Odd number of eggs

Posted: Wed, Jan 05 2011, 2:40 pm Post subject: odd number of eggs

I received the following question via email:

Could you please help me answer this question. I�ve asked countless Jewish people and they cannot give me a satisfactory answer.

Why do Jewish Women put an odd number of eggs in a saucepan to boil?

Posted: Wed, Jan 05 2011, 2:44 pm Post subject: re: odd number of eggs

it's not that we cook an odd number. it's that we cook at least three. I believe this has to do with the possiblity of blood spots in the eggs. if I'm not mistaken, the idea is that if one egg has a blood spot, it is batul and does not affect the kashrus of the other eggs or the pot being used.

I don't have a particular source for this, you can check with a competent rav.

Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48223

Right. It makes it botul.

Posted: Wed, Jan 05 2011, 2:56 pm Post subject: re: odd number of eggs

This is what I wrote to him before posting:

Gold Member Joined: Dec 24 2009 Posts: 2433

The idea is if you have an odd # of eggs, if "half" are trayf and "half" are kosher, the odd egg will be the deciding factor on the status of the pot and "kosher" eggs.
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Platinum Member Joined: Sep 22 2004 Posts: 9754

The principle is batel b'rov, and you need three to have a rov- one could have a blood spot, two one could have and one could not, three we assume that two do not have and therefore it doesn't matter if the third one does because we follow the rov. Since you can't check the eggs before cooking them, we rely on batel b'rov instead.
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Platinum Member Joined: Nov 01 2009 Posts: 8303

This is interesting. I've never heard of this before.

In practicality, I've never made fewer than 3 eggs because what do you do with 1-2 hard boiled eggs?

Is this halacha l'maaseh across the board?
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If you buy free range eggs they are, no? I mean, if they've had the possibility of being fertilized.

Although I don't get those, so its really a moot point LOL.

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Posted: Wed, Jan 05 2011, 3:24 pm Post subject: re: odd number of eggs

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Cooking less then 3 eggs can be a problem with a blitstrop, but odd has to do with "zigges".

This is not only with eggs btw.

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Some check hasrd cooked eggs too. I assume they boil an odd number anyway.

Active Poster Joined: Jan 31 2011 Posts: 45

My husband is a farm manager and we will b"h be getting most of our eggs from cage free chickens. Today I was cutting open hard boiled eggs to serve for shabbos. They were all boiled in odd numbers, but when I cut them open, I found that about a fourth of them had blood in the whites, but not in the yolks.

What is the halacha on what parts can be eaten?
Does the whole egg have to be thrown out?
If there is blood on the white, but not the yolk, can the yolk still be eaten?
How big does a spot on the white have to be to consider it blood?
I've heard some say that nowadays we throw away the whole egg even if there is just blood on the white, because it is not a financial burden to buy more eggs...but getting eggs for us is not about finances, it's about eating the eggs that are from the farm where we live.

Any thoughts?