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DAAT · LEVEL 4 — HALAKHA LE-MA'ASSE / PSAK

שולחן ערוך · יורה דעה

Siman 123 — Stam yeinam and yayin nesekh: which wine is forbidden, and why — Practical psika
סימן קכ״ג · הלכה למעשה
כמה דינין מיין נסך — סתם יינם ואיזה יין נאסר
פסק המחבר והרמ״א · הכרעת נושאי הכלים · הסקת ההלכה למקרים בני זמננו
⚖️ פסק הלכה ולמעשה ⚖️
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Halakha le-ma'asse — practical psika

From the ruling of the Mehaber and the Rama, through the arbitration of Taz, Shach, Rambam
and Pitchei Teshuva, down to the bottle standing on our table

Subject:
שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן קכ״ג (כ״ו סעיפים)
עם נושאי הכלים: ט״ז, ש״ך, פתחי תשובה

⚠ Level notice:
This level is not “Daat HaRav”: the Shulchan Arukh HaRav
(Admur HaZaken) does not cover Yoreh De'ah, hence not Siman 123.
It is a level of practical psika: what one does, and whom one asks.

Writing and iyun:
הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT

How to read this level. Every statement here is anchored either in the wording of the Shulchan Arukh and its nossei kelim (Taz, Shach, Pitchei Teshuva), or in a named and checkable posek (Rambam, Tur, Gemara). On Yoreh De'ah there is no Mishna Berurah (which comments only on Orach Chaim), and no Shulchan Arukh HaRav / Daat HaRav (the Admur HaZaken did not write Yoreh De'ah). The Arukh HaShulchan on Yoreh De'ah is not digitised from siman 123 onward, so nothing whatever is attributed to it here. Every concrete application (le-ma'asse) closes with a referral to your Rav: real wine cases turn on details of fact — which wine, which certification, cooked or not, who touched it and how, opened or sealed, to drink or to sell — that only a posek who sees your situation can settle.

📑 תוכן העניינים

  1. שורש הסימן — יין נסך מן התורה וסתם יינם מדרבנן (סעיף א׳)
  2. פסק המחבר והרמ״א — מפת הסימן בכ״ו סעיפים
  3. איסור הנאה בזמן הזה — קולת הרמ״א וגבולה (סעיף א׳)
  4. יין מבושל — הגדרתו, וטעם ההיתר (סעיף ג׳)
  5. תערובות ותוספות — דבש ופלפלין, תבשיל, יין שרוף (סעיפים ד׳, ה׳, כ״ד, כ״ה)
  6. חומץ ומי הבוסר — ומה שאין אנו בקיאין בו (סעיפים ו׳–ח׳)
  7. תמד, שמרים וצמוקים — מיץ ענבים ויין צמוקים (סעיפים ט׳–ט״ז)
  8. המשכה ומגע — מאימתי נקרא יין, ומי אוסרו (סעיפים י״ז–כ״ג)
  9. פסיקת הספרדים בזמננו — הכרעה על פי המחבר
  10. פסיקת האשכנזים — הרמ״א, הט״ז והש״ך
  11. מקרים מודרניים — פסטור, מסעדה, מיץ ענבים, חומץ ותמציות
  12. סיכום מעשי וטבלאות — ולמעשה, שאל את רבך

📜 The text of the Shulchan Arukh — Seif Alef

כמה דינין מיין נסך (ואיזו יין נאסור משום יין נסך). ובו כ״ו סעיפים:
סתם יינם של עממים עובדי כוכבים אסור בהנאה וה״ה למגעם ביין שלנו:

הגה משום גזרת יין שנתנסך לאלילים ובזמן הזה שאינו שכיח שהאומות מנסכים לעבודת כוכבים י״א דמגע עובד כוכבים ביין שלנו אינו אסור בהנאה רק בשתייה וכן סתם יין שלהם אינו אסור ליהנות ממנו ולכן מותר לגבות בחובו מן עובד כוכבים סתם יינם מפני דהוי כמציל מידם וה״ה בשאר הפסד כגון אם עבר וקנה או מכר אבל לכתחלה אסור לקנותו ולמכרו כדי להשתכר בו ויש מקילין גם בזה וטוב להחמיר וע״ל סימן קל״ב:

The basic ruling. Stam yeinam — the ordinary wine of idolaters, of which we do not know whether it served a libation — is forbidden even in benefit (בהנאה), and so too is a non-Jew's touch in our own wine.

