Jewish craftsmen to whom a gentile sent a jug of yayin nesech as their wage may say to him: "Give us its (worth in) money," [for they have not yet acquired it, and he owes them only money.] But if it entered their domain, it is forbidden. If one sells his wine to a gentile — If he stipulates the price [so much wine for so much money] before he measures it out (into his vessels), its monies (received in exchange) are permitted. [For meshichah (drawing to oneself the object to be acquired) effects acquisition for a gentile as it does for a Jew. So that when the Jew measures it out into his vessels and the vessel enters the domain of the gentile, he acquires it with meshichah, so that the Jew is (already) owed money by the gentile as a loan; and it does not become yayin nesech until the gentile touches (the wine itself).] But if he measures it out (into his vessels) before he stipulates the price, its monies are forbidden. [For the gentile does not acquire it now with meshichah. For since he has not yet stipulated the price, he has not committed himself to acquire it with meshichah, lest the Jew overcharge him. Therefore, when he touches it, it is yayin nesech in the domain of the Jew, the gentile not acquiring it until the price is stipulated.] If he (the Jew) took his funnel and measured out (his wine) into the vessels of the gentile, if it (the funnel) [in which he first measured out the wine for the gentile has a rim of wine, [which prevents one or two drops from leaving its mouth], it is forbidden. [The wine of the Jew is forbidden because of that drop of yayin nesech in the funnel.] If he [a Jew] pours [wine] from his vessel into a vessel [in the hand of a gentile or into a vessel containing yayin nesech], what he poured from is permitted [i.e., the wine remaining in the upper vessel in the hand of the Jew is permitted,] and what he poured into it is forbidden [i.e., the flow that left the Jew's vessel, even though it did not reach the vessel in the hand of the gentile (and, it goes without saying, what did reach the vessel of the gentile), is forbidden. [For "the flow is regarded as connected" (to the vessel beneath it.) and our Mishnah, which permits the wine left in the vessel in the hand of the Jew, speaks of an instance where the flow from the upper vessel was cut off before it reached the lower vessel in the hand of the gentile, so that there was no flow here which would connect what was in the upper vessel to what was in the lower vessel. Or, (our Mishnah speaks of an instance) where he shakes out wine from the upper vessel, as from a sprinkling bowl, so that there was no flow which would connect the wine in the vessel in the hand of the Jew to the vessel in the hand of the gentile. But if there were such a connection, then everything remaining in the upper vessel in the hand of the Jew is forbidden as yayin nesech by the principle of the flow being regarded as a connection. This is the halachah.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
תן לנו את דמיה – for they had not purchased, and he is not liable to them other than money.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Introduction
The first two sections of this mishnah discuss situations in which a Jew is considered as selling yen nesekh, which therefore means that the proceeds from the sale are prohibited.
The second two sections deal with situations in which a Jew is selling his wine to a non-Jew.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
המוכר יינו לנכרי פסק –[fixed a price] with him in money before he measured the money (see Tractate Bava Batra, Chapter 5, Mishnah 7), it is permitted. For “pulling” with a heathen acquires as it does with an Israelite. And when the Israelite measured it out (i.e., the money) in his utensils, and the utensil came into the domain of the heathen, the heathen acquired it through “pulling,” and the Israelite would have Zuzim with the heathen as a loan but libation wine it would not be until he came in contact with it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If a non-Jew sent to Jewish craftsmen a cask of yen nesekh as their wages, they are allowed to say to him, “give us its value in money”; ( But after [the wine] has come into their possession [the exchange] is prohibited. If a non-Jew who has hired a Jew to do some work for him, pays him with yen nesekh and actually gives the Jew the wine, the Jew cannot exchange the wine back for money. Once the wine comes into his possession it is actually his, and exchanging it with the non-Jew would in essence be selling yen nesekh, which is forbidden. If the Jew were to send back the shipment of wine before it reaches him then he may accept in its place money. Since in this case the non-Jew has never paid back his debt, it is not considered as if the Jew is selling his own yen nesekh.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
מדד עד שלא פסק – the sum of the money: such and such wine for such and such amount of money,
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If [a Jew] sells his wine to a non-Jew, should he have set the price before he measured it out, the purchase-money is permitted; ( But should he have measured it out before he set the price, the purchase-money is prohibited. If a Jew sells his wine to a non-Jew, he must make sure that he is not receiving money for what is now yen nesekh. If he measures out the wine to the non-Jew and then sets a price, he is actually receiving payment for selling yen nesekh, since the wine becomes yen nesekh as soon as it is in the non-Jew’s possession. Therefore, he must set a price before he gives over the wine. Note that once the price is set he need not receive the money, for the debt of the non-Jew is already fixed.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
