Avodah Zarah 55b — the Talmud in English

But they do not harvest with him,

it is forbidden for an Israelite to hire himself to the gentile to harvest [cutting the grapes] with him. For the gentile will place them in his impure winepress, for the purpose of treading them, and when he treads them they will become impure; thus it is found that the Israelite causes impurity to produce of the Land of Israel.

That is to say: if the gentile has already trodden them partially, they have already become impure, and the Israelite adds nothing at all to their impurity. But as long as they have not been trodden, and they are not impure, since they have not yet been rendered susceptible to receiving impurity, and now the gentile will render them impure through the action of the Israelite worker, it is found that the Israelite caused impurity to produce of the Land of Israel.

When do these words apply? To treading with a gentile, who was not commanded concerning the prohibition of causing impurity to produce of the Land of Israel. But

an Israelite who makes

his produce

impure,

and he is committing a transgression, since he was commanded concerning this; therefore:

they may neither tread nor harvest with him,

it is forbidden to hire oneself to assist him in treading grapes, and all the more so in harvesting them.

Because his winepress is impure, and it is found that the worker assists the hands of transgressors, for the grapes will become impure through their treading, when they become wet from the wine that renders them susceptible to receiving impurity.

Rather, they withdraw from them, so that he will not become accustomed to doing so.

But they may transport with him,

it is permitted to assist him, the Israelite who makes his produce impure, in transporting

barrels

that are empty

to the winepress, and they bring with him

full barrels

from the winepress,

since they have already become impure in the winepress, it is permitted to place the wine in impure barrels.

And likewise,

a baker who makes

his dough

impure,

and renders it impure with his impure vessels—

they may neither knead nor shape

[rolling the dough]

with him,

because it is forbidden to assist the hands of transgressors, and every act of this shaping is a transgression;

but they may transport bread with him to the retailer,

the one who bakes the bread.

Gemara:

Rav Huna said: Once the wine has begun to flow,

down the incline of the winepress, from the upper side to the lower side,

it becomes libation wine,

before its entry into the pit.

And we raise an objection:

We learned

we recite in our Mishna:

One may purchase a trodden winepress from a gentile, and even though he took [the wine] with his hand and placed it

[Bach version:

takes [the wine] with his hand and places it]

into the heap,

because it is not called wine until its entry into the pit.

And this is difficult for Rav Huna, who says that it is called wine through its flowing while it is in the winepress?

And we resolve:

Rav Huna said:

our Mishna is speaking

of a blocked winepress,

whose channel through which the wine descends to the pit was blocked,

and the

winepress is

full

of grapes, and the wine has not begun to flow from the winepress to the pit and has not moved from its place, but has remained where it was pressed.

Accordingly, our Mishna maintains that it is not called wine, since it does not flow. But when the channel is not blocked and the wine runs from the winepress to the pit, it is called wine even before its entry into the pit, in accordance with Rav Huna.

And we raise an objection:

Come and hear,

the continuation of the Mishna:

And it does not become libation wine until it descends into the pit,

which implies that the wine does indeed flow from the winepress and is on its way to the pit, and nevertheless what flows while it is in the winepress is not called wine, but only what descended into the pit.

And this is difficult for Rav Huna?

And we resolve:

Here too,

these words of the Mishna are also speaking

of a blocked and full winepress,

and therefore it does not become libation wine, since it has not flowed—

And according to this interpretation, the meaning of the Mishna is as follows: And it does not become libation wine, since it is blocked, until he removes the stopper and the wine begins to descend; and from the beginning of its descent and flowing, it is called wine, and then even what is in the winepress becomes libation wine, in accordance with the words of Rav Huna.

And as long as he has not removed the stopper, it is permitted to purchase the winepress from the gentile.

And we raise an objection:

Come and hear,

the continuation of the Mishna:

It descended into the pit—

what is in the pit is forbidden, and the remainder is permitted.

And this latter clause certainly speaks of wine flowing from the winepress to the pit, for it says in it, “it descended into the pit,” and nevertheless the Mishna forbade only what is in the pit, and not what flowed in the winepress. And this is difficult for Rav Huna?

And we resolve:

Rav Huna said: It is not difficult; here it is the first Mishna, here it is the last Mishna.

Indeed, the Mishna maintains that wine flowing in the winepress does not become libation wine even when it is not blocked, and not in accordance with the words of Rav Huna—

Nevertheless, there is no difficulty from the Mishna against Rav Huna—

Since this Mishna is the “first Mishna”; that is, at first the tannaitic authority held this view. Then he reconsidered, and that is called the “last Mishna.”

And the last Mishna maintains that wine flowing in the winepress becomes libation wine.

And Rav Huna stated his words in accordance with the view of the “last Mishna.”

As it was taught,

the Gemara cites a beraita, and it says in it that the tannaitic authority reconsidered:

At first they were

the Sages

saying: B-D-D

[an abbreviation for the laws of

B

harvesting,

T

reading and

T

reading], and these are the three laws of our Mishna:

1.

One may not harvest with gentiles in the winepress,

as explained in our Mishna. And likewise with an Israelite who makes his produce impure, because

it is forbidden to cause impurity to

produce

of non-sacred produce in the Land of Israel,

and harvesting is the cause of impurity, because they will become impure in the impure winepress.

2.

And one may not tread with an Israelite who makes his produce impure,

and although they already became impure through the treading of the sinful Israelite, and it is found that he does not cause impurity, nevertheless, it is forbidden, because

it is forbidden to assist the hands of transgressors,

so that he will not become accustomed to doing so.

3.

But one may tread with gentiles in the winepress,

because there is no causing of impurity here, since they already became impure through the gentile’s treading. And there is no prohibition of “assisting the hands of transgressors” here, because the gentile is not a transgressor through rendering the produce of the Land of Israel impure, for he was not commanded concerning this—

And the Gemara explains: Rather, what is the reason? Let us forbid it because it is forbidden to profit [with a sin]: from objects forbidden for benefit—

There is no prohibition here.

And we do not take into consideration the

words of

Rav Huna,

who maintains that it becomes libation wine while it is still in the winepress—

Rather, it does not become wine until it descends into the pit, as explained.

The beraita continues:

And they reconsidered,

the Sages,

to say: D-B-D

[the Bach version:

D-B-B,

and these are signs of the laws:

T

reading,

B

harvesting, and

B

harvesting]—

And some of the three laws of the last Mishna are the exact reverse of those of the first Mishna.

Explanation: In the last Mishna, the tannaitic authority maintains: the wine becomes libation wine in the winepress, before its descent into the pit, in accordance with the words of Rav Huna.

And he further maintains: it is permitted to cause impurity to non-sacred produce of the Land of Israel.

When do these words apply? To the produce of gentiles, from which he is not destined to separate teruma. But concerning the produce of an Israelite that is tevel for teruma—that is, it is “tevel,” forbidden for eating until its terumot have been separated—for this produce it is forbidden to cause impurity.

And this is learned from what is said [Numbers 18]: “And I, behold, have given you the charge of My terumot,” and we expound: the teruma requires guarding from impurity. And from the fact that it is stated in the plural, “My terumot,” we expound: this includes guarding also for produce that is still tevel and from which he is destined to separate teruma; therefore it is forbidden to render it impure.

Accordingly:

1.

One may not tread with gentiles in the winepress.

Because the Israelite profits from objects forbidden for benefit, since the wine becomes libation wine while it is in the winepress, before its descent into the pit.

And the Gemara explains:

Because of the

words of

Rav Huna,

who maintains this view.