פירוש על עבודה זרה 123:8

A Jew is not allowed to assist a non-Jew in the preparation or even the transportation of yayin nesekh, wine which may eventually be used in libations. If he does so, and collects a wage for this specific type of work, the wage is prohibited, meaning that he cannot use the money. Since this person performed a forbidden act for profit, the Rabbis penalize him and forbid him to use his wages. However, if he was hired to do another type of work, for instance bring jugs of olive oil, and while working the non-Jew said to him to also bring a cask of yayin nesekh, his wages are permitted. Since the Jew was not hired to work with specifically with the forbidden wine and the wages he receives are for his other work, the wages are permitted. [If the Jew was told from the outset that part of his work involved yayin nesekh, the wages would be forbidden.]

This section teaches a similar ruling with regard to a donkey driver. If the non-Jew hires a Jew’s donkey to bring yayin nesekh, the wages which the Jew receives are forbidden. However, if the non-Jew hires the donkey to ride on it the wages are permitted, even if the non-Jew brings his yayin nesekh on the donkey. Although in both cases the Jew’s donkey is helping carry the forbidden wine, since in the second case he is not receiving wages specifically for carrying the wine, the wages are permitted.

It is forbidden to derive any benefit from yayin nesekh. We might have thought that since this is so, wages derived from it are also prohibited. But this is not true with regard to other substances from which one cannot derive benefit, such as orlah (produce during its first three years) and seeds planted in a vineyard. While it is prohibited to derive benefit from such produce, if one did use it to betroth a woman, she is betrothed. This implies that there is value to these things even though they are prohibited.

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.

R. Yohanan says that there is no purely technical rationale behind the mishnah’s law. Rather it is simply a penalty the rabbis meted out for those who work in the production of yayin nesekh. R. Yohanan also mentions a penalty for donkey drivers. Tomorrow’s section will clarify what this refers to.

The penalty placed on the donkey-drivers is for doing work with Sabbatical year produce.
The Talmud will now we explain what the baraita means.

What does it mean when the baraita states that their wages are treated like Sabbatical year produce? It cannot mean that the employer pays them with Sabbatical year produce because one is not allowed to pay debts with such produce.

The second possibility is that his wages have the holiness of Sabbatical year produce, meaning that certain restrictions apply to them. But this too does not accord with tannaitic law. One can pay a worker to gather vegetables during the Sabbatical year as long as he does not specify that he is doing so for “this dinar.”

Abaye says that the baraita does indeed mean that the workers are paid in sabbatical year produce. As to the objection that sabbatical year produce cannot be used to pay debts, Abaye says that they find a permitted way to give it to him. He draws an analogy with second tithe, which also may not be used to pay a debt. One cannot say to his fellow that if he helps bring the second tithe to Jerusalem, where it must be consumed, he will share it with him. But he can say that when they bring it to Jerusalem, they will eat and drink together. So too with regard to Sabbatical year produce, he can give it as a gift to his worker.