Avodah Zarah 62b

עבודה זרה ס״ב ע״ב

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Topic

Wages and payments involving forbidden or holy items: שביעית produce, סתם יינם, and אתנן paid at a separate time

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a משנה (מעשר שני 3:1) about מעשר שני: holy produce may not be given as payment, but it may be given as a free gift. That supports the view that the donkey drivers receive שביעית produce only as a gift. רבא disagrees. He says the drivers' wages really do become holy, as a קנס on people who earn a lot, while a simple worker who earns little was not penalized. Our משנה is strict even with a simple worker because יין נסך is especially severe. The גמרא then asks whether a wage earned working with סתם יינם is also forbidden. It brings רב חסדא, who ordered such a wage of wheat to be burned and buried, and explains why each part of that method is needed. Next comes a story: רבי ינאי's students borrowed שביעית produce from the poor and repaid it in the eighth year, and רבי יוחנן approved. The גמרא compares this to אתנן, rereading a ברייתא to teach that a payment separated in time from the act is not treated as a direct exchange. The amud ends as the גמרא begins a new challenge to that reading, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (17)

1. ProofHoly produce may not be payment, but may be a free gift
2. Resolutionרבא: the drivers' wages are holy; the חכמים penalized them
3. ResolutionThe משנה is strict because יין נסך is especially severe
4. QuestionIs a wage from working with ordinary gentile wine forbidden?
5. Proofרב חסדא orders the wheat burned and buried
6. ChallengeWhy not just scatter the wheat?
7. ResolutionScattered kernels could cause a mishap
8. ChallengeThen burn it and scatter the ashes
9. ResolutionThe ashes might be used as fertilizer
10. ChallengeWhy not bury the wheat whole, like execution tools?
11. ResolutionA court graveyard makes it obvious, a random burial does not
12. Statementרבי ינאי's students borrow שביעית produce from the poor
13. StatementThe parallel case: payment to a זונה is permitted
14. ChallengeThe first case in the ברייתא seems too obvious
15. ChallengeThe second case in the ברייתא makes no sense
16. ResolutionRereading the ברייתא: payment separated from the act by time
17. ChallengeStarting a question on the first case of the new reading