Nafka mina

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Nafka mina (Aramaic: נפקא מינה) is a phrase used in legal debates in the Talmud, meaning practical difference. It is often used in the phrase Mai nafka mina? (מאי נפקא מינה), which means "What is the practical (or most important) difference?"

It literally means "goes out from it" - indicating that in a distinction between two or more legal opinions or conceptual categories, there must be some practical effect that emerges from the distinct categories as conceived. In other words, the question concerns the tachlis or "bottom line".

It is contrasted with the question Be-mai peligei, "on what do they differ", which indicates that the two views in question agree on the practical result but differ on the source text or legal principle forming the rationale for that result.