דמיו אסורין – his monies are forbidden, for the heathen does not acquire now through “pulling” because he did not fix the price, he did not rely that he would acquire through “pulling” lest his monies would increase. Therefore, when he came in contact with it, it was libation wine in the domain of the Israelite for the heathen had not yet acquired it until the price was fixed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If [a Jew] took a funnel and measured [wine] into a non-Jew’s flask and then measured some into a Jew’s flask, should a drop of the [first] wine have remained [in the funnel], then [the wine measured into the second flask] is prohibited. In this section a Jew pours his wine into the container of a non-Jew using a funnel. The liquid that remains in the funnel when the Jew pours the wine into the non-Jew’s flask has the same status as the wine in the non-Jew’s flask itself. The fact that the wine in the flask is yen nesekh, means that the wine in the funnel is as well. This is because the funnel goes into the non-Jew’s container and may “take back” some of the yen nesekh. If even a drop of wine should remain in the funnel and the Jew should then pour more wine into the funnel and give it to a Jew, all of the wine has become contaminated as yen nesekh and it is all forbidden.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
אם יש בו עכבת יין – if the funnel in which the wine was measured first the wine of the heathen, the retention of wine/drops of wine remaining on the rim that delays the wine on its lip that a drop won’t go out or two drops.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If he poured from [his own] vessel into [a non-Jew’s] vessel, [the wine in the vessel] from which he poured is permitted and [the wine in the vessel] into which he poured is prohibited. This section teaches a distinguishing principle from the previous section. When one pours from one vessel into another, and the poured liquid never touches both vessels at the same time, there is no contamination from the lower vessel into the higher vessel. While the bottom liquid might become itself contaminated (if it is poured into a non-Jew’s flask), the top liquid remains permitted. We should note, that although these issues sound somewhat trivial, this issue, that of contamination flowing upwards through a poured liquid, was an issue of major content between different groups of Jews during the time of the Second Temple. In a famous document called “The Halakhic Letter” found in Qumran (The Dead Sea Scrolls” the author of the document complains that his opponents (probably the Pharisees) claim that the poured liquid is pure. This complaint is also mentioned as a complaint of the Sadducees against the Pharisees in Mishnah Yadayim 4:7. We see that our mishnah takes the Pharisaic point of view.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
אסור – for wine of the Israelite is missing because of that drop of wine libation in the funnel.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
המערה מכלי לכלי – an Israelite who emptied from his utensil to the utensil in the hand of the heathen or into the utensil where there is libation wine in it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
את שמערה ממנו מותר – the wine that remains in the upper utensil that is in the hand of the Israelite is permitted.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
ואת שעירה בתוכו – the continuous flow/jet that went out from the utensil of the Israelite, even though it did not arrive into the utensil that is in the hand of the idolater and all the more so, that which arrived into the utensil of the idolater is prohibited for the jet produced by pouring out is a connection (i.e., the liquid at one end, if touched by a gentile, affects that in the vessel- see Talmud Avodah Zarah 56b). But our Mishnah which permits what remains in the utensil that is in the hand of the Israelite is speaking about the case for example, where he breaks off the connection of the flow, withdraws the pouring vessel before the jet reaches the vessel into which it is poured – see Talmud Avodah Zarah 72b), that prior to his coming in contact with the continuous flow in in the lower utensil that is in the hand of the heathen, the upper vessel that was attached to the utensil in the hand of the Israelite was interrupted , and if there wasn’t here an uninterrupted flow of liquid poured from vessel to vessel that would connect what was in the upper utensil to what is in the lower utensil. Alternatively, he hatchelled it by beating it as he cast out the wine from the upper utensil in the manner that they cast from the bowl in which the sprinkling is done and there was no duct nor an uninterrupted flow that would connect between the wine that is in the utensil in the hand of the Israelite to the utensil that is in the hand of the heathen. But, if there was there a connection, all that remained in the upper utensil that is in the hand of the Israelite is prohibited, for he hold that the jet produced by pouring out is a connection (the liquid at one end, if touched by a gentile, affects that in the vessel) which is prohibited in libation wine and such is the Halakha.
