Avodah Zarah 39b (לט:) — the Talmud in English

HBTY -

milk, meat, wine, and tekhelet

of tzitzit,

are forbidden with one seal,

because meat and tekhelet are expensive. Therefore, there is concern that the gentile may have counterfeited them and substituted them. And with wine there is concern that he may have poured libations to idols [as for milk, the Gemara will discuss it below].

HMPG -

asafoetida, murayes, bread, and cheese -

are permitted with one seal.

Because there is not much profit in substituting the asafoetida.

The Gemara explains why bread is permitted with one seal:

As for bread, what concern is there? -

If the concern is that he might substitute cold bread for hot bread,

if we are concerned that he may have substituted his own cold bread for hot bread belonging to a Jew -

it is readily known.

The matter would be noticeable and known to the owners. Because of this, the gentile would refrain from making the substitution, and therefore there is no reason for concern.

Or wheat bread for barley bread,

wheat bread for barley bread, which is cheaper -

that, too, is readily known,

and there is likewise no concern that he substituted one for the other, since the substitution would be noticeable and known to the owners.

If they are equivalent,

if the two loaves are of equal value and there is no significant difference between them, then

since there is

a

single seal, he will not take the trouble

the gentile

to counterfeit

the seal.

The Gemara discusses this:

But Rav,

who forbade milk with one seal and permitted cheese with one seal,

what is the difference

between

cheese, that he does not

that the gentile does not

take the trouble

to

counterfeit

it in order to substitute it with his own cheese, and therefore it is permitted with one seal - and milk as well? The gentile likewise would not take the trouble to counterfeit milk. Why, then, is milk forbidden with one seal?

Rav Kahana said: Remove

indeed, remove

milk

from the items mentioned as forbidden with one seal, and milk should be permitted with one seal,

and insert

place in its stead another prohibition:

a piece of fish,

which is expensive, and

which has no identifying mark,

and therefore there is concern that the gentile may have substituted it. The Gemara asks: But a piece of fish

is meat;

why, then, list meat twice?

It answers:

There are two types of meat,

namely, animal meat and fish meat.

And Shmuel says:

The laws of seals are as follows -

BTY is forbidden with one seal.

MHPG is permitted with one seal.

BTY -

meat, wine, and tekhelet -

are forbidden with one seal.

MHPG -

murayes, asafoetida, and cheese -

are permitted with one seal.

The Gemara explains why, according to Shmuel [who does not disagree with Rav concerning the halakha], there is no need to mention a piece of fish at all in the identifying sign for the prohibited items, and no need to mention bread at all in the identifying sign for the permitted items, because -

according to Shmuel, a piece of fish that has no identifying mark -

is meat.

And the reasoning stated above, that fish and animal meat are

two types

of

meat,

and that each is therefore listed separately - according to Shmuel, this reasoning

is not stated.

Fish meat is included in the category of meat.

According to this, there is likewise no need to mention the permission of bread with one identifying mark, since there is no concern regarding bread, as we learned above: “As for bread, what concern is there?”

The Sages taught: One may not purchase

YMH MHPG

in Syria.

The Gemara explains:

Neither wine, nor murayes, nor milk, nor salkundarit salt, nor asafoetida, nor cheese.

Because the shopkeepers in Syria are suspected of violating the prohibition, “Do not place a stumbling block before the blind.” They are likely to purchase this merchandise from gentiles and sell it to Jews!

But only from an expert

is it permitted to purchase. It is known that he is careful not to acquire items from gentiles.

And all of them,

all these foods that it is forbidden to purchase from the shopkeepers,

if one is a guest in a householder’s home -

it is permitted.

Although the people of Syria are suspected of violating the prohibition of “placing a stumbling block before the blind,” they are nevertheless not suspected of eating forbidden foods themselves. Therefore, it is permitted to eat their food in their homes.

And this beraita

supports the statement of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who said:

If

he sends

something

to him, to his home, a householder

one of these foods -

it is permitted

to eat it.

What is the reason? -

A householder does not set aside

permitted food

he does not refrain from eating something permitted,

and eat forbidden food,

something prohibited.

And when he sends it to him,

and when he sends something to his fellow,

he sends him what he eats.

