Commentary for Avodah Zarah 129:12
ורמינהי השוכר את החמור שוכר מניח עליה כסותו ולגינתו ומזונותיו של אותו הדרך מכאן ואילך חמר מעכב עליו חמר מניח עליה שעורים ותבן ומזונותיו של אותו היום מכאן ואילך שוכר מעכב עליו
Against this I can bring the following: If a man hires a donkey, the hirer may rest upon it his clothes, jar and the food which is required for that journey, but as regards anything beyond this the donkey-driver may object; a donkey-driver may rest upon it barley, straw and food required by him for that day, but as regards anything beyond this the hirer may object!
Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Rav Judah proclaims personal confidence that a particular non-Jew does not worship idols and therefore the prohibition of giving him a gift on his feast day does not apply. But R. Joseph demurs—in order to get out of the status of idol worshipper one must make a formal declaration in front of three haverim, a synonym (at least here) for those who observe the laws scrupulously.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Rav Judah limits the applicability of the ger toshav needing to make a declaration in front of three haverim. Such a declaration is necessary only in order to receive financial support from the Jewish community. But one may give any non-Jew a gift as long as one is sure that he will not go and thank his idols for the gift.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
The Talmud responds with another difficulty. According to this baraita, becoming a ger toshav is the first step on the way to full conversion. The ger toshav has twelve months in which to convert. If he does not convert within this time period, he is considered to be a heretic and one certainly should not give him a gift. We can assume that Avidarna was not circumcised.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Judah responds that this statement refers only to a case where the non-Jew promised to be circumcised but changed his mind. In other words, once a non-Jew accepts not to worship idols and to be circumcised, changing his mind is basically impossible. Accepting these things has essentially made him a Jew and there is no going back. But one can become a ger toshav and never want to fully convert. Avidarna never accepted upon himself to circumcise and therefore he need not do so.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
In the interesting continuation of this tale, Rava finds Bar-Sheshak living the good life, at least according to Bar-Sheshak’s evaluation. But Rava points out that as long as people are afraid of the government they are essentially still living in fear. And indeed the king’s official does come and ask for Bar-Sheshak’s presence.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Poor Bar-Sheshak.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Papi cites a verse that shows that in the world to come royalty will serve the Jews. R. Nahman b. Yitzchak says that the people of Israel’s reward will be so great in the world to come that it cannot even be described.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
The Talmud cites a baraita which is similar to our mishnah but adds one caveat. In this case, the gentile hires him to work in some other form of work. And then late in the day he tacks on the task of moving a jug of yayin nesekh. In such a case his wage is permitted because he was not hired to carry yayin nesekh. But it would seem that if he had told him at the outset that part of his work was carrying yayin nesekh the wages would be prohibited. Thus the baraita seems to contradict the mishnah.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Abaye solves the problem by just reading the baraita into the mishnah.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Rava says that the agreement was different in the two cases. In the mishnah he removes a lump sum of jugs for a lump sum of money. Even if one of them is yayin nesekh, he was not specifically hired to carry that jug. But in the baraita, he was told to remove each jug for a perutah. Therefore, the wages he received for moving the jug of yayin nesekh are prohibited.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
This baraita supports (and is probably the source) of the distinction that Rava made between hiring him to transport a lump sum of jugs and hiring him to transport individual jugs.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
The mishnah really did not need to teach that the wages earned from carrying yayin nesekh are prohibited. We already learned that in the first clause of the Mishnah. The Mishnah only taught this clause as an introduction to the second half, that a Jew may transport a non-Jew on the back of the donkey even though the non-Jew will be resting his yayin nesekh on it.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
The Talmud turns to another aspect of this arrangement. If one hires a donkey driver to transport him somewhere, what may he bring without specifying and what can the donkey driver bring. The hirer may bring his clothes, a jar with drink and food sufficient for the whole journey. The donkey-driver can bring food for his donkey and his own food but only enough for the day. From here we can see that when one hires a donkey, it can be assumed that he is bringing his wine. Carrying the wine is part of the deal. Therefore, it would seem that the Jew is being paid for transporting wine. But the mishnah assumes that the Jew is not being paid for this. He is only being paid for carrying the non-Jew and therefore it is permitted.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Abaye explains that the hirer is not really paying to carry the jar. He has a right to carry the jar, but if he doesn’t bring a jar of wine he will not get a discount. This is the way transportation often works still today. A person has a right to take a suitcase on a plane (sometimes) but she will not receive a discount if she does not bring one.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
If there is food available on the journey, then the donkey-driver should be able to tell the hirer that he should just buy on the way instead of loading up on his donkey.
And if there is no food on the way, then is the donkey-driver allowed to bring food just for one day. Can the hirer just make the donkey-driver go hungry?
And if there is no food on the way, then is the donkey-driver allowed to bring food just for one day. Can the hirer just make the donkey-driver go hungry?
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Papa describes a situation where purchases can be made, but with some trouble. The donkey driver is accustomed to troubling himself to make these purchases. But the customer is not used to troubling himself so much and therefore he can bring enough food for the whole journey. Indeed, this seems to be the “pshat” of the baraita. The donkey driver can buy provisions at the end of each day.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Aha’s father used to sell kosher wine to non-Jews in jugs. He would pour the wine into wine-skins that belonged to the non-Jews. He would then carry the wine-skins across the ford. His payment was keeping the jugs that held the wine before he sold it to the non-Jews. The question is does this count as transporting yayin nesekh?
Abaye allowed this because when he was carrying the wine it had not yet become yayin nesekh.
Abaye allowed this because when he was carrying the wine it had not yet become yayin nesekh.
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