The Rama's gloss. The reason is the decree over wine poured out to idols. In our own time, when it is not usual for the nations to pour libations, some say that a non-Jew's touch in our wine is no longer forbidden in benefit but only in drinking, and likewise their ordinary wine: one may therefore collect a debt with it, since that amounts to rescuing one's own from their hand, and so too in other cases of loss, as when one transgressed and bought or sold. But lekhatchila it is forbidden to buy and sell it for profit; some are lenient even in that, and it is good to be stringent. See further siman 132.

— Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 123:1 · Sefaria YD 123:1

1. שורש הסימן — two prohibitions never to be conflated

The foundation. There are two prohibitions here, not one. The first is yayin nesekh proper — wine actually poured out before an idol: forbidden by the Torah, forbidden even in benefit, and with no minimum measure. Rambam opens with it summary: whoever drinks any amount of it receives the lashes of the Torah (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה א).
The second prohibition. Stam yeinam is the wine of a non-Jew about which we do not know whether it served a libation. Its sharpest formulation is Rambam's: « יין העכו״ם שאין אנו יודעין אם נתנסך או לא נתנסך והוא הנקרא סתם יינם אסור בהנאה כמו יין שנתנסך » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה ג). It is a decree of the Sages rather than Torah law, and whoever drinks a revi'it of it receives makat mardut.
Two motives, two ranges. The Shach opens the siman by separating these two storeys precisely: « כלומר אסור מדרבנן משום יין שנתנסך לעבודת כוכבים שאסור מדאורייתא » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק א), adding that there is also the motive of intermarriage. The Gemara itself lists both among the eighteen decrees: « על פיתן ושמנן משום יינן, ועל יינן משום בנותיהן » (עבודה זרה ל״ו ע״ב). Holding both motives together is the key to the whole siman: the libation motive explains why certain wines fall outside the prohibition — what is unfit for libation was never decreed upon — while the intermarriage motive explains why drinking stays forbidden even where benefit has been eased.

The Tur's wording, out of which the whole debate grows

The Tur sets the two reasons side by side: « וחכמים גזרו על סתם יינן משום בנותיהן ואסרוהו אף בהנאה » (טור יורה דעה קכ״ג), and then draws from the libation motive the decisive consequence of the siman: « וכיון שמשום צד ניסוך אסרוהו לא אסרוהו אלא ביין הראוי לנסך » (טור יורה דעה קכ״ג). Out of that sentence come the leniency of cooked wine (seif 3), of honeyed wine (seif 4) and of a cooked dish (seif 5). The Taz notes the tension between the two motives and asks which of them the Tur holds to be primary (ט״ז יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק א).

2. פסק המחבר והרמ״א — the map of the 26 seifim

Siman 123 has 26 seifim — and the heading of the Shulchan Arukh announces as much itself: ובו כ״ו סעיפים, matching exactly the number of segments served by Sefaria. The Mehaber follows a clear plan: first which wine is at stake (1-16), then from when it is, and who renders it forbidden (17-23), then three derived cases (24-26). Here is the whole map, as it emerges from the wording itself.

