Commentary for Avodah Zarah 123:3
אלא הואיל ותופס את דמיו כעבודת כוכבים והרי שביעית דתופס' את דמיה ותנן האומר לפועל הילך דינר זה לקוט לי בו ירק היום שכרו אסור לקוט לי ירק היום שכרו מותר
Rather, [should I say that the reason is] because the proceeds [gained through yayin nesekh] are like idolatrous objects, behold Sabbatical year produce which affects the money [obtained from its sale] and yet we have learned: If one said to a laborer [in the Sabbatical year], “Here is a dinar and for it gather vegetables for me today,” his wage is prohibited; [but if he said,] “Gather vegetables for me today,” his wage is permitted!
Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
The second possibility for why the wages are prohibited is that the prohibited nature of yayin nesekh is transferred to the proceeds from its sale. So when the worker is paid for working with yayin nesekh, it would be as if he is selling yayin nesekh. The problem is that this is not true with regard to Sabbatical year produce. If such produce is sold, the proceeds have the same status as the produce itself. Nevertheless, if one tells a worker to go work in a field during the Sabbatical year, his wages are permitted as long as he does not specifically state “here is a dinar…” Thus the fact that the proceeds of the sale of a forbidden object become forbidden does not mean that wages earned working with that object are also prohibited.
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