Avodah Zarah 58

איקלע רב הונא בריה דרב נחמן למחוזא אמר ליה רבא לרב אליקים שמעיה טרוק טרוק גלי דלא ניתו אינשי דניטריד

Rav Huna, son of Rav Naḥman, happened to come to Meḥoza. Rava said to his attendant, Rav Elyakim: Close, close the gates, so that people who might disturb us should not come, and we may focus on clarifying the matter.

על לגביה אמר ליה כי האי גוונא מאי אמר ליה אסור אפילו בהנאה והא מר הוא דאמר שיכשך אין עושה יין נסך אימר דאמרי אנא לבר מדמיה דההוא חמרא דמי דההוא חמרא מי אמרי

Rav Huna, son of Rav Naḥman, entered into Rava’s presence. Rav Huna, son of Rav Naḥman, said to Rava: What is the halakha in a case like this where a gentile stirred the wine without intending to offer it as an idolatrous libation? Rava said to Rav Huna, son of Rav Naḥman: It is prohibited even to derive benefit from it. Rav Huna, son of Rav Naḥman, asked him: But wasn’t it you, Master, who said: If a gentile stirs the wine, he does not thereby render it wine used for a libation, as Rava permitted the sale of the wine in the barrel to gentiles? Rava answered: Say that I said that it is permitted to sell the wine that was in the barrel and benefit from all the proceeds except for the monetary value of that prohibited wine that was poured into the barrel of wine. Did I say that it is permitted to derive benefit from the monetary value of that prohibited wine?

אמר רבא כי אתאי לפומבדיתא אקפן נחמני שמעתתא ומתניתא דאסיר

Rava said: When I arrived at Pumbedita, Naḥmani, i.e., Abaye, surrounded us with amoraic traditions and with tannaitic sources cited in a baraita that indicate that in the case of wine that was stirred by a gentile it is prohibited even to derive benefit from the wine.

שמעתתא דההוא עובדא דהוה בנהרדעא ואסר שמואל בטבריא ואסר רבי יוחנן ואמרי ליה לפי שאינן בני תורה ואמר לי טבריא ונהרדעא אינן בני תורה דמחוזא בני תורה

Rava explains: Abaye cited amoraic traditions, as there was a certain incident in Neharde’a in which a gentile stirred the wine, and Shmuel deemed the wine prohibited, and there was a similar incident in Tiberias and Rabbi Yoḥanan deemed the wine prohibited. Rava recounts his reply: And I said to Abaye: Shmuel and Rabbi Yoḥanan deemed the wine prohibited only because the people in those towns were not people well-versed in Torah, and it was necessary to distance them from transgression. And Abaye said to me: Are you saying that the people of Tiberias and Neharde’a are not people well-versed in Torah whereas the people of Meḥoza are people well-versed in Torah? This is obviously not the case, and therefore you should not have permitted the sale of the wine in Meḥoza, even according to your reasoning.

מתניתא דאגרדמים גוי שקדח במינקת והעלה או שטעם מן הכוס והחזירו לחבית זה היה מעשה ואסרוהו מאי לאו בהנאה לא בשתייה

Abaye cited a baraita that teaches as follows: In the case of a gentile market inspector [de’agardamim] who was in charge of measures and prices in the marketplace, who drilled a hole in a barrel with a tube and drew wine from the barrel through the tube in order to taste it, or who tasted the wine from the cup that was poured for him and then returned the residue to the barrel, what is the halakha? This was an incident that occurred, and the Sages prohibited the wine. Abaye said: What does this mean? Is the baraita not prohibiting one from deriving benefit from the wine? Rava replied: No, it is prohibiting one only from drinking it.

אי הכי ליתני ימכר כדקתני סיפא חרם גוי שהושיט ידו לחבית וכסבור של שמן היא ונמצאת של יין זה היה מעשה ואמרו ימכר תיובתא דרבא תיובתא

Abaye said: If so, let the baraita teach that the wine may be sold, as the latter clause of the baraita teaches: In the case of a gentile confiscator who extended his hand into a barrel of wine, thinking it was a barrel of oil, and it was found to be a barrel of wine, what is the halakha? This was an incident that occurred, and the Sages said: It may be sold, as the gentile had no intention of touching wine. The Gemara concludes: The refutation of the opinion of Rava is indeed a conclusive refutation.

רבי יוחנן בן ארזא ורבי יוסי בן נהוראי הוו יתבו וקא שתו חמרא אתא ההוא גברא אמרו ליה תא אשקינן לבתר דרמא לכסא איגלאי מילתא דגוי הוא חד אסר אפילו בהנאה וחד שרי אפילו בשתייה אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי מאן דאסר שפיר אסר ומאן דשרי שפיר שרי מאן דאסר

§ The Gemara relates: Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Arza and Rabbi Yosei ben Nehorai were sitting and drinking wine. A certain man came and they said to him: Come, serve us drinks. After he poured the wine into the cup, it was revealed that the person was a gentile. One of those Sages prohibited one from even deriving benefit from the wine, and one of them permitted the wine even for drinking. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: The one who prohibited the wine properly deemed it prohibited, and the one who permitted it properly deemed it permitted, as both opinions are viable. The one who prohibited the wine holds that

מימר אמר סלקא דעתיה דרבנן כי הני שיכרא קא שתו אלא ודאי האי חמרא הוא ונסכיה מאן דשרי שפיר שרי מימר אמר סלקא דעתך דרבנן כי הני חמרא קא שתו ואמרו ליה לדידי תא אשקינן אלא ודאי שיכרא הוא קא שתו ולא נסכיה

the gentile says to himself: Can it enter your mind that great Sages like these are drinking liquor [shikhra]? Rather, this is certainly wine that they are drinking, and therefore the gentile may have poured it as a libation. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi continues to explain that the one who deemed the wine permitted properly deemed it permitted, as he holds that the gentile says to himself: Can it enter your mind that great Rabbis like these are drinking wine and they say to me, a gentile: Come, serve us drinks? Rather, it is certainly liquor that they are drinking, and therefore he did not pour it as a libation.

