Avodah Zarah, Daf Ayin Aleph, Part 2
Today s section starts with a new mishnah.
מתני׳ האומנין של ישראל ששלח להם עובד כוכבים חבית של יין נסך בשכרן מותר לומר תן לנו את דמיה משנכנסה לרשותן אסור:
Mishnah
If a non-Jew sent to Jewish craftsmen a cask of yen nesekh as their wages, they are allowed to say to him, give us its value in money ;
But after [the wine] has come into their possession [the exchange] is prohibited.
If a non-Jew who has hired a Jew to do some work for him, pays him with yen nesekh and actually gives the Jew the wine, the Jew cannot exchange the wine back for money. Once the wine comes into his possession it is actually his, and exchanging it with the non-Jew would in essence be selling yen nesekh, which is forbidden. If the Jew were to send back the shipment of wine before it reaches him then he may accept in its place money. Since in this case the non-Jew has never paid back his debt, it is not considered as if the Jew is selling his own yen nesekh.
גמ׳ אמר רב יהודה אמר רב מותר לאדם לומר לעובד כוכבים צא והפס עלי מנת המלך
GEMARA. Rav Judah said in the name of Rav: A man is allowed to say to a non-Jew, Go and appease for me the king’s taxes.
A Jew can tell a gentile to go and try to come to a tax settlement with the king or his representatives, even if the agent ends up paying the taxes with wine that might have been used in libations. We should note that the sugya assume that wine is used to pay debts, and indeed we know that throughout history, wine was often used as a trade commodity.
מיתיבי אל יאמר אדם לעובד כוכבים עול תחתי לעוצר
They raised a difficulty: One may not say to a gentile, Go in my place to the official !
According to the baraita, one may not tell a gentile to go pay a tax or a bribe (the difference was not always so apparent) out of fear that the gentile will pay the tax in prohibited wine. This is a difficulty on Rav.
אמר ליה רב עול תחתי לעוצר קאמרת הא לא דמיא אלא להא אבל אומר לו מלטני מן העוצר:
Rav said to him: You speak of a case where a man says, Go in my place to the official. But this is similar only to the following: But he may say to him, Save me from the official.
Rav said that the situation he refers to is not the same one referred to in the baraita. When he says Go in my place, the gentile is acting directly in his place. If he pays the debt in forbidden wine, then it is as if the Jew is paying the debt. Rav s situation is more similar to the end of the baraita, which allows the Jew to say, Save me from the official. Since this is a less direct command, it is permitted.