Один [еврей], который ходил за вином язычника и помещал его в область своего [язычника], а другой [язычник] писал ему: «Я получил от тебя деньги», это разрешено, [если дом открыт для общественного достояния, и евреи живут в этом городе, как указано выше.] Но если еврей хочет вывезти его, и он (язычник) не позволяет ему делать это, пока он не заплатит ему свои деньги, [ вино теперь является гарантией для язычников (у него есть залог против вина) — языческое высказывание: если они увидят меня (прикасаясь к вину) и предъявят претензии ко мне, я скажу, что оно мое (хотя ключ и печать будут в руках еврея)] — это действительно произошло в Бет-Шеане, и мудрецы запретили это.
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
והלה כותב לו שנתקבלתי ממך מעות מותר – if the house is open to the public domain and Israelites live in that city as we have stated above (in the previous Mishnah).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Introduction
The final mishnah in chapter four is a continuation of mishnah eleven. It continues to discuss a Jew who makes wine that belongs to a non-Jew, with the intent of the Jew purchasing it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
אבל אם רצה – for now, the wine is a as a deposit with the idolater. And since he has a lien on the wine, it is prohibited, and that it does not bubble/ferment, he holds that if he sees me and claims it from me, I would say that it is mine. But even though the key and the lock are in the hand of an Israelite, it is prohibited.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Again, what we constantly need to know in the types of circumstances mentioned in this mishnah and in the previous one is the likelihood that the non-Jew touched the wine. If he did so it is forbidden as yen nesekh.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If [a Jew] prepares a non-Jew’s wine in a state of ritual purity and leaves it in [the non-Jew’s] domain, and the [non-Jew] writes for him “I have received the money from you,” then [the wine] is permitted. In this case the non-Jew has already written out a receipt that he has received the money for the wine. Even if he preemptively wrote the receipt before he received the money, in this case the non-Jew will assumedly not touch the wine. If the Jew really has paid the money then it simply belongs to the Jew, and the non-Jew will not touch wine that doesn’t belong to him. If the Jew has not really paid the money, the non-Jew will not touch it for if he does, the Jew will not pay him. However, the Talmud adds that the wine must be kept under lock in order to make these assumptions.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If, however, the Jew wished to remove it and [the non-Jew] refuses to let it go until he paid him this actually happened in Beth-Shan and [the Rabbis] prohibited it. However, if the non-Jew demonstrates that he doesn’t consider the wine to really belong to the Jew until he pays the money, then we cannot assume that he has not touched it. Since the non-Jew still considers himself the owner, he may allow himself to take some of the wine, even though the Jew made it in order to subsequently pay for the wine. The mishnah relates that this case actually happened in Beth Shan (see also Mishnah Avodah Zarah 1:4, for another case that happened in Beth Shan).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Questions for Further Thought: • Section one: Why do you think that the Talmud demands that the wine must be kept under lock? Think of the similarities between this situation and that in the previous mishnah.
