Gli artigiani ebrei ai quali un gentile ha inviato una brocca di yayin nesech, poiché il loro salario potrebbe dirgli: "Dacci il suo (degno in) denaro" [perché non l'hanno ancora acquisito e deve loro solo denaro.] Ma se è entrato nel loro dominio, è vietato. Se uno vende il suo vino a un gentile—Se stabilisce il prezzo [tanto vino per così tanti soldi] prima di misurarlo (nelle sue navi), i suoi soldi (ricevuti in cambio) sono consentiti. [Per meshichah (attingendo l'oggetto da acquisire) effettua l'acquisizione per un gentile come per un ebreo. In modo che quando l'ebreo lo misuri nelle sue navi e la nave entri nel dominio del gentile, lo acquisisce con meshichah, in modo che all'ebreo sia (già) dovuto denaro dal gentile come prestito; e non diventa yayin nesech fino a quando il gentile non tocca (il vino stesso).] Ma se lo misura (nelle sue navi) prima che stabilisca il prezzo, i suoi soldi sono proibiti. [Per il gentile non lo acquisisce ora con meshichah. Dal momento che non ha ancora stabilito il prezzo, non si è impegnato ad acquistarlo con meshichah, per paura che l'ebreo lo sovraccarichi. Pertanto, quando lo tocca, è yayin nesech nel dominio dell'ebreo, il gentile non lo acquisisce fino a quando non viene stabilito il prezzo.] Se lui (l'ebreo) prendesse il suo imbuto e misurasse (il suo vino) nelle navi di il gentile, se (l'imbuto) [in cui per primo ha misurato il vino per il gentile ha un bordo di vino, [che impedisce a una o due gocce di lasciare la bocca], è proibito. [Il vino dell'ebreo è vietato a causa di quella goccia di yayin nesech nell'imbuto.] Se [un ebreo] versa [vino] dalla sua nave in una nave [nella mano di un gentile o in una nave contenente yayin nesech ], è permesso ciò che ha versato [cioè, è permesso il vino rimasto nella nave superiore nella mano dell'ebreo,] e ciò che ha versato in esso è proibito [cioè, il flusso che ha lasciato la nave dell'ebreo, anche se non ha raggiunto la nave nella mano del gentile (e, ovviamente, ciò che ha raggiunto la nave del gentile) è proibito. [Per "il flusso è considerato come collegato" (alla nave sotto di esso.) E la nostra Mishnah, che consente al vino lasciato nella nave nella mano dell'ebreo, parla di un caso in cui è stato interrotto il flusso dalla nave superiore prima che raggiungesse la nave inferiore nella mano del gentile, in modo che non vi fosse alcun flusso che collegasse ciò che era nella nave superiore a ciò che era nella nave inferiore. Oppure, (la nostra Mishnah parla di un'istanza) in cui scuote il vino dalla nave superiore, come da una ciotola spolverata, in modo che non vi fosse flusso che collegasse il vino nella nave nella mano dell'ebreo alla nave in la mano del gentile. Ma se ci fosse una tale connessione, allora tutto ciò che rimane nella nave superiore nella mano dell'ebreo è proibito come yayin nesech dal principio del flusso considerato come una connessione. Questa è l'alachah.]
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.
