More Discussions for this daf
1. The Bears and the Forest 2. Left/Right hand 3. Yetzer
4. Yehoshua ben Perachya 5. Menafim 6. b'Kerev Elokim Yishpot
7. Yadeinu vs Eineinu 8. אחד אומר ראיתי את ההורג ואחד אומר לו ראית 9. עד אחד נאמן כשנים בעגלה ערופה
DAF DISCUSSIONS - SOTAH 47

Daniel Fishman asked:

The daf teaches that when the Minafim increased the mayim hamarim stopped that because of the increase in immorality R'Yochanon Ben Zakkai stopped the butter waters.However, The Gemara in Bava Basra states though "Rubam bigazel umiutam biariyot"- That only a minority of people transgress the sin of ariyot immorality. So if these statements discuss the same time frame then it seems to be a stira there is alot of niuf on 1 hand but on the other there is only a minority of ariyot? So could the statement in Bava Basra 165 only refer to the period before R'Yochanon Ben Zakkai?

Daniel Fishman, Lawrence America

The Kollel replies:

Hello there and thank you for your question. My suggestion is that "Misherabu ha'Mena'fim" does not mean that they became the majority, but rather it means that it became more common. In other words once it still remained a minority, but was not as unheard of as before. (In Halachah we have a concept of "Mi'ut ha'Matzuy", which means that it is a minority, but something not uncommon. In such a case we can no longer treat the minority as if it is non-existent.)

All the best.

Y. Landy