SeifTopicRuling (anchored in the wording)
1the principleStam yeinam forbidden even in benefit, and so a non-Jew's touch in our wine. Rama: nowadays יש אומרים that benefit is permitted — hence a debt collected and other cases of loss — but trading for profit stays forbidden lekhatchila, וטוב להחמיר.
2a bath of wineForbidden to make a bath of stam yeinam for a sick person whose life is not at risk.
3יין מבושלOur cooked wine that a non-Jew touched: permitted. And from when is it called cooked — once it has boiled over fire.
4honey and pepperWine into which honey and pepper are mixed: if its taste has changed through them, a touch does not forbid it. Rama: so too with honey alone or pepper alone.
5a dish cooked with wineA dish containing wine, touched even before it boiled: no yayin nesekh. Rama: only where the wine cannot be seen in it; if it floats on the surface (fat, mustard), there is. On mixture with cooked wine, three positions. And congealed wine (שנקרש) is untouched by a non-Jew's hand.
6vinegarVinegar that bubbles when thrown on the ground is not forbidden by a non-Jew's touch.
7a barrel gone sourIf it soured until it bubbles, a touch that occurred within the preceding three days is no cause for concern.
8מי הבוסר · diluted wineUnripe grape juice is caught by a touch. Rama: diluted wine stays forbidden while it keeps a taste of wine; some permit at six parts water, as at siman 134.
9תמד from pressingsWater poured over our pressings trodden by foot: first and second time forbidden; pressed with wheel and beam, three measures poured and four found. And יש מי שאומר that no drinkable temed escapes a touch, since it is confused with real wine.
10removing the pressingsOne should be careful not to have pressings and skins taken out of the vats by non-Jews, even after the first and second wine.
11lees · raisinsOur lees: forbidden by a touch the first time, permitted the second. Theirs: forbidden always. Rama: raisin wine — water poured over dried grapes — is like wine and subject to libation.
12a rinsed barrelA barrel emptied of its lees and rinsed with water: no touch is any longer a concern, the wine being nullified in the water.
13soaked shardsShards that absorbed so much of their wine that soaking releases it: forbidden even in benefit.
14pressings and lees, twelve monthsTheir pressings, skins and lees: forbidden in benefit for twelve months; afterwards permitted even as food — and only if they were first steeped in water. Rama: this speaks only of pressings that lay on yayin nesekh.
15leaven from leesWhoever leavens dough with their lees during their time of prohibition: the whole dough is forbidden in benefit.
16congealed residueיש מי שאומר: the wine residue congealed on the walls of barrels — the custom is to permit it, since once so dried out no moisture of wine remains and it is as mere dust.
17המשכהFrom when is it “wine” that a touch can forbid: once it begins to flow, the vat being sloped. Then all that is in the vat is forbidden, even if he touched only the pressings, provided they are wet enough to moisten.
18המשכה, continuedA cup drawn with intent to separate it from the pressings counts as המשכה; so does a basket set into the vat, the clear wine entering it alone. But taking the pressings together with the wine does not.
19a tub at a non-Jew'sA tub full of trodden grapes standing in his house: it should be forbidden, lest he drew wine from it.
20a closed vat and a basketA closed and full vat, where המשכה does not apply: only what is in the basket has the status of wine; a touch on the basket forbids it; poured back, it forbids the vat by mixture, unless there is sixty in the pressings.
21treading with himOne does not tread with a non-Jew in a vat, lest he touch with his hands and make libation — even bound. Rama: in a trough from which wine is not usually drawn, one may tread with him and buy trodden grapes from him.
22his force aloneA non-Jew who trod without touching, a Jew standing over him and himself gathering the wine into the barrel: the wine is forbidden in drinking.
23a distinguishing markA barrel of yayin nesekh set among permitted barrels: it must be given a mark (היכר).
24distilled spiritA non-Jew's aqua ardens is forbidden in benefit like the wine itself. Rama: this is spirit distilled from yayin nesekh; although it is only its vapour, it is as the prohibition itself.
25coriander comfitsThey may be bought, although coriander is put into vinegar — a taste that spoils; see the end of siman 134.
26the Ishmaelites' honeyForbidden — the Shach explains that it is a syrup of wine boiled down until thick. Rama: whoever drank yayin nesekh inadvertently, יש אומרים he should fast five days.
כלל הפסק של הסימן :
שני איסורים נפרדים: יין נסך ממש מן התורה, וסתם יינם מדרבנן. וכיון שעיקר הגזירה משום צד ניסוך, לא אסרו אלא יין הראוי לנסך — ומכאן היתר יין מבושל, יין שנשתנה טעמו בדבש ופלפלין, ותבשיל שאין היין ניכר בו. ומאידך, כיון שיש גם גזירת בנותיהן, איסור השתייה עומד במקומו אף במקום שהוקל בהנאה.

3. איסור הנאה בזמן הזה — the Rama's easing, and its limit

ובזמן הזה שאינו שכיח שהאומות מנסכים לעבודת כוכבים י״א דמגע עובד כוכבים ביין שלנו אינו אסור בהנאה רק בשתייה וכן סתם יין שלהם אינו אסור ליהנות ממנו ולכן מותר לגבות בחובו מן עובד כוכבים סתם יינם מפני דהוי כמציל מידם

— רמ״א, שולחן ערוך יו״ד קכ״ג:א
What the easing says — and what it does not. The Rama did not permit drinking: he removed, on a first view, only the prohibition of benefit. His reason is one of fact rather than of principle: « דעובדי כוכבים בזמן הזה אין רגילין לנסך לעבודת כוכבים » (ט״ז יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ב). The wine is then likened to wine touched by a non-Jewish infant, of whom the Gemara says that he forbids in drinking but not in benefit: « תינוק בן יומו עושה יין נסך » (עבודה זרה נ״ז ע״א), where Rav at once specifies that he said it only as to drinking. The Shach makes the comparison explicitly: « דאינו אוסר יין במגעו אלא בשתיה » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ג).

