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Avodah Zarah 63b

עבודה זרה ס״ג ע״ב

Learn Avodah Zarah 63b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Whether paying later for something forbidden counts as paying for the איסור, using the employer-and-workers ברייתא, followed by whether one may be paid to break barrels of יין נסך.

Overview

The amud starts in the middle of a ברייתא about an employer who feeds his workers. If he hands them a coin, he is not responsible for what they buy. If he says 'go eat and I'll pay,' he must worry about שביעית, מעשר and יין נסך. The גמרא infers from this that paying a debt later still counts as paying for the forbidden item. רב חסדא first limits the ברייתא to a storekeeper who regularly gives credit, but that answer is challenged twice. רבא then rules that a debt not tied to specific money is not forbidden. To explain why the ברייתא still worries, רב פפא says the employer paid a דינר in advance, and רב אשי says he handed over the food himself. Each of them reads the ברייתא's wording to fit his case. A new question follows: may someone be paid to break barrels of יין נסך? רב נחמן allows it and blesses him. The גמרא begins bringing a ברייתא about hoeing in a field of כלאים as possible support, and that discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לֹא מִשּׁוּם שְׁבִיעִית,

not because of Sabbatical-Year produce,

וְלֹא מִשּׁוּם מַעֲשֵׂר,

and not because of tithe,

וְלֹא מִשּׁוּם יֵין נֶסֶךְ.

and not because of libation wine.

וְאִם אָמַר לָהֶם:

But if he said to them:

The steps (17)

  1. ProofWorker spends the employer's coin himself: no worry
  2. Proof'Go eat and I'll pay': the employer must worry
  3. ProofInference: paying later is still paying for the איסור
  4. Rejectionרב חסדא: the ברייתא is about a storekeeper who gives regular credit
  5. ChallengeIf credit made the difference, the ברייתא should have said so in its own case
  6. ChallengeEven without regular credit the employer is obligated, as a guarantor is
  7. Rejectionרבא: the debt is real, but since it is not tied to specific money, it is permitted
  8. ChallengeWhy is the ברייתא concerned at all?
  9. Resolutionרב פפא: the employer paid a דינר in advance
  10. Challengeרב זביד: then the wording should be 'I will calculate'
  11. Resolutionרב כהנא: read the ברייתא as 'I will calculate'
  12. Resolutionרב אשי: the employer handed over the food himself
  13. Challengeרב יימר: then the wording should be 'take and eat'
  14. Resolutionרב אשי: read the ברייתא as 'take and eat'
  15. QuestionWages for breaking barrels of יין נסך
  16. Responseרב נחמן: Let him break the barrels and be blessed
  17. ProofProposed support from a teaching about hoeing in a field of mixed crops