Avodah Zarah, Daf Lamed Aleph, Part 6
Introduction
Today s section mostly discusses non-Jewish beer.
רב שמואל בר ביסנא איקלע למרגואן. אייתו ליה חמרא ולא אשתי. אייתו ליה שיכרא ולא אשתי.
בשלמא חמרא משום שימצא שיכרא משום מאי? משום שימצא דשימצא
R. Shmuel b. Bisna happened to be in Marguan: They brought him wine but he would not drink it, they then brought him beer but he did not drink it either. It is makes sense that he did not drink the wine, as there is a suspicion, but what objection is there to the beer? There is the suspicion of a suspicion.
According to Rashi, Marguan is a city in which non-observant Jews reside. R. Shmuel b. Bisna would neither drink theie wine there nor their beer. Theoretically, there is no reason for him to have been so strict with the beer. But the fear seems to have been that due to their lack of observance, he should act even more strictly than necessary and not even drink the beer.
אמר רב האי שיכרא דארמאה שרי וחייא ברי לא נישתי מיניה. מה נפשך אי שרי לכולי עלמא שרי אי אסיר לכולי עלמא אסיר? אלא רב סבר משום גילויא ואזיל מרורא דכשותא וקלי ליה זיהריה ודלקי מלקי ליה טפי וחייא ברי הואיל ולקי לא נישתי מיניה.
Rav said: Non-Jewish beer is permitted, but still I would not allow my son Hiyya to drink it. Which way will you have it? If it is permitted then it should be permitted to all; if it is forbidden, it should be forbidden to all!
Rav suspects it of being left uncovered; but the bitter taste of the hops counteracts any venom that might be in it. One who is weak, it would injure him greatly, and his son Hiyya, since he is weak, should not drink it.
In principle, Rav allows Jews to drink non-Jewish beer. It is not prohibited like wine. But he does not let his son drink it lest it have been left uncovered. Since his son already seems to have some sort of sickness, the little bit of venom in the beer that would not injure a healthy person, would injure his son.
אמר שמואל כל השרצים יש להן ארס של נחש ממית של שרצים אינו ממית
Shmuel said: All reptiles have poisonous venom; that of a snake is fatal, while that of other reptiles is not fatal.
And just like that, we re back to the topic of uncovered liquids!
אמר ליה שמואל לחייא בר רב בר אריא תא ואימא לך מילתא מעלייתא דהוה אמר רב אבוך הכי אמר אבוך הני ארמאי זוקאני דהוו שתו גילויא ולא מתו איידי דאכלי שקצים ורמשים חביל גופייהו
Shmuel said to Hiyya b. Rav: Son of a lion, come and I will tell you an excellent thing which your father Rav used to say. Thus said your father: Those swollen Arameans who drink what is kept uncovered suffer no fatal consequences because through eating abominable and creeping things, their bodies become immune from it.
Shmuel cites a fascinating tradition he learned from Rav. It seems that non-Jews do not observe the prohibition of drinking uncovered liquids. If such liquids are truly dangerous, then we d have to ask why? The answer is that they have a vaccine immunity to the poison. Since they eat snakes and other such creepy creatures, they are immune from their poison. Clever answer!
אמר רב יוסף האי חלא דשיכרא דארמאה אסור דמערבי ביה דורדיא דיין נסך
אמר רב אשי ומאוצר שרי כיון דמערבי ביה מסרא סרי:
R. Joseph said: The vinegar which non-Jews make from beer is forbidden because they mix yeast of idolatrous wine in it.
R. Ashi said: If it is from a storehouse it is permitted, for if it contained such admixture it would have been spoiled.
Beer vinegar may be prohibited because it may contain wine yeast (the dregs would be used to re-ferment the beer). But if taken from a storehouse, we can assume it has no wine in it.