How far does the easing reach?

The Taz records that several Acharonim narrowed the opening: for them there is no easing of benefit except in a case of loss (ט״ז יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ב). The Rama himself writes the leniency only for a debt and for “other loss” — one who transgressed and bought or sold — and rules that trading for gain stays forbidden lekhatchila, closing with: « ויש מקילין גם בזה וטוב להחמיר » (רמ״א יו״ד קכ״ג:א). The Shach refers here to a responsum of the Maharam of Lublin (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ד), and the Pitchei Teshuva reports that the Levushei Serad sought to justify the practice of those who trade in stam yeinam (פתחי תשובה יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ב).

👈 הלכה למעשה

The prohibition of drinking stam yeinam is entire, and none of these discussions touch it. The easing bears on benefit: receiving wine in payment of a debt, not discarding goods bought by mistake, escaping a loss. Deliberate trade is the very place of the Rama's stringency. Among Sephardim, who follow the Mehaber, the prohibition of benefit stands unqualified in the body of the seif.

Concrete cases of benefit — uncertified wine received as a gift, an inherited stock, a consignment delivered in error, an employer paying in bottles, a corporate gift meant for resale: each turns on the community, on the size of the loss and on intent. These are questions for a Rav, not for a page.

4. יין מבושל — the seif that governs all modern practice

יין מבושל שלנו שנגע בו העובד כוכבים מותר ומאימתי נקרא מבושל משהרתיח על גבי האש:

— שולחן ערוך יו״ד קכ״ג:ג
Where the leniency comes from. Straight from the Gemara: « יין מבושל אין בו משום גילוי, ואין בו משום יין נסך » (עבודה זרה ל׳ ע״א), which is Rava's conclusion. Its reason is the Tur's, recalled above: the decree fell only on wine fit for libation. Rambam puts it thus: « לפיכך יין מבשל של ישראל שנגע בו העכו״ם אינו אסור ומתר לשתות עם העכו״ם בכוס אחד » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה ט). He immediately sets the limit: wine merely diluted, or beginning to sour yet still drinkable, is indeed forbidden if touched.
A full permission, not a bediavad. The Shach insists: « ואפי׳ בשתיה ואפי׳ לכתחלה מותר לשתותו עם העובדי כוכבים » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ו). The Gemara tells it of Shmuel, who drank cooked wine with Ablet untroubled. And for cooked wine left in a non-Jew's keeping, the Gemara drops even the demand of a double seal: « יין מבושל שלנו ביד גוים אין צריך חותם בתוך חותם » (עבודה זרה כ״ט ע״ב).

The Taz's question

If wine was also forbidden on account of intermarriage, how does boiling it change anything? The Taz raises the difficulty and answers it: even on the intermarriage account they decreed only where the prohibition could reach benefit as well, on the model of yayin nesekh — so wine unfit for libation leaves the decree altogether (ט״ז יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ג).

מאימתי נקרא מבושל — the measure, and what hangs on it today

The Mehaber writes משהרתיח על גבי האש. The Shach gives the concrete measure: « דהיינו שיתמעט ממדתו על ידי רתיחה » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ז), in the name of the Rashba and the Ran — the volume must have diminished through boiling. This is exactly where the modern question is knotted: industrial pasteurisation heats wine well below boiling, often for seconds, with no perceptible loss of volume. Contemporary poskim are divided over whether such treatment suffices to give wine the status of מבושל, and kashrut agencies print “mevushal” or “non-mevushal” on the label precisely because the answer governs everything that follows.

Here the siman stops and the posek begins. The Shulchan Arukh and the Shach give the classical definition — boiled over fire, until the volume drops. They plainly say nothing about flash pasteurisation, thermovinification, or the wording on a label. No contemporary position will be cited here without a checkable source: ask your Rav, and follow the certification your community recognises. Two rules of plain sense hold in the meantime: read the label, and do not assume that a kosher wine is mevushal because it is kosher.

