On today’s daf, the Talmud continues its exploration of what happens when wine used for libations is mixed with kosher wine. A mishnah teaches the following:
Wine used for a libation that fell into a cistern, it is prohibited to benefit from all of it.
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: All of it may be sold to a gentile, except for the value of the wine used for a libation in it.
According to the first opinion, once contaminated by wine used for idolatry, it’s prohibited to benefit from all of the wine in the cistern, regardless of how little forbidden wine or how much regular wine is in the mixture. Given the severity of the prohibition concerning idolatry, it is not surprising that the rabbis take such a strict position. Once even the tiniest among of forbidden wine gets mixed in, it is impossible to separate it out and there is no way to remove its taint from the mixture as a whole.
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel takes a more lenient view. He agrees that the mixture of wine is forbidden to consume, but he allows it to be sold to a gentile and the money kept, less the value of the forbidden wine. This is a logical position. While it is impossible to separate out the two types of wine in the mixture, it is possible to separate their financial value. By allowing the wine to be sold to a gentile, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel avoids the significant financial loss that would result from the entire mixture being deemed forbidden.
Much of the time, in a dispute between an anonymous first opinion in the mishnah and a named rabbi, the law follows the former, under the assumption that the former is a majority opinion. The Gemara reports that this case is an exception:
Rav says: The law is in accordance with Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel where a barrel (became intermingled) with barrels, but not wine with permitted wine.
And Shmuel says: Even wine with wine.
According to Rav, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s position is the law only in a case where the wines are physically separate and only the barrels of forbidden and permitted wine are mixed up. In that case, we can separate the funds after the sale even if we cannot identify which of the barrels is the forbidden one. But if the wines get mixed, so too are the proceeds of the sale — both of which remain forbidden in their entirety. Shmuel disagrees, saying that even if the wines are mixed together, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s view is the law.
Now the question emerges: Do we follow Rav or Shmuel? Generally speaking, we follow Rav in ritual matters and Shmuel in financial ones, but this case seems to be a bit of a mix — the prohibition against idolatry is a ritual one, while the loss of a cistern of wine is a financial one.
While this might be a place for talmudding hemming and hawing, the Gemara is clear, bringing three identical declarations:
Rabba bar bar Hana says that Rabbi Yohanan says: Even wine with wine.
And likewise, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani says that Rabbi Hanina says: Even wine with wine.
And likewise, Rav Nahman says that Rabba bar Avuh says: Even with wine.
It’s true that the prohibition against idolatry is a serious one. And it is reasonable to suggest that once a drop of idolatrous wine falls into a cistern we should prohibit the whole thing. On today’s daf, however, the Gemara reminds us that adopting the most stringent position is not the only way to go. When a more lenient option presents itself, especially one that maintains the prohibition against benefitting from idol worship and prevents a financial loss to the owner of the wine, it makes sense to take it.
Read all of Avodah Zarah 74 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on August 31, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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