Nazir 37B

יליף מגיעולי גוים, דאמר רחמנא: ״כל דבר אשר יבא באש״, למימרא דאסירי. גיעולי גוים לאו טעמא בעלמא הוא ואסור, הכא נמי לא שנא.

R' Akiva derives the principle: The legal status of the flavor of forbidden food is like that of the substance itself, from the vessels of non-Jews that require purging [gi’ulei], where the Jews were commanded to purge the non-kosher flavor from the vessels they seized from the Midianites. As God states in the section of the Torah that deals with the spoils of Midian: “Every thing that passes through the fire, you should make it pass through the fire” (Numbers 31:23). That is to say that the vessels of non-Jews that require purging are forbidden to be used until they have been purged through fire and purified. Isn’t there mere taste absorbed in the vessels through the process of cooking? And even so, these vessels are forbidden if this purging was not performed. Here, too, with regard to other matters of Torah law, it is no different; and the legal status of the flavor is like that of the substance itself.

ולרבנן נמי תיפוק להו מגיעולי גוים? אמר ליה: התם חידוש הוא. דהא בכל התורה כולה נותן טעם לפגם מותר,

Rav Aḥa further suggested to Rav Ashi: And according to the opinion of the Rabbis, who derive this principle from the verse: “Neither should he drink anything soaked” (Numbers 6:3), let them also derive it from the vessels of non-Jews that require purging, as does R' Akiva. Rav Ashi said to him: The Rabbis maintain that there the halakha of purging vessels of non-Jews is also a novelty. What is the novelty of this halakha? As with regard to all dietary laws in the Torah, anything that gives flavor, i.e., contributes taste, that renders the food tainted, is permitted. If the taste added by the forbidden food does not enhance the permitted food, it does not render that food forbidden.