5. תערובות ותוספות — honey, cooked dishes, spirits, comfits

a) Wine whose taste has changed (seif 4)

יין שמערבין בו דבש ופלפלין אם נשתנה טעמו מחמתם אינו נאסר במגע עובד כוכבים.
הגה והוא הדין בדבש לחוד או פלפלין לחוד

— שולחן ערוך יו״ד קכ״ג:ד
The test is the taste, not the ingredient. The Shach generalises it in so many words: « כל שנשתנה טעם היין ונראה דה״ה שאר דברים כל שנשתנה טעמו מחמתן » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ח) — any ingredient at all, so long as the taste of the wine has changed through it. Rambam had already reported the rule in the name of the Geonim of the Maghreb: « הורו גאוני המערב שאם נתערב ביין ישראל מעט דבש או מעט שאור הואיל ואינו ראוי למזבח הרי הוא כמבשל » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה י). The logic is constant: what is no longer fit for the altar was never decreed upon.

A note on attribution. At seif 4 the phrase והוא הדין בדבש לחוד או פלפלין לחוד is not marked הגה in the text: it stands in parentheses. The Shach nevertheless traces it to the Darkhei Moshe, that is, to the Rama himself (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ח). The same holds of the parenthesis at seif 11 on raisin wine.

b) A dish cooked with wine (seif 5)

תבשיל שיש בו יין ונגע בו העובד כוכבים אפי׳ קודם שהרתיח אין בו משום יין נסך: הגה ודוקא תבשיל שאין היין ניכר בו בעין אבל בשומן וחרדל שנתנו בו יין והוא בעין צף למעלה הוי בו משום יין נסך

— שולחן ערוך יו״ד קכ״ג:ה
Mind the exact reach of this seif. It answers one question only: does a non-Jew's touch render this dish forbidden? It does not say — and nobody ever read it so — that forbidden wine turns permitted by being poured into a pan. Uncertified wine is stam yeinam before it enters the dish; what this seif settles is the standing of a finished dish, where the wine is no longer visible, in the face of a stranger's hand.
The Rama's limit. The leniency falls away if the wine is still בעין, visible, floating on the surface — the case of fat and mustard. For a mixture with cooked wine the Rama gives three positions: with honey all permit; otherwise, some reckon as though the cooked wine were water, others permit where the cooked is the majority. He then adds: « ויין שנקרש אין בו משום מגע עובד כוכבים » (רמ״א יו״ד קכ״ג:ה) — congealed wine is no longer reached by a touch.

The Shach's reservation on congealed wine

The Shach does not let the leniency pass unbounded. He notes that once the wine melts again a touch reaches it anew; and he draws the parallel with vinegar, where we are no longer expert enough to say when the threshold is crossed: « ונ״ל דלמאי דקי״ל דמגע עובדי כוכבים אוסר ביין שהחמיץ משום דאין אנו בקיאין מתי נקרא חומץ » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק י״ב). The same lack of expertise, he says, applies here.

c) Spirits and comfits (seifim 24-25)

אגוא״ה ארדיינט״י של עובד כוכבים אסור בהנאה כיין עצמו: הגה ופירוש דבריו יין שרוף שעושין מיין נסך אע״פ שאינו רק זיעה מן הנסך הרי הוא כאיסור עצמו

— שולחן ערוך יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״ד
The rule that governs derivatives. The Rama rules that the vapour of a prohibition is as the prohibition itself: « אע״פ שאינו רק זיעה מן הנסך הרי הוא כאיסור עצמו » (רמ״א יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״ד), in the name of the Rivash. This is the rule that governs, in principle, any product distilled or extracted from wine. The Pitchei Teshuva adds a responsum of the Tzemach Tzedek holding that spirit made from their pressings and skins is likewise forbidden (פתחי תשובה יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק י״ז).
And the counterweight, in the very next seif. The Mehaber does permit buying coriander comfits: « מותר ליקח מהעובד כוכבים קוליינדר״י קונפיט״י אע״פ שנותנין הקוליינדר״י בחומץ » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״ה), giving the reason — it is a taste that spoils. In other words: the mere presence of a wine derivative in a product is no verdict by itself. Everything turns on what that derivative does to the taste. That is exactly the point at which a modern industrial product calls for examination rather than deduction.

