According Rashbam and Rabbeinu Gershom, the wealthy would grind up margalit and drink it for health. I have always understood margalit to be translated as pearl - a precious "stone" formed inside an oyster (see Metzudos on Mishlei 31:10, Milon Even-Shushan)- how would this be kosher? Here are some potential answers that I came up with:
1. Margalit is a precious stone that looks like a pearl but not actually formed by oyster.
2. Similar to bee honey - the pearl undergoes some kind of process that renders it no longer the product of an oyster
3. Grinding it up and pouring it into a liquid causes it to lose its form and become a new substance - similar to issues with animal gelatin?
4. For health reasons it is permissible.
5. Choleh she'Yesh bo Sakanah.
6. The gemara is not actually suggesting that it is mutar to drink pearl-juice, but rather that there is a possibility of a drink that costs a lot of money.
Any thoughts? Please provide sources.
Eric Haas, Beersheva, Israel
1 This is possible, but from Tosfos in Bava Metzia 17b (DH Iy) it would seem that Marganisa is indeed a pearl.
2 The reason honey is permissible, is that the honey is not ingested by the bees, merely transported from the flower to the hive (Bechoros 7b, Rambam Ma'achalos Asuros 3:3). This reason would not apply to a pearl.
3 I do not see any reason to permit the pearl on this basis. The pearl has just been ground up into small pieces.
4&5 This is possible in a case of Piku'ach Nefesh, a life threatening illness.
6 Possible, but unlikely, as we would expect the commentators to point this out.
Perhaps the Pearl is not considered edible, and as such is not forbidden, see Avoda Zara 67b and Beis Yosef (YD 103).
Further to the above, I should also mentioned that certain things that are not normally eaten, and are not suitable to be eaten, are not considered food, and are not included when the Torah forbids eating a certain type of food. See Rambam Ma'achalos Asuros (4:18) who lists in this category animal skin, bones, sinews, horns, hooves and nails. I believe it is fair to assume that a pearl would also be included in this category. See also Tosfos in Avodah Zarah (69a DH ha'Hu).
Dov Freedman