Study Avodah Zarah folio 33B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
לכתחלה או דיעבד? תא שמע, דתני רב זביד בר אושעיא: הלוקח קנקנים מן הגוים — חדשים נותן לתוכן יין, ישנים — נותן לתוכן ציר ומורייס לכתחלה.
Is it permitted to put brine or fish stew in the wineskins ab initio, or is the substance permitted only after the fact? The Talmud suggests: Come and hear a resolution to the dilemma, as Rav Zevid bar Oshaya teaches: With regard to one who purchases jugs from non-Jews, if they are new, he may place wine in them, and if they are old, he may place brine and fish stew in them ab initio.
בעא מיניה רבי יהודה נשיאה מרבי אמי: החזירן לכבשן האש ונתלבנו, מהו? אמר ליה: ציר שורף, אור לא כל שכן?! אתמר נמי: אמר רבי יוחנן, ואמרי לה אמר רבי אסי אמר רבי יוחנן: קנקנים של גוים שהחזירן לכבשן האש, כיון שנשרה זיפתן מהן — מותרין.
§ The Talmud discusses the effect of fire on prohibited vessels. R' Yehuda Nesia raised a dilemma before R' Ami: If one returned prohibited containers to the furnace and they whitened due to its heat, what is the halakha? Is the fire assumed to expunge the absorbed wine or not? R' Ami said to him: If brine burns away the wine, all the more so is it not clear that fire does as well? It was also stated that R' Yoḥanan says, and some say R' Asi says that R' Yoḥanan says: With regard to jugs belonging to non-Jews that one returned to the furnace, once their tar has disintegrated they are permitted.
אמר רב אשי: לא תימא עד דנתרן, אלא אפילו רפאי מירפא, אף על גב דלא נתר. קינסא — פליגי בה רב אחא ורבינא, חד אסר וחד שרי, והלכתא כמאן דאסר.
Rav Ashi said: Do not say that the jugs must stay in the furnace until the tar falls apart entirely; rather, even if it only softens, the jug is permitted, despite the fact that the tar did not fall off. The Talmud adds: With regard to a situation in which the tar was removed by dropping ignited splinters of wood [kinsa] into the jug, Rav Aḥa and Ravina disagree: One deemed the jug prohibited, and one deemed it permitted. The Talmud adds: And the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of the one who deemed it prohibited.