6. חומץ ומי הבוסר — vinegar, must, and an admitted lack of expertise

חומץ שמבעבע כשמשליכין אותו על הארץ אינו נאסר במגע עובד כוכבים

— שולחן ערוך יו״ד קכ״ג:ו
The physical test, and why it went out of use. The seif gives a concrete test: vinegar thrown on the ground bubbles. The Shach fixes its sense and at once draws the consequence: « היינו כשמרתיח אבל כל שאינו מבעבע א״א בקיאין אם הוא חומץ או לאו » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק י״ג). So long as it does not bubble, we cannot decide. The same wording returns for unripe grape juice: « לפי שא״א בקיאים מתי נקרא בוסר » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ט״ו), and the Taz writes likewise: « שא״א בקיאין מה נקרא בוסר או יין גמור » (ט״ז יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ה).
Seif 7 and its retroactive force. A barrel found soured to the point of bubbling: « ותוך שלשה ימים למפרע נגע בו העובד כוכבים אין לחוש למגעו » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:ז). The Shach supplies the reason: three days earlier it was already, beyond doubt, full vinegar in smell and taste (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק י״ד). It is a presumption about the past, drawn from a state observed in the present.

מי הבוסר and diluted wine (seif 8)

The Mehaber rules: « מי הבוסר נאסרים במגע עובד כוכבים » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:ח). The Rama adds for diluted wine: « יין מזוג כל זמן שיש בו טעם יין אסור » (רמ״א יו״ד קכ״ג:ח), reporting the view that permits at six parts water and pointing to siman 134 — where the Shach notes that such is our halakha (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ט״ז). Rambam had already placed diluted wine on the forbidden side, against cooked wine: « אבל יין מזוג ויין שהתחיל להחמיץ ואפשר שישתה אם נגע בו נאסר » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה ט).

👈 הלכה למעשה

A non-Jew's wine vinegar is no place for laxity: Rambam writes that their vinegar is forbidden even in benefit, having been yayin nesekh before it soured (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה י״ג). And the Shach declares us unfit to apply the bubbling test. Hence, in practice, wine vinegar is taken certified. Vinegars not derived from grapes — spirit, cider, malt — are another matter, outside this siman.

7. תמד, שמרים וצמוקים — grape juice, raisins and by-products

אבל שמרים של עובדי כוכבים לעולם אסורים אפילו לא מצא אלא כדי מדתן אפי׳ תמדן כמה פעמים.
(יין צמוקים פי׳ שנתן מים על ענבים יבשים הרי זה כיין ומתנסך)

— שולחן ערוך יו״ד קכ״ג:י״א
The weightiest gloss in the siman. The Rama rules that raisin wine — water poured over dried grapes — « הרי זה כיין ומתנסך » (רמ״א יו״ד קכ״ג:י״א). This wording stands in parentheses rather than under the word הגה, yet it carries its own source in the text and the Shach comments on it as the Rama's. It is therefore no substitute: it is wine in full, subject to touch and to libation. The Shach proves it from the blessing: wherever one says בורא פרי הגפן, a non-Jew's touch is in play (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק כ״ג). He adds that here no המשכה is required at all: the grapes stay in the barrel, and after three days the liquid has become full wine (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק כ״ד).
Temed and its measure (seif 9). The Mehaber settles the water poured over pressings: when pressed with wheel and beam, they become wine only if three measures were poured and four found. The Shach explains that “four” is no exact figure but a threshold: beyond three and a half there is no longer six parts water against the wine that came out, and the wine is not nullified (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק י״ח). The Mehaber then brings a view that closes the whole question: « ויש מי שאומר שאין להתיר מגע עובד כוכבים בשום תמד » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:ט) — once it is good to drink, it would be confused with real wine.

Pressings, skins and lees: the twelve months (seif 14)

« החרצנים והזגים של עובדי כוכבים וכן שמרי יין שלהם תוך י״ב חדש אסורים בהנאה ולאחר י״ב חדש מותרים אפילו באכילה » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:י״ד). The source is explicit in the Gemara: « החרצנים והזגים של גוים, לחין — אסורין, יבשים — מותרים » (עבודה זרה ל״ד ע״א), where Shmuel defines moist and dry by the twelve months. Rambam gives the same rule and the same reason — after twelve months no moisture is left in them and they are as soil (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה י״ד). The Shach recalls how severe this standing is: during their time of prohibition one does not even prop a bed with them — « דאסור לסמוך בו כרעי המטה » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק כ״ה), following the Gemara.

