Avodah Zarah, Daf Nun Heh, Part

 

Introduction

The remainder of tractate Avodah Zarah will deal with the prohibition of non-Jewish wine. This is a halakhah that remains in effect for observant Jews, despite the fact that commercially bought wine has probably never been touched by anyone and even if it was, there is no chance that anyone ever offered any of it as a libation. I of course realize the sensitivity of this halakhah it seems to be treating non-Jews as inherently defiling.

We should note that this is not the only food made by Gentiles that Jews may not eat we ve already seen bread, oil, cheese and cooked foods on this list. There are two differences though: 1) the prohibition of wine is not only to keep Jews from intermingling with non-Jews, it is also a result of the fact that wine was a major component of idolatrous ritual; 2) as a result, wine that has been touched by a non-Jew is prohibited to a higher degree than the other foods. A Jew may not even derive benefit from it.

For Jews living in the middle ages these laws were exceedingly difficult to observe, and yet, for the most part, they continued to observe them. There are some excellent articles and books by Professor Haym Soloveitchik on this subject. But for the most part we will not be going beyond the Talmudic laws.

The mishnah that opens this discussion defines at what point in the process of wine-pressing do the grapes and grape juice begin to be considered wine.

 

מתני׳ לוקחין גת בעוטה מן העובד כוכבים אף על פי שהוא נוטל בידו ונותן לתפוח ואינו עושה יין נסך עד שירד לבור ירד לבור מה שבבור אסור והשאר מותר

 

A winepress [containing] trodden [grapes] may be purchased from a non-Jew even though it was he that lifted [the trodden grapes] with his hand and put them among the heap.

And [the juice] does not become yen nesek (wine assumed to have been used as a libation) until it descends into the vat.

When it has descended into the vat, what is in the vat is prohibited;

But the remainder is permitted.

 

A Jew may buy a winepress and all of the grapes that are being trodden in it from a non-Jew, even though the non-Jew has lifted up the trodden grapes and moved them into a different heap. At this point in their processing the grapes are not yet considered wine, and therefore their being handled by a non-Jew does not make them yen nesek , which is forbidden to Jews. In other words, while we might suspect that non-Jews offer up libations with wine, they will not do so with grapes that are not yet fully pressed, nor will they do so with grape juice. Only when the juice has descended into the vat where it will ferment into wine is it considered yen nesek.

When the wine does descend from the winepress into the vat, the wine which is in the vat is prohibited. However, that which remains above in the winepress is still permitted, even though it has been handled by a non-Jew.

 

דורכין עם העובד כוכבים בגת אבל לא בוצרין עמו

 

A Jew may tread the winepress together with a non-Jew but may not pick grapes with him.

 

A Jew is allowed to tread grapes in a winepress with a non-Jew, since the wine does not become yen nesekh until it goes down into the vat. However, a Jew may not pick grapes with the non-Jew for the non-Jew causes the grapes to become impure. When the non-Jew puts the grapes in his impure winepress, the grapes will become impure. If a Jew helps him to do so, the Jew is helping to make produce grown in the land of Israel impure. The reason that treading on the grapes is permitted is that as soon as the non-Jew touches them, they are already impure.

 

ישראל שהוא עושה בטומאה לא דורכין ולא בוצרין עמו אבל מוליכין עמו חביות לגת ומביאין עמו מן הגת:

 

If a Jew was working in a state of ritual impurity, one may neither tread nor pick with him, but one may move [empty] casks with him to the press and carry them [filled] with him from the press.

 

A Jew who works in a winepress while impure is committing a sin, for he is defiling the terumah and tithes and thereby rendering them inedible. Since this is forbidden, another Jew may not even tread in the winepress with him, because that would be aiding a transgressor. However, the other Jew may help this Jew before the process begins by bringing jugs to the winepress and he may help him remove the jugs when the pressing is over. In other words, it is only forbidden to help him while the impure pressing is going on. Before and after it is permitted.

 

נחתום שהוא עושה בטומאה לא לשין ולא עורכין עמו אבל מוליכין עמו פת לפלטר:

 

If a baker was working in a state of ritual impurity, one may neither knead nor roll dough with him but we may carry loaves with him to the bakery.

 

The same rules that were stated above with regards to helping a winemaker who presses his wine while impure, are also true with regards to the impure baker. One may not help him in the baking process, for he causes impurity to the terumah and tithes. However, one may help him after the loaves are already baked.