Se un gentile fosse trovato in piedi accanto a una cisterna di vino —se avesse avuto un privilegio, [il vino rappresentava una garanzia per il suo prestito, nel qual caso (si sospetta che) lo toccasse per assaggiarne il gusto], è vietato; in caso contrario, è permesso. Se lui (un gentile) cadde in una cisterna [piena di vino], e si sollevasse [in cima, morto— dal momento che toccarlo quando è caduto in esso non lo proibisce in (derivazione di) beneficio, poiché non aveva intenzione di toccarlo (—ma se è sorto, vivo, lo proibisce, in (derivazione di) beneficio, al suo sorgere, perché ringrazia la sua idolatria per la sua sopravvivenza —)]; o se [un gentile] lo misurasse [il vino di un ebreo] con una verga; o se [un gentile] gettasse da parte un calabrone [dal vino di un ebreo] con la verga, [non toccando il vino con la mano]; o se ha colpito la bocca (cioè la schiuma) di una brocca schiumosa [con la mano (per disperderla, questa non è la normale modalità di libagione]—tutti questi avvennero realmente, e loro (i saggi) decretarono: Lasciamo che sia venduto (a un gentile); e R. Shimon lo ha permesso [(l'halachah non è conforme a R. Shimon)]. Se prese la brocca e la gettò nella cisterna— ciò si è effettivamente verificato e (i saggi) lo hanno permesso [anche per bere].
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
אם יש עליו [מלוה] אסור – if he has towards him a lien on the wine, it is prohibited, for this wine is mortgaged to him in his liability, so it is like his money and he came in contact with it to see how it is.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Introduction
This mishnah discusses different types of contact that a non-Jew may have with wine that may or may not make the wine into yen nesekh, which is forbidden to Jews.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
נפל – the idolater [fell] into the cistern filled with wine.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If a non-Jew was found standing by the side of a vat of wine, if he had loaned money to the Jew, then [the wine] is prohibited; but should he not have loaned money to the Jew, then it is permitted. If a non-Jew is seen standing next to a vat of wine we need to know if the non-Jew touch the wine, for if he did touch the wine he would have made it into yen nesekh. Our mishnah teaches that if the non-Jew had loaned money to the Jew then the wine is prohibited. In such a case, the non-Jew has a lien on the Jews wine and might at some point say to the Jew, give me the wine and I will forgive you the loan. Since he has this financial connection to the Jew, and in some sense he has ownership over the wine as well, he will feel free to take some of the wine for himself. Therefore we must assume that he has come into contact with the wine. If, however, he has not loaned money to the Jew, then we do not assume that he had come into contact with the wine, and it is permitted.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
ועלה – dead, even though he came in contact with it at the time that he fell in, he (i.e., the Jew) is not prohibited to benefit since he did not intend to come in contact with it, but uf he came up alive, through his ascending he makes it forbidden, because he admits to idolatry on that he was saved.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If [a non-Jew] fell into a vat and climbed out, or measured it with a reed, or flicked out a hornet with a reed, or tapped on the top of a frothing cask All of these things actually happened, and [the Rabbis] said that the wine may be sold, but Rabbi Shimon permits it [even to be drunk]. This section lists all sorts of circumstances in which a non-Jew might come into contact with wine and yet it is highly unlikely that he used it to make a libation. Since in all of these cases we can be almost one hundred per cent sure that he didn’t do so, there is room to be lenient. The Sages, in front of whom cases such as these came, said that the wine could be sold to a non-Jew. In other words, it is forbidden to drink the wine but it is not forbidden to derive benefit from it. If it had truly been considered yen nesekh, then it could not even be sold. Rabbi Shimon is even more lenient and allows a person to even drink the wine.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
ומודדו בקנה – or that the idolater measures the wine of the Israelite with a reed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If [a non-Jew] took a cask, and in his anger threw it into the vat this actually happened and [the Rabbis] declared it fit [for drinking]. If a non-Jew throws an empty cask into a vat of wine the wine in the vat is not forbidden at all. Since in this case the non-Jew certainly did not make a libation with the wine, it is permitted and a Jew may even drink the wine.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
והתיז – or the idolater flipped out the hornet from the wine of the Israelite through a reed and did not actually make contact with the wine with his hand.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
המורתחת – the barrel was rising with heat and the idolater slapped it with his hand on the foaming – this is not the manner of libations.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
רבי שמעון מתיר – but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.
