Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Commentary for Avodah Zarah 76:18

וכבשין שדרכן לתת בתוכן יין: אמר חזקיה לא שנו אלא שדרכן אבל בידוע אסור אפילו בהנאה ומ"ש ממורייס דשרו רבנן בהנאה התם לעבורי זוהמא הכא למתוקי טעמא

And pickled foods into which they are accustomed to put wine. Hezekiah said: This teaching only applies when they are merely accustomed [to put wine or vinegar into them]; but when it is certain [that they put wine or vinegar in], it is prohibited to derive any benefit from the foods. Why is this different from murias which the rabbis permit deriving benefit from? There the purpose [of the wine] is to overcome the bad smell [of the fish] and here the purpose is to sweeten the taste.

Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah

This section deals with the next line in the mishnah, which forbade eating but allowed deriving benefit from pickled foods into which non-Jewish wine might have been placed. Hezekiah limits the leniency to a case where wine might have been put in. But if wine was certainly put in, then it is prohibited to derive benefit from the food.
Murias is fish brine into which wine was placed. As we learned earlier, it is prohibited to eat murias but not to derive benefit from it, even though we know that there is wine in it. Hezekiah explains that murias is different because wine was put into it only to get rid of the bad smell. Therefore the prohibition is lesser because this wine is not really “food.” But when it comes to the pickled food, the wine was put in to sweeten the taste, therefore if we know there is wine in it, one may not even derive benefit from it.
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