Endnote 4 – “Secret Mark”: Restoring a Dead Scholar’s Reputation

The Talmud (b. Avodah, Zarah 39b) asks what is “sal-conditum”? The answer is that it comes in black and white forms and Roman guests partake of it. In the course of the discussion, the Talmud explains why Jews may not partake of it: because sometimes “unclean [that is, unkosher, that is, fish without scales—see Leviticus 11:9–12 and Deuteronomy 14:9–10] black fish are mixed with them” (emphasis supplied). The word “mixed” is repeated again in a subsequent passage. I am indebted to Yonatan Adler and Elizabeth Shanks Alexander for helping me navigate these texts.