Avodah Zarah 59b — the Talmud in English

And with small vessels,

small basins,

even though the wine splashes upon them—

it is permitted.

And this is difficult for Rav Kahana, who forbids it.

He said to him,

Rav Kahana said to Rav Yemar:

Are you saying, “He brought it”?!

The beraita from which you raised the objection is speaking after the fact, if he brought it—

I too did not forbid it after the fact;

I,

am speaking of the outset,

I said that one should be stringent from the outset, because of distancing oneself from the prohibition of libation wine.

There was that etrog,

there was an incident involving an etrog

that fell into a barrel of wine,

which fell into a barrel of wine.

He hurried,

he hurried,

a gentile, and seized it,

and caught it so that it would not sink to the bottom of the barrel.

And Rav Ashi was there at the time of the incident.

Rav Ashi said to them,

to the people who were there:

Hold his hand,

catch his hand,

so that he will not agitate it,

in such a manner that he will not agitate the wine when he removes the etrog, for then the wine would become forbidden for benefit.

And do not let him remove his hand from the barrel, for the gentile will agitate it when he removes it, even though we are holding his hand.

Rather, he commanded them to pour the wine from the barrel into a vessel, up to the place where his hand was.

And tilt it,

tilt the barrel on its side while you are holding his hand,

until it is emptied,

so that the wine pours into another vessel. And only when they do this will the wine not become forbidden for benefit.

And now the Gemara discusses a gentile who forbade a Jew’s wine for benefit, whether it is permitted to take from the gentile the monetary value of the damage that he caused to the wine.

Rav Ashi said: This gentile who performed libation with a Jew’s wine,

who performed libation with a Jew’s wine

intentionally,

and forbade it with a prohibition of benefit—

even though selling it to another gentile,

to sell it to another gentile,

is forbidden,

nevertheless,

it is permitted for him,

it is permitted for the Jew

to take its value,

to take the value of the wine

from that gentile,

from this gentile who forbade it.

What is the reason?

Since this is not in the category of a sale, and he is not benefiting from the money of libation wine, but rather,

he burned it,

the gentile burned it; that is, he says to the gentile: You spilled my wine and destroyed it for me, and I am taking its value from you before you spoiled it, when it was not yet forbidden for benefit.

Rav Ashi said: From where do I say this?

From where is the proof for the law that I stated?

For it was taught

we learned in a beraita:

A gentile who performs libation with a Jew’s wine,

even

not in the presence of an idol,

and all the more so if he performed libation before an idol, the wine

is forbidden.

These are the words of the Sages.

But Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava and Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira—

permit it

for benefit.

For two reasons.

One,

because

one performs libation with wine only in the presence of an idol.

And one,

because

he says to him,

the Jew says to the gentile:

You do not have the power,

you have no right,

to forbid my wine against my will,

against my will.

And although the halakha was not decided in accordance with them, and we rule in accordance with the Sages that the wine is forbidden for benefit and that it is forbidden to sell it to another gentile, nevertheless, we will accept their words at least to the extent that it is permitted to collect from that gentile, because the Jew says to the gentile, “You do not have the power to forbid my wine against my will,” and “Pay me the payment for the damage.”

Another incident concerning a gentile who touched wine in a barrel.

There was that barrel of wine,

it was a barrel of wine,

from which the tap had been removed,

from which the tap through which the wine exits had fallen, and consequently a hole was made in the barrel and the wine began to spill to waste.

A gentile came,

a gentile arrived,

he hurried and placed his hand over it,

he hurried and blocked the hole with his hands, preventing the wine from spilling.

And the question came before Rav Pappa: What is the status of the wine remaining in the barrel? And the Gemara brings two formulations of Rav Pappa’s ruling.

Rav Pappa said: All the wine adjacent to the tap,

the flow adjacent to the hole,

is forbidden

for drinking,

but it is not forbidden for benefit, since he did not agitate it, for he did not insert his hand into the narrow hole.