Musar for Beitzah 6:3

We find a disagreement between Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish concerning whether articles which are normally sold by the piece, i.e. by being numbered, can ever lose their identity sufficiently to become assimilated by a mixture many times their size. Rabbi Yochanan holds that only items that are always sold by number cannot be assimilated. The fact that they are only sold by number gives them an importance that can never be lost. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish extends this rule even to items that are occasionally (את שדרכו למנות), sold by number. Compare Beytzah 11. Although the argument between these sages concerns matters of Halachah, Jewish ritual law, their disagreement reveals a deep insight into the relative worth of things that are subject to numbering. The attitudes of both Rabbis reflect a genuine Torah outlook, i.e. אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים. The clue to this relative worth may be both the word את and the word כל respectively, as we shall try to demonstrate.