one against the other, the flavor of the latter is still noticeable. Therefore, if all the meat, potatoes, and beans in the cholent do not amount to sixty times the volume of the kodashim that fell into them, the entire mixture must be treated as kodashim.
The implication of this is that even the lighter components - the potatoes, which certainly were not originally kodashim - are judged according to the stricter component. If we are talking about kodashim and chullin that got mixed, the entire cholent must be eaten in Jerusalem within the walls, within the timeframe in which shelamim are eaten, in a state of taharah, and all such requirements. This is the basic principle of "nosein taam", of "taam ke'ikkar": wherever there is the presence of flavor, the item is judged according to its stricter version.
The Difficulty in the Language of the Mishnah:
The next line in the Mishnah does not make sense. In the previous Mishnah we learned that one who cooks kodashim in a pot, after the time elapses the pot requires scouring and rinsing. Here we are saying that a mixture of kodashim and chullin is judged strictly, as if there are kodashim there - and immediately afterward the Mishnah continues: "ve'eino taun merikah ushetifah" - and it does not require scouring and rinsing. One plus one does not equal two here: if the mixture is judged as kodashim, and kodashim require scouring and rinsing after the time elapses, why doesn't this pot require it?
Therefore, the Gemara says chisuri mechasra vehachi katani - words are missing here from the Mishnah, and it must be reread with their addition. The missing words are: "ute'unin merikah ushetifah ufoslin bemaga" - and they require scouring and rinsing, and they invalidate through contact. That is, the pot requires scouring and rinsing if there is a sufficient amount of kodashim to impart flavor (scouring and rinsing - scouring the vessel in water and rinsing it afterward).
"Ufoslin bemaga" - and they invalidate through contact - the mixture conveys a prohibition even through direct contact. A potato that fell into that cholent becomes prohibited because it touched it, as it absorbed some of its flavor, and therefore the prohibition takes effect upon it.
"Ve'im ein bahem nosein taam" - And if they do not contain enough to impart flavor:
If the mixture does not contain a sufficient amount of the stricter element - in a case of kodashim and chullin, where there are more than sixty parts of chullin against one part of kodashim; and similarly in a case of kodesh kodashim and kodashim kalim that were mixed, where there are more than sixty parts of kodashim kalim against the one part of kodesh kodashim - regarding this it is said: "ein hakalim ne'echalin kachamurin" - the lighter components are not eaten like the stricter ones. There is no need to treat the mixture according to the stricter version, since the stricter element has lost its identity. A cholent of kodashim and chullin that contains sixty times or more chullin against the kodashim - is judged entirely as absolute chullin.
From here the Mishnah continues as we have it: "ve'einan te'unin merikah ushetifah" - since there was more than sixty times the amount of chullin mixed with the kodashim, the mixture lost its kodashim status, and there is no requirement for scouring and rinsing. As for kodesh kodashim and kodashim kalim, what is stated here that there is no need for scouring and rinsing - this Mishnah would follow the view of Rabbi Shimon that we saw earlier, that kodesh kodashim require scouring and rinsing according to the law derived from the verses, but kodashim kalim do not. According to Rabbi Shimon, this would be true even if we were talking about kodashim kalim.
"ve'einan poslin bemaga" - the mixture does not invalidate what touches it. In a hot mixture containing less than a one in sixty-one ratio of kodashim, the entire mixture is judged leniently; therefore, if a potato fell into it, no stringencies apply to it.
Absorption through touch - the second part of the Mishnah:
The second part of the Mishnah moves on to another topic, which is also the transfer of taste, but here we are not talking about cooking things together, but rather hot things touching one another. It is important to understand that they are hot: for taste to transfer, heat is required, and that is the case before us.
The Mishnah uses the case of rekikin (wafers). Rekikin are menachos, and therefore kodashim - and in fact kodesh kodashim. The reason the Mishnah specifically used a rekik is that the rekik is like a cracker: like a good Ashkenazi matzah of the old type.
And as we saw earlier in the tractate, after taking the rekik out of the oven it is hot - and the heat that allows the transfer of taste is present here - but it has not yet been smeared with oil. The oil will be placed on it later in the shape of the Greek letter chi, and then a new issue will arise. But the main point the Mishnah is making is that without oil, the taste does not transfer completely, but only slightly: two hot things that are not oily transfer a little taste, and the amount they transfer is called "kedei netilah" - the thickness of a person's index finger, and this is the depth of the penetration of the new taste. That is to say, two hot rekik wafers coming out of the oven, where one has a stringency over the other - the second, the lighter of them, will absorb only a little taste, up to a depth of a finger's thickness.
The Mishnah states: "rekik shenaga berekik" - an invalid wafer that touched a valid wafer, or a wafer and a minchah and the like, while the wafers are hot and absorb a little taste. And similarly "chatichah bachatichah" - an invalid piece of meat, or a lighter one, that touched a piece more stringent than it or valid, when the pieces are hot but not oily and not full of fat.
"lo kol harekikin velo kol hachatichos asurin" - the prohibition does not spread across the entire valid wafer or the entire valid piece of meat, rather "ein oser ela makom shebala" - only the place that absorbed the taste is forbidden, and that is "kedei netilah", just a finger's thickness. Therefore, one cuts a centimeter or so from the meat, or breaks a centimeter or so from the wafer, and one does not eat that part because it absorbed the forbidden taste, and the rest is permitted to eat.
But if oil is involved here - once the wafers were smeared with olive oil, or it was fatty meat - we assume that the oil caused the taste to spread, and the entire mixture becomes forbidden.
In summary: In this Mishnah we learned the principle of "ta'am ke'ikar" (taste is like the substance): a mixture of kodashim containing an amount that imparts taste, meaning less than sixty times against them, is entirely judged according to the most stringent component, requires scouring and rinsing, and invalidates upon touch. And if it does not contain an amount that imparts taste - "the lighter ones are not eaten like the stringent ones", and the mixture does not require scouring and rinsing and does not invalidate upon touch. In the second part, we discussed the transfer of taste through the touch of hot things: without oil, only the place of absorption is forbidden at a measure of "kedei netilah", and if oil is involved - the taste spreads and everything is forbidden.