Leavening with lees (seif 15). Dough leavened with their lees during the time of prohibition is wholly forbidden in benefit — and the Shach adds the decisive detail: « ואפילו באלף לא בטיל דלטעמיה עבידי » (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק כ״ח). An agent that acts is not nullified even in a thousand, since it stands there for its effect. This principle recurs throughout the laws of active additives.
And a leniency at seif 16. The wine residue congealed on barrel walls: « יש מי שאומר שתמצית יין הנקרש על דופני החבית והקנקנים נהגו בו היתר » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:ט״ז). The Taz leaves it no unguarded: « ומ״מ אין להקל לכתחלה אלא רוחצי׳ מבפנים היטב ומקליפין הנקרש יפה יפה » (ט״ז יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ט), in the name of the Maharshal. The custom permits — and one cleans.

Industrial products drawn from the grape — seeds, pressings, tartrates, colourings, grapeseed oil — belong in principle to these seifim, yet their actual standing turns on processes the siman never knew. The Pitchei Teshuva already records a dispute of this kind, over an oil made from the vine and over the ash of burnt pressings (פתחי תשובה יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק י). This is the proper domain of kashrut agencies and of your Rav.

8. המשכה ומגע — from when is it wine, and who forbids it

מאימתי נקרא יין ליאסר במגע עובד כוכבי׳ משהתחיל לימשך דהיינו משנמשך על הגת בעצמו כי הגת הוא מדרון

— שולחן ערוך יו״ד קכ״ג:י״ז
The rule and its source. Rav Huna states it in the Gemara: « יין, כיון שהתחיל להמשך, עושה יין נסך » (עבודה זרה נ״ה ע״ב). There is on this point a first mishna and a last — the first set the threshold at descent into the pit, Rabbi Akiva at skimming: « יין משירד לבור, רבי עקיבא אומר: משיקפה » (עבודה זרה נ״ו ע״א) — and the Gemara concludes that in yayin nesekh the Sages were stricter. Rambam follows our seif exactly: « מאימתי יאסר יין העכו״ם משידרך וימשך היין » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה י״א).
Three degrees of hold. The siman distinguishes them carefully. (1) The touch of the hand — the central case of seif 1. (2) Force alone, without contact: « עובד כוכבים שדרך היין ולא נגע בו והרי ישראל עומד על גבו וישראל הוא שכנסו בחבית הרי זה אסור בשתייה » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״ב) — forbidden in drinking only, and the Taz explains that nothing is present here beyond the non-Jew's force (ט״ז יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק י״ז). (3) Mere suspicion: « גיגית מלאה ענבים דרוכים עומדת בבית העובד כוכבים יש לאסור שמא המשיך ממנה » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:י״ט). The degree of the prohibition follows the degree of the act — and that is the key for reading simanim 124 and 125, which take up the sequel.

Treading with him, and buying from him (seif 21)

« אין דורכין עם העובד כוכבים בגת » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״א), and the reason: « שמא יגע בידים וינסך ואפילו היה כפות » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״א). The Gemara had known a leniency here — a child answered there that one may tread with him if his hands are tied, libation by foot not counting (עבודה זרה נ״ו ע״ב) — yet the halakha followed the stricter version. The Rama permits a trough, from which wine is not usually drawn: « אבל בעריבה שאין דרך למשוך משם מותר לדרוך עמו » (רמ״א יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״א). The Taz is wary of it and reports that many decreed against buying trodden grapes from a non-Jew in any vessel at all: « שגזרו שלא ליקח מעובד כוכבים ענבים דרוכים בשום כלי » (ט״ז יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק ט״ז).

The distinguishing mark (seif 23). « אם חבית של יין נסך מונחת עם חביות כשירות צריך לעשות לה היכר » (שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״ג). A brief and very practical law: what is forbidden must be marked, not merely known. Every cellar, every cupboard and every shared kitchen finds its immediate application.

9. פסיקת הספרדים בזמננו — contemporary Sephardic psika

Among Sephardim the body of the seif — that is, the Mehaber's wording — is the halakha. Here that means stam yeinam is forbidden in benefit without the reservation the Rama reports, and that the leniency of cooked