He sends him from his home only something that he himself is accustomed to eat, and therefore it is permitted to eat.

We learned in our Mishna:

And salkundarit salt

is forbidden to eat.

The Gemara asks:

What is

the nature of

salkundarit salt?

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: Salt that all the salkundarei

bakers

of Rome eat,

and into which they mix the fat of non-kosher fish; therefore, it is forbidden.

This is how Rashi explained it. The Ran explained that it refers to the prominent people of Rome. The Sages taught: Black salkundarit salt is forbidden; white salt is permitted -

the words of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Yehuda says: White salt is forbidden; black salt is permitted.

Rabbi Yehuda ben Gamla said in the name of Rabbi Hanina ben Gamla: Both this and that,

black and white,

are forbidden.

The Gemara explains:

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: According to the one who says that white salt is forbidden,

this is because

the fatty tissue

of

non-kosher white fish is mixed into it.

Therefore, it is forbidden.

According to the one who says that black salt is forbidden, the fatty tissue of non-kosher black fish is mixed into it.

According to the one who says that both this and that are forbidden, both

the fat of black and white fish

are mixed into it.

Rabbi Abbahu said in the name of Rabbi Hanina ben Gamla: There was an old man

a gentile

who lived in our neighborhood,

who would smooth its surface

of salkundarit salt

with pig fat.

This indicates that one must be concerned about other prohibitions that may be present in this salt.

At the end of the Mishna we learned:

These

items listed above

are forbidden,

but their prohibition is not a prohibition involving benefit.

The Gemara discusses this: The repetition in which the Mishna again mentions the prohibition at the end and says, “These are forbidden,” implying that it comes to exclude and teach that not everything is forbidden,

what does it come to exclude,

what does it come to exclude from this prohibition?

It answers:

For

the

view of Ḥizkiya,

above [38b], the intention of our Mishna is

to exclude a

case in which it is

known

that wine was placed in the pickled vegetables, in which case they are forbidden even with regard to benefit and are not included in the law of our Mishna.

For

the

view of Rabbi Yoḥanan,

who permits these pickled vegetables with regard to benefit, our Mishna comes

to exclude murayes and the cheese of Beit Onaiki,

which are forbidden even with regard to benefit.

And

it follows from this that the

anonymous

opinion of this Mishna

is that of Rabbi Meir,

who forbids these items with regard to benefit [in the Mishna above, 30b].

Mishna:

Until now we learned the laws of items that are forbidden with regard to benefit and items that are forbidden to eat. The Mishna now explains which foods of gentiles are permitted even to eat.

And these

foods of gentiles are

permitted to eat:

1.

Milk -

that a gentile milked, with a Jew watching him

while he milks.

2.

And honey,

3.

And grape clusters,

bunches of grapes,

even though they are dripping,

and grape juice is dripping from them; if the grape juice drips onto food,

it does not

render the food susceptible to ritual impurity,

by means of the susceptibility provided by liquid.

The reason is that the owners intend these fruits for eating and do not want their juice to flow out.

4.

And pickled vegetables,

pickled vegetables

into which it is not customary to put wine or vinegar,

are permitted.

5.

And terit,

salted fish,

that has not been minced,

but in which a recognizable piece of fish remains, enabling one to identify it as kosher.

6.

And fish brine

of fish

that contains a small fish,

a kalbit [a non-kosher fish ], as we learned in the Mishna above: it develops spontaneously in kosher brine, and this serves as a sign that the brine was made from kosher fish.

7.

And a whole leaf

whole

of asafoetida,

which was not cut with a knife, so there is no concern that it absorbed a prohibited substance.

8.

And olives of Gluksa,

collected in a round vessel like loaves of bread,

rolled up,

where they become heated and the oil is extracted on its own as a result of the heat.

Rabbi Yosei says:

The olives

whose pits slip out [

that is, they are so soft that when one takes them in one’s hand, the pits fall out on their own] are forbidden, because there is concern that wine was put into them and caused them to soften in this manner.

9.

The locusts [

kosher]

that come from the selula

from the basket before the shopkeeper -

are forbidden

because wine is sprinkled over them.

But if they come

from the storehouse [

a cache ]

they are permitted.

They have not yet been brought out for sale, and wine has not yet been sprinkled over them.

