Avodah Zarah, Daf Samekh Bet, Part 1

 

Introduction

The opening mishnah of the fifth chapter discusses a non-Jew who hires a Jew to work with him in the transportation of yayin nesekh.

 

מתני׳ השוכר את הפועל לעשות עמו ביין נסך שכרו אסור שכרו לעשות עמו מלאכה אחרת אע"פ שאמר לו העבר לי חבית של יין נסך ממקום למקום שכרו מותר

 

If [a non-Jew] hires [a Jewish] laborer to assist him in [the transportation of] yayin nesekh, his wage is prohibited.

a)       If he hired him to assist him in another kind of work, even if he says to him, remove for me a cask of yayin nesekh from this place to that, his wage is permitted.

 

A Jew is not allowed to assist a non-Jew in the preparation or even the transportation of yayin nesekh, wine which may eventually be used in libations. If he does so, and collects a wage for this specific type of work, the wage is prohibited, meaning that he cannot use the money. Since this person performed a forbidden act for profit, the Rabbis penalize him and forbid him to use his wages. However, if he was hired to do another type of work, for instance bring jugs of olive oil, and while working the non-Jew said to him to also bring a cask of yayin nesekh, his wages are permitted. Since the Jew was not hired to work with specifically with the forbidden wine and the wages he receives are for his other work, the wages are permitted. [If the Jew was told from the outset that part of his work involved yayin nesekh, the wages would be forbidden.]

השוכר את החמור להביא עליה יין נסך שכרה אסור שכרה לישב עליה אע"פ שהניח עובד כוכבים לגינו עליה שכרה מותר:

 

If he hired [a Jew s] donkey to carry yayin nesekh, its wages are prohibited;

But if he hired it to sit upon, even though the non-Jew rested his jar [of yayin nesekh] upon it, its wages are permitted.

This section teaches a similar ruling with regard to a donkey driver. If the non-Jew hires a Jew s donkey to bring yayin nesekh, the wages which the Jew receives are forbidden. However, if the non-Jew hires the donkey to ride on it the wages are permitted, even if the non-Jew brings his yayin nesekh on the donkey. Although in both cases the Jew s donkey is helping carry the forbidden wine, since in the second case he is not receiving wages specifically for carrying the wine, the wages are permitted.