Avodah Zarah, Daf Ayin Heh, Part 3

 

 

איתמר עם הארץ שהושיט ידו לגת ונגע באשכולות רבי ורבי חייא חד אמר אשכול וכל סביבותיו טמאין וכל הגת כולה טהורה וחד אמר כל הגת כולה נמי טמאה

 

It was stated: If an am ha-aretz stretched out his hand into a winepress and touched [one of] the clusters: Rabbi and R. Hiyya: One says that the cluster and all that is around it are impure but the rest of the press is pure, whereas the other says that the entire press is also impure.

 

The am ha aretz is assumed to be impure. According to one opinion, when he touches only one cluster we only have to treat as impure only those clusters that are around it. But according to the other opinion, we must treat the entire winepress as impure.

 

ולמ"ד אשכול וכל סביבותיו טמאים וכל הגת כולה טהורה מאי שנא מהא דתנן שרץ שנמצא ברחים אינו מטמא אלא מקום מגעו ואם היה משקין מהלך הכל טמא

התם לא מפסק ולא מידי הכא מפסקי אשכולות

 

And according to the one who holds that the clusters and all that is around them are impure but the press as a whole is pure, why should this be different from that which we learned: A sheretz which was found in an oil-mill, it only defiles the place it touches, but if there is flowing liquid it is all impure ?

In that case, there is no division at all, but here the clusters are separate.

 

The Talmud raises a contradiction between the one who says that only the surrounding clusters are impure and a mishnah which assumes that if a sheretz (a reptile of sorts) falls into an oil-mill and there is flowing liquid which would convey the impurity throughout the mill the entire mill is impure. Isn t there liquid in the winepress as well?

The answer is that the clusters will stop the liquid from flowing all the way around. The liquid will only reach the close clusters. Therefore, only they are impure. Whereas the olives are not clusters and will not stop the flow of the oil.

 

אורו ליה רבנן לר’ ירמיה ואמרי לה לבריה דרבי ירמיה כדברי האומר אשכול וכל סביבותיו טמאין וכל הגת כולה טהורה:

 

The Rabbis instructed R. Yirmiyah, and some say R. Yirmiyah s son, in agreement with the one says that the cluster and all that is around it are impure but the press as a whole is pure.

 

The rabbis rule according to the lenient viewpoint only the cluster and all that around it is impure.