Avodah Zarah 72b

עבודה זרה ע״ב ע״ב

Learn Avodah Zarah 72b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Avodah Zarah 72b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether a pouring stream (נצוק) is a חיבור, and practical rules for pouring and drinking wine with gentiles

Overview

The גמרא tries to answer a question it already raised: does a pouring stream (נצוק) connect two vessels into one unit (חיבור)? A proof from the funnel case in the משנה is blocked by רבי חייא, who places that case where the wine touched the funnel directly. A proof from pouring vessel to vessel is defended at first, then dropped, because the סיפא of the same משנה points the other way. A ברייתא about pouring from a barrel into a pit is explained by רב ששת as a case of כח גוי, a rule the רבנן limited to wine that leaves the barrel. רבא's ruling forbidding a whole barrel after a gentile touched a siphon tube is also set aside as a special case. So the question of נצוק is not settled on this amud. Along the way come practical rulings: break up the stream when pouring for gentiles, and keep a gentile from helping you pour. The amud ends with the rule that a Jew and a gentile may drink together from קנישקנין, as long as the Jew stops first.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. ProofProof from the leftover wine in the funnel
2. Rejectionרבי חייא: the gentile's wine rose up to the funnel
3. ProofInference from רבי חייא that a stream does not connect
4. RejectionNo proof either way: the question stays open
5. ProofProof from pouring from one vessel to another
6. ChallengeThen the upper vessel's wine should be forbidden too
7. ResolutionHe pours in broken spurts
8. ConclusionThe proof seems to stand: a stream is a connection
9. RejectionThe end of the same משנה points the other way
10. ProofA new proof from pouring a barrel into a pit
11. Rejectionרב ששת: the pourer is a gentile
12. ChallengeThen the wine inside the barrel should be forbidden too
13. ResolutionThe rabbinic decree covers only wine that left the barrel
14. Statementרב חסדא: break up the stream when selling to gentiles
15. Statementרבא: do not let a gentile help you pour
16. StatementA gentile touches the siphon tube and רבא forbids all the wine
17. ProofDoes this ruling prove that a pouring stream connects the wine?
18. RejectionA siphon is different because all the wine is pulled toward the tubes
19. StatementDrinking together from a multi-tube vessel is allowed if the Jew stops first
20. Statementרבה בר רב הונא allows multi-tube drinking at the house of the ריש גלותא