Avodah Zarah, Daf Lamed Daled, Part 4

 

Introduction

The rabbis in the Mishnah allowed one to derive benefit from murias made by non-Jews. This is a dish made of fish brine into which wine may have been placed. A Jew may not eat such a dish.

 

והמורייס: ת"ר מורייס אומן מותר. ר’ יהודה בן גמליאל אומר משום ר’ חנינא ב"ג אף חילק אומן מותר.

 

Murias [fish brine] etc. Our Rabbis taught: Murias made by an expert is permitted.

R. Judah b. Gamaliel says in the name of R. Hanina b. Gamaliel: So too [brine of] hilik prepared by an expert is likewise permitted.

 

Experts do not put wine into murias. Similarly, they do not mix forbidden fish into brine made of hilik which is a permitted fish. Thus one can even eat such murias or such brine.

 

תני אבימי בריה דר’ אבהו מורייס אומן מותר.

הוא תני לה והוא א"ל פעם ראשון ושני מותר שלישי אסור מ"ט פעם ראשון ושני דנפיש שומנייהו לא צריך למירמי בהו חמרא מכאן ואילך רמו בהו חמרא

 

Avimi the son of R. Abbahu taught that murias made by an expert is permitted. He taught it and he explained it: the first and second [extracts] from this fish are permitted, but the third is forbidden. What is the reason? For the first and second [extracts] there is a lot of fat and he does not need to put in wine. From this point and onward, he puts in wine.

 

The murias of an expert is the murias produced from the first and second extracts of the fish. By the third time, there is not much fat left in the fish, and in order to make it taste good, he has to put in wine. That s why it is prohibited.

 

ההוא ארבא דמורייסא דאתי לנמילא דעכו אותיב רבי אבא דמן עכו נטורי בהדה א"ל רבא עד האידנא מאן נטרה? א"ל עד האידנא למאן ניחוש לה אי משום דמערבי ביה חמרא קיסתא דמורייס בלומא קיסתא דחמרא בד’ לומי?

א"ל ר’ ירמיה לר’ זירא דלמא איידי דצור אתו דשוי חמרא א"ל התם עיקולי ופשורי איכא:

 

Once a ship-load of murias came to the port of Acco. R. Aha of Acco placed a guard by it. Rava said to him: And who watched the ship till now? He replied: Until now what would we have worried about: as to mixing the brine with wine, a kista of muries costs a luma while a kista of wine costs four lumas.

R. Yirmiyah said to R. Zera: Might they not have come by the way of Tyre where wine is cheap?

He replied: There, there are narrow bays and shallow waters.

 

R. Aha puts guards around the murias that arrives by ship in Acco to prevent wine being put in there. He does not worry that wine has already been mixed into the murias before it arrives in Acco because in the region from which the wine comes, wine costs four times as much as murias, and therefore no one would mix wine in with it. And we are not worried that the murias might have come from Tyre, where wine is cheap, because shipping it from Tyre was not practical.