And likewise,

this law, even

with regard to teruma,

applies. As will be explained below in the Gemara.

Gemara:

We learned in our Mishna: Milk that a gentile milked, with a Jew watching him, is permitted.

We also learned this:

We learned in a beraita something similar to the matter under discussion in our Mishna

The Sages taught: A Jew sits

beside the herd of a gentile

even if he does not see him,

and a gentile milks

for him

and brings him

milk for the Jew,

and he has no concern

about drinking the milk.

The Gemara asks:

What are the circumstances

of this case?

If there is no

animal

of a non-kosher species [

in his herd,

in his herd

of the gentile, and therefore there is no concern that the milk may be non-kosher, then

it is obvious

that it is permitted to drink it!

And if there is

an animal

of a non-kosher species in his herd, why

is it permitted for the Jew to drink the milk without concern?

The Gemara explains:

Actually,

the case is

that there is

an animal of

a non-kosher species

in the herd.

And when

the Jew stands,

he sees him

and sees from which animal the gentile is milking for him.

And when he sits,

when he sits beside the herd,

he does not see him,

and does not see from which animal he is bringing him the milk.

We might have said as follows:

What might you have said? Since he sits

with the Jew sitting beside the herd and

does not see him,

he does not see the gentile,

let us be concerned lest he bring it and mix it with it,

and let us fear that he may have mixed in some non-kosher milk.

This teaches us that, since when he stands

the Jew

sees him,

and thus sees the gentile when he stands, even when he sits,

the gentile is very afraid

that the Jew may come and see him at any moment,

and he will not mix non-kosher milk with it.

We learned in our Mishna:

And honey

of gentiles is permitted.

The Gemara explains the reason for the leniency:

Honey—for what

possible aspect of prohibition

should we be concerned

that we should fear

with regard to it?

If

the concern is

because of admixture,

lest the gentile have mixed wine into it, this is impossible, since

it becomes rancid,

as it spoils when mixed with wine.

If

the concern is that it was cooked and would be forbidden

because of the cooking of gentiles,

then honey

is eaten as it is,

and we learned that an item that is eaten as it is raw is not rendered forbidden even if a gentile cooked it.

If

the concern is that it was cooked in gentile utensils that release forbidden absorbed matter, and the food is forbidden

because of the absorbed matter of gentiles,

then this forbidden absorbed matter

imparts a flavor that spoils the food, and it is permitted?!

We learned in our Mishna:

And grape clusters,

bunches of grapes,

even though they drip,

are not subject to the susceptibility imparted by liquid

to receive ritual impurity.

The Gemara raises a contradiction to this:

And it was contradicted—

one who harvests

grapes

to

tread them in a

winepress,

in order to make wine from them—

Shammai says: It has been rendered susceptible,

the food upon which the grape juice splashed, to receive ritual impurity. Since these liquids are intended to emerge from the grapes, the owner desires their dripping and therefore considers it significant.

Hillel says: It has not been rendered susceptible,

the food upon which this juice splashed.

And he conceded to him

Hillel conceded to

Shammai.

It is thus proven that these liquids emerging from the grapes render food susceptible to ritual impurity, contrary to our Mishna?!

The Gemara resolves this:

There,

in the case of grapes being trodden in a winepress,

he desires the liquid

The owner desires the grape juice, and therefore is pleased with its emergence and dripping; consequently, it renders the food susceptible through this dripping.

However,

here,

in the case of liquid dripping from the grapes and going to waste,

he does not desire the liquid;

the owner does not want this liquid, and therefore it does not render the food susceptible to ritual impurity.

We learned in our Mishna:

And terit [

a food containing salted fish]

that is not crushed.

The Sages taught: What is terit that is not crushed,

such that it can be determined that it contains no non-kosher fish?

Any

that is not completely crushed, and

the head and spinal column

of each and every fish

are discernible.

Through this one can determine whether it is non-kosher or kosher, since a non-kosher fish has a pointed head and lacks a spinal column.

The beraita continues and clarifies:

And what

is

brine that contains

fish [as we learned in our Mishna: “and brine that contains fish”]?—

Any

fish called

kilbit [

a small non-kosher fish that develops on its own in the brine of kosher fish],