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Avodah Zarah 65b

עבודה זרה ס״ה ע״ב

Learn Avodah Zarah 65b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

רב איקא's wine-related wages, the משנה on יין נסך falling on food (נותן טעם לפגם), and רבא's ruling on wheat soaked with יין נסך

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a story about רב איקא. He poured kosher wine into non-Jews' wineskins and was paid with the empty jugs. אביי permits this because his work was done while the wine was still permitted. The גמרא raises two challenges, and each time shows that he had no stake in the forbidden wine and did no work with it. A new משנה follows. יין נסך on whole grapes can be rinsed off, but cracked grapes become forbidden. Figs and dates are forbidden only if the wine's flavor improves them, so ביתוס בן זונן's figs were permitted because the flavor spoiled them (נותן טעם לפגם). Finally, רבא rules on wheat that יין נסך fell on. After a challenge from a כלאים garment, he allows it only as bread sold to גוים with no Jew present, and רב פפא explains that wheat's slits make it like cracked grapes.

Opening lines

הֲוָה שָׁפֵיךְ לְהוּ חַמְרָא לְגוֹיִם,

He would pour wine for gentiles,

וְאָזֵיל מְעַבַּר לְהוּ מַעְבָּרָא,

and go ferry them across the river crossing,

וְיָהֲבוּ לֵיהּ גּוּלְפֵי בְּאַגְרָא.

and they would give him the jugs as payment.

אֲתוֹ אֲמַרוּ לֵיהּ לְאַבָּיֵי,

They came and told Abaye;

The steps (18)

  1. Statementרב איקא pours wine for non-Jews and is paid in jugs
  2. Responseאביי permits it because the work was done with permitted wine
  3. ChallengeChallenge: he still cares that the wine stays safe
  4. ResolutionAnswer: he made a deal, or they brought spare barrels
  5. ChallengeChallenge: ferrying them is work with forbidden wine
  6. ResolutionAnswer: the ferryman did the work, not him
  7. Statementמשנה: libation wine on grapes
  8. Statementמשנה: libation wine on figs or dates
  9. StatementThe story of ביתוס בן זונן's dried figs
  10. StatementThe general rule: improving flavor forbids, non-improving flavor permits
  11. ChallengeWhy does the story seem to contradict the ruling right before it?
  12. ResolutionA line is missing: flavor that spoils the food is permitted
  13. Statementרבא allows wheat soaked with יין נסך to be sold to גוים
  14. ChallengeChallenge from a garment with lost כלאים, which may not be sold to a גוי
  15. ChallengeThe reason behind the garment rule also applies to the wheat
  16. Statementרבא changes his ruling: grind, bake, and sell away from Jews
  17. ChallengeThe משנה says uncracked grapes only need rinsing
  18. ResolutionWheat counts like cracked grapes because of its slits