והא קא חזי בליליא והא קא מרח ליה בחדתא

The Gemara asks: But doesn’t the gentile see whether it is wine or liquor? The Gemara answers: The incident occurred at night. The Gemara asks: But doesn’t the gentile smell it and recognize that it is wine? The Gemara answers: This incident occurred with new wine, whose smell does not diffuse.

והא קא נגע ביה בנטלא והוה ליה מגע גוי שלא בכוונה ואסור לא צריכא דקא מוריק אורוקי והוה ליה כחו שלא בכוונה וכל כחו שלא בכוונה לא גזרו ביה רבנן

The Gemara asks: But didn’t the gentile touch the wine when he drew the wine in the pail, and therefore it is a case of a gentile’s unintentional touch, which renders the wine prohibited? The Gemara replies: No, it was necessary to teach this halakha because the gentile was pouring from one vessel to another without touching the wine, and therefore it was a case where the wine was poured by the force of the gentile’s action, without any intention of offering it as a libation. And in any case where wine is poured by force of a gentile’s action, without any intention of offering it as a libation, the Sages did not issue a decree prohibiting the wine, and it is permitted to drink it.

בעא מיניה רבי אסי מרבי יוחנן יין שמסכו גוי מהו אמר ליה ואימא מזגו אמר ליה אנא כדכתיב קאמינא טבחה טבחה מסכה יינה אמר ליה לשון תורה לעצמה לשון חכמים לעצמו

§ Rabbi Asi asked Rabbi Yoḥanan: With regard to wine that a gentile mixed [mesakho] with water, what is the halakha? Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Rabbi Asi: And why not say: Wine that a gentile diluted [mezago] with water, as that is the term that is usually used? Rabbi Asi said to Rabbi Yoḥanan: I say wine that was mixed, as it is written: “She has prepared her meat, she has mixed [maskha] her wine” (Proverbs 9:2). Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Rabbi Asi: While it is true that this is the language of the Bible, the language of the Torah is a language in itself, and the language of the Sages is a language in itself, i.e., the terminology of the Bible is not the same as the terminology employed by the Sages.

מאי אמר ליה אסור משום לך לך אמרין נזירא סחור סחור לכרמא לא תקרב

Rabbi Asi repeated his question: What is the halakha? Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Rabbi Asi: Although the gentile did not touch the wine when diluting it, it is prohibited by rabbinic decree due to the maxim: Go, go, we say to a nazirite, who is prohibited from drinking wine and eating grapes; go around and go around, but do not come near to the vineyard. Although a nazirite is prohibited only from eating produce of the vine, he is warned not even to come into the proximity of a vineyard as a protective measure to ensure that he will not transgress this prohibition. So too, in many cases, the Sages decreed certain items and actions to be prohibited because they understood that if people would use them, they would eventually transgress Torah prohibitions.

רבי ירמיה איקלע לסבתא חזא חמרא דמזגי גוי ואישתי ישראל מיניה ואסר להו משום לך לך אמרין נזירא סחור סחור לכרמא לא תקרב אתמר נמי אמר רבי יוחנן ואמרי לה אמר רבי אסי אמר רבי יוחנן יין שמזגו גוי אסור משום לך לך אמרין נזירא סחור סחור לכרמא לא תקרב

Rabbi Yirmeya happened to come to Savta. He saw wine that a gentile diluted with water and then a Jew drank from it, and Rabbi Yirmeya then deemed the wine prohibited to them, due to the maxim: Go, go, we say to a nazirite, go around and go around, but do not come near to the vineyard. It was also stated: Rabbi Yoḥanan says, and some say that Rabbi Asi says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Wine that a gentile diluted is prohibited, due to the maxim Go, go, we say to a nazirite, go around and go around, but do not come near to the vineyard.

ריש לקיש איקלע לבצרה חזא ישראל דקאכלי פירי דלא מעשרי ואסר להו חזא מיא דסגדי להו גוים ושתו ישראל ואסר להו

§ Reish Lakish happened to come to Bozrah, a town east of the Jordan. He saw Jews who were eating untithed produce and he deemed the produce prohibited to them. He also saw water to which gentiles bowed down and yet Jews drank the water, and he deemed the water prohibited to them.

אתא לקמיה דרבי יוחנן אמר ליה אדמקטורך עלך זיל הדר בצר לאו היינו בצרה ומים של רבים אין נאסרין

Reish Lakish came before Rabbi Yoḥanan and told him about the incident. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Reish Lakish: While your coat [addemiktorakh] is still on you, go and retract your rulings. This is because the town of Bezer which is mentioned among the cities of refuge (Deuteronomy 4:43) is not the same as Bozrah. Bozrah is not part of Eretz Yisrael, and one is not obligated to separate tithes from its produce. The water is also permitted as it is water that belongs to the public, and water that belongs to the public is not rendered prohibited.

רבי יוחנן לטעמיה

The Gemara notes that Rabbi Yoḥanan conforms to his standard line of reasoning,