Who’s The Boss?
‘One Hired A Laborer To Assist Him In Yayin Nesech’
(Avodah Zarah 62a)
The Mishna (supra 29b) already taught us that yayin nesech – wine of a heathen used for idolatrous purposes – is forbidden to a Jew. This prohibition includes deriving any benefit thereof, even from money generated from its sale.
Our Mishna teaches that one is forbidden to derive benefit from any wages earned through dealing in yayin nesech, even as an employee. Rashi (s.v. “ha’socher”) explains that the heathen hired the Jew to work for him, either to pour from the cask to another vessel or to transport it, and the case is one where the wine was actually used for idolatrous purposes. As such it is absolutely prohibited, and he is forbidden to derive any benefit from any wages he receives.
A Gentile Or A Jew
Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (Avodas Avodah, to our daf) examines the significance of Rashi’s statement that a heathen hired the Jew. He questions whether the same halacha should not apply even if the Jew is hired by another Jew (one who deals illicitly in yayin nesech) for the same work.
Worthless
He answers, citing a Rosh (Kiddushin 82, siman 31), that the halacha is that if one sells items that one is forbidden any benefit from, such as orlah fruit, the sale is deemed a mekach ta’os – a mistaken sale – and the money refunded, since the item is worthless. The Rosh asserts, however, that if the buyer is aware of the nature of the product, then the money need not be refunded. Although it is technically impossible to effect a sale on a worthless item, he argues that the money need not be refunded because we assume the buyer intended the money as a gift.
A Gift
Similarly, Rabbi Kluger suggests that a similar line of reasoning can be applied to a Jewish employer who hires a worker to process yayin nesech (or for that matter any other item from which benefit is prohibited). Since the wine has no value, the wages are a gift. Thus he suggests that perhaps if the employer is a Jew, the wages paid are permitted, as they are not really wages but a gift.
