Avodah Zarah, Daf Samekh Bet, Part 3

 

Introduction

At the end of yesterday s section R. Yohanan mentioned a penalty placed on donkey drivers. Today the Talmud explains that this refer to. As we will see, Rava mentions it at the very end.

 

יין נסך הא דאמרן חמרין מאי היא דתניא החמרין שהיו עושין מלאכה בפירות שביעית שכרן שביעית

 

As for yayin nesekh it is as has just been stated;

And what is the case of the donkey-drivers? As it has been taught: If donkey-drivers work with Sabbatical year produce, their wage is [considered the produce of] a Sabbatical year.

 

The penalty placed on the donkey-drivers is for doing work with Sabbatical year produce. The Talmud will now we explain what the baraita means.

 

מאי שכרן שביעית אילימא דיהבינן להו שכר מפירות שביעית נמצא זה פורע חובו מפירות שביעית והתורה אמרה (ויקרא כה, ו) לאכלה ולא לסחורה

 

What does it mean their wage is [considered the produce of] the Sabbatical year ? If I say it means that they receive their wage in Sabbatical year produce, it would turn out that [the employer] pays his debt in Sabbatical year produce and the Torah has said, [And the Shabbat of the land shall be] for food but not for trading (Leviticus 25:6)!

 

What does it mean when the baraita states that their wages are treated like Sabbatical year produce? It cannot mean that the employer pays them with Sabbatical year produce because one is not allowed to pay debts with such produce.

 

ואלא דקדוש שכרן בקדושת שביעית ומי קדוש והתניא האומר לפועל הילך דינר זה ולקוט לי ירק היום שכרו מותר לקוט לי ירק בו היום שכרו אסור

 

Rather, [if I answer that it means] that their wage is holy with the holiness of Sabbatical year [produce], is it holy? For it has been taught: If one said to a laborer [in the Sabbatical year], Here is a dinar and gather vegetables for me today, his wage is permitted; [If he said,] Gather vegetables for me today for this [dinar] his wage is prohibited!

 

The second possibility is that his wages have the holiness of Sabbatical year produce, meaning that certain restrictions apply to them. But this too does not accord with tannaitic law. One can pay a worker to gather vegetables during the Sabbatical year as long as he does not specify that he is doing so for this dinar.

 

אמר אביי לעולם יהבינן ליה שכר מפירות שביעית ודקא קשיא לך לאכלה ולא לסחורה דיהביה ניהליה בצד היתר כדתנן לא יאמר אדם לחבירו העלה לי פירות הללו לירושלים לחלק אבל אומר לו העלם לאוכלם ולשתותם בירושלים ונותנין זה לזה מתנה של חנם

 

Abaye said: It certainly means that they are paid their wage in Sabbatical year produce, and the difficulty you raised, for food but not for trading, [is solved] in that they pay him in a lawful manner, as we have learned: One may not say to his fellow, Carry up for me these fruits to Jerusalem in order that we share them ; but he may say to him, Carry them up so that we may eat and drink of them in Jerusalem. And each may give the other as a free gift.

 

Abaye says that the baraita does indeed mean that the workers are paid in sabbatical year produce. As to the objection that sabbatical year produce cannot be used to pay debts, Abaye says that they find a permitted way to give it to him. He draws an analogy with second tithe, which also may not be used to pay a debt. One cannot say to his fellow that if he helps bring the second tithe to Jerusalem, where it must be consumed, he will share it with him. But he can say that when they bring it to Jerusalem, they will eat and drink together. So too with regard to Sabbatical year produce, he can give it as a gift to his worker.

 

ורבא אמר לעולם דקדוש בקדושת שביעית ודקא קשיא לך פועל פועל דלא נפיש אגריה לא קנסוהו רבנן חמרין דנפיש אגרייהו קנסו רבנן בהו ומתני’ חומרא דיין נסך שאני:

 

And Rava said: [The meaning is] certainly that their wage has the holiness of [the produce of] the Sabbatical year, and the difficulty you raised with regard to the workman, in the case of a workman whose wage is small the Rabbis did not impose a penalty, but in the case of donkey-drivers whose wage is considerable the Rabbis did impose a penalty; and as for our Mishnah the stringency of yayin nesekh is different.

 

Rava says that the baraita does indeed mean that the wages of the donkey driver carrying Sabbatical year produce are holy like the produce itself. So why is the same not true for the wages of an average workman working with Sabbatical year produce? Because his wages are low. Donkey-drivers, on the other hand, have much higher wages, and therefore the rabbis penalized them.

There is one last question though the mishnah we have been learning says that the rabbis penalized laborers who work with yayin nesekh. But we just said that since workers wages are low they are not penalized! The answer is that since the laws of yayin nesekh are more stringent, the rabbis penalized them as well.