Avodah Zarah, Daf Nun Heh, Part 5

 

Introduction

In yesterday s mishnah we learned that the juice in the press cannot become yayin nesekh, forbidden wine. R. Huna offers an extremely significant limitation to that rule, one which in the Middle Ages became very, very difficult to implement.

 

גמ׳ אמר רב הונא יין כיון שהתחיל להמשך עושה יין נסך

 

GEMARA. R. Huna said: As soon as the wine begins to flow it may become yayin nesekh.

 

According to R. Huna, as soon as the juice from the wine press begins to flow down into the vat, it is subject to the laws of yayin nesekh. What this would mean is that if a non-Jew touched the wine in the press as it started to flow down into the vat, all of the wine in both the press and vat would become prohibited. In the Middle Ages, non-Jews were almost always needed to press the grapes due to the large amount of wine they needed to produce and the small number of Jews available to do the work. How Jews worked around this prohibition was the subject of a fascinating study by Haym Soloveitchik.

 

תנן לוקחים גת בעוטה מן העובד כוכבים ואע"פ שנטל בידו ונתן לתפוח

 

But we learn in our Mishnah: 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.

 

According to the mishnah, the wine in the winepress does not become yayin nesekh, assumedly under any circumstance, even after it starts to flow. Therefore, one may purchase a winepress from a non-Jew even though he had put his hand into it.

א"ר הונא בגת פקוקה ומלאה

 

R. Huna said: This refers to a winepress which is stoppered and full.

 

The only way for the wine in the winepress to avoid becoming yayin nesekh (if touched by a non-Jew) is for the press to be stopped up such that the wine does not flow to the vat below. For once the wine flows, it can become yayin nesekh.

 

ת"ש ואינו עושה יין נסך עד שירד לבור ה"נ בגת פקוקה ומלאה

 

Come and hear: And [the juice] does not become yayin nesekh until it descends into the vat!

Similarly here [says R. Huna, the Mishnah deals with] a vat which is stoppered and full.

 

This is basically the same difficulty and resolution we read above.