Barry Epstein asked:
The Gemara states,"If a ring on an idol became intermingled with a hundred rings, and one of the rings fell into the Great Sea, they all become permitted. Why don't we say that whatever separates, separates from the majority, and the forbidden one is thus still in the batch.
Barry Epstein, Dallas, USA
The Kollel replies:
Actually, mid'Oraisa we do not need one to fall into the sea, since the one ring is Batel in the hundred. It is only a stringency not to apply the Halachah of Bitul in this case. We therefore incorporate the Halachah of "Tolim," that we allow ourselves to assume, against probability, that it was actually the item of Avodah Zarah which fell into the sea.
D. Zupnik