Avodah Zarah, Daf Samech Aleph, Part 1

 

Introduction

The mishnah discusses wine owned by a non-Jew but produced by a Jew with the intent that the non-Jew will be able to sell it to the Jews, without it having the status of yayin nesekh.

 

מתני׳ המטהר יינו של עובד כוכבים ונותנו ברשותו (ו)בבית הפתוח לרשות הרבים בעיר שיש בה עובדי כוכבים וישראלים מותר בעיר שכולה עובדי כוכבים אסור עד שישב ומשמר ואין השומר צריך להיות יושב ומשמר אע"פ שהוא יוצא ונכנס מותר ר"ש בן אלעזר אומר רשות עובדי כוכבים אחת היא:

 

If [a Jew] prepares a non-Jew’s wine in a state of ritual purity and leaves it in [the non-Jew s] domain, in a house which is open to the public domain, should it be in a city where non-Jews and Jews reside, it is permitted.

But should it be in a city where only non-Jews reside it is prohibited unless [an Jew] sits and guard.

There is no need for the guard to sit and watch [the whole time]; even if he keeps going out and coming in it is permitted.

Rabbi Shimon ben Eleazar says: it is all one with the domain of a non-Jew.

 

If a Jew were to prepare wine belonging to a non-Jew and then leave it on the non-Jew s property we need to know whether or not the non-Jew had contact with the wine and thereby made it into yen nesekh. If the house was open to the public domain and there were both Jews and non-Jews living in the city, the wine is permitted. The reason is that the non-Jew will fear that if he touches the wine a Jew passing by might see him and tell the other Jews, in which case they won t buy the wine from him. This non-Jew from the outset wanted to sell to non-Jews therefore he won t perform any act that might cause him to lose his ability to sell the wine. However, if there are only non-Jews in the city, the non-Jew does not fear that they will see him and report him to the Jews. Since in this case he is not afraid to touch the wine, the wine must be guarded to make sure that it doesn t become yayin nesekh. If it is not guarded the law is strict and it is forbidden.

This guardian need not sit and guard the wine 24 hours a day. It is sufficient for him to come in and out occasionally. As long as the non-Jew does not know when he will come in and out, the non-Jew will be too afraid to touch the wine for fear that he will be caught. This is similar to the way that Jewish kashruth supervisors work today. They are not present in restaurants at all times. It is enough for the restaurant owner to know that they might show up at any time for him to be afraid to break the rules of kashruth.

The words of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar are not easy to explain. The Talmud will try to interpret them.

 

המטהר יינו של עובד כוכבים ונותנו ברשותו והלה כותב לו התקבלתי ממך מעות מותר

 

If [a Jew] prepares a non-Jew s wine in a state of ritual purity and leaves it in [the non-Jew s] domain, and the [non-Jew] writes for him I have received the money from you, then [the wine] is permitted.

 

In this case the non-Jew has already written out a receipt that he has received the money for the wine. Even if he preemptively wrote the receipt before he received the money, in this case the non-Jew will assumedly not touch the wine. If the Jew really has paid the money then it simply belongs to the Jew, and the non-Jew will not touch wine that doesn t belong to him. If the Jew has not really paid the money, the non-Jew will not touch it for if he does, the Jew will not pay him.

 

אבל אם ירצה ישראל להוציא ואינו מניחו עד שיתן לו את מעותיו זה היה מעשה בבית שאן ואסרו:

 

If, however, the Jew wished to remove it and [the non-Jew] refuses to let it go until he paid him this actually happened in Bet Shean and [the Rabbis] prohibited it.

 

However, if the non-Jew demonstrates that he doesn t consider the wine to really belong to the Jew until he pays the money, then we cannot assume that he has not touched it. Since the non-Jew still considers himself the owner, he may allow himself to take some of the wine, even though the Jew made it in order to subsequently pay for the wine. The mishnah relates that this case actually happened in Bet Shean.