Avodah Zarah 58b — the Talmud in English

The one who forbids reasons:

he says:

He says

the gentile says in his heart:

It enters your mind—

and does it enter your mind

that rabbis such as these

people as distinguished as they are

are drinking date beer

drinking date beer?

Rather,

the gentile thinks:

Surely, this is wine

it is wine,

and its libation

for idolatry. And although he did not touch the wine, but rather poured from a jug, as will be explained below, nevertheless there is concern lest he touched the wine and poured it as a libation, and we did not take notice and did not see, since we had held him to be an Israelite.

The one who permits,

the one who permits

properly permits.

And his reason is:

He says,

the gentile said in his heart:

It enters your mind—

and does it enter your mind

that rabbis such as these

righteous people such as they are

are drinking wine

as one drinks wine,

and they say to me, personally,

and they say to me

“Come, give us to drink”

Come and give us to drink?! Do even the gentiles not know that the Children of Israel are careful with wine touched by a gentile?

But,

the gentile thinks:

Surely they are drinking beer

they are drinking beer,

and he did not pour it as a libation

and he did not pour it as a libation.

And we raise an objection:

But he sees it

he sees it, and it is discernible whether it is wine or beer? And we answer:

At night

the incident occurred at night, in darkness, and he did not see.

And we raise an objection:

But he smells it

he smells it, and by the smell he can determine whether it is wine or beer?

And we answer:

With new wine

it was new wine, and it has no smell.

And we raise an objection:

But he touched it with the nattela,

he shakes the wine of the barrel when drawing it with the vessel with which it is drawn , even if we say that he did not know that it was wine, thinking that it was beer.

And it would thereby be

and all the wine in the barrel would thereby have the status of

the touch of a gentile without intention

to pour it as a libation—

and it is forbidden?

And we conclude: He did not draw it by means of a nattela, but rather,

it is necessary

the incident was

that he was pouring out by tilting

he tilted the barrel and poured from it,

and

this tilting

was his force [

his “force” caused the wine to move, and not “his actions by hand”]

without intention

to pour it as a libation.

And

we hold,

any force of his without intention—

the Sages did not decree concerning it

and it is permitted even for drinking.

Therefore, the one who permitted properly permitted. And the one who forbade reasoned that, since at the outset they did not take notice that he was a gentile and were not wary of him, there is concern that nevertheless he touched the wine with his hands and poured it as a libation .

The wine in their time was strong, and therefore it was their practice to mix it with water while it was in the cup, to prepare it for drinking. And the Gemara is uncertain: when a gentile mixed the wine, is there reason to forbid it for drinking? The sides of the uncertainty will be explained in the Gemara.

Rav Asi asked Rabbi Yohanan: Wine that a gentile mixed—

what is [the law]?

Is it permitted to drink it, even though the gentile mixed it and moved the wine with his “force”?

He said to him

Rabbi Yohanan said to Rav Asi: Why do you use the expression “mixed it”?

And say

you could have said

“diluted it”?

He said to him,

Rav Asi [said]

“I speak according to what is written,”

I use the language of Scripture, as it is stated [Proverbs 9],

“She has slaughtered her slaughter, she has mixed her wine,”

and this is an expression of mixing.

He said to him,

Rabbi Yohanan [said]

“The language of Torah is one thing; the language of the Sages is another!”

And Rav Asi asked him:

What

what is the g fala?

He said to him: It is forbidden,

even though he did not touch it, since he moved it with his “force,” the Sages decreed. And not by the essential law, but as a safeguard against transgression,

because of

“Go, go”

go and distance yourself from wine

they say to the nazirite,

they say to a nazirite who is forbidden to drink wine,

“Around, around”

go around the vineyard,

“Do not approach the vineyard.”

Rabbi Yirmeya happened to come

he arrived

at

a place called

Sabta.

He saw

he saw

wine that gentiles had mixed,

wine that a gentile had mixed,

and Israelites drank from it,

and Israelites were drinking it.

And he forbade it to them,

Rabbi Yirmeya forbade them to drink it,

because of “Go, go,” they say to the nazirite, “Around, around—

do not approach the vineyard.”

It was also stated

and we likewise learned:

Rabbi Yohanan said, and some say

and there is one who transmitted this report:

Rav Asi said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Wine that a gentile mixed is forbidden, because of “Go, go,” they say to the nazirite, “Around, around—

do not approach the vineyard.”

The Gemara relates a similar incident concerning tithes and idolatry.

Resh Lakish happened to come

he arrived

at Botzra.

He saw

he also saw

Israelites eating produce that had not been tithed,

eating tevel produce without separating tithes from it.

And he forbade it to them,

and he forbade them to eat without tithing, because he reasoned that the city of Botzra is the city of Betzer mentioned in the Torah [Deuteronomy 4]. Since it is in the Land of Israel, its produce is obligated in tithes.

He saw

and he further saw

water,

water

to which gentiles bow down,

to which the gentiles bow down,

and Israelites drank,

and Israelites were drinking this water.

And he forbade it to them,

to drink this water.

He came

Resh Lakish came

before

before

Rabbi Yohanan,

and told him that he had forbidden these two things to them.

He said to him,

Rabbi Yohanan said to Resh Lakish:

While your cloak is still upon you,

while your garments are still upon you,

go back,

return to them and permit it to them! And do not delay even in order to rest from the exertion of the journey, because

the city of Betzer

mentioned in the Torah

was not Botzra.

And Botzra is outside the Land, and its produce is not obligated in tithes.

And water

that is

of the public is not forbidden.

And the Gemara explains the law of water belonging to the public.

Rabbi Yohanan,

he issued this ruling

according to his position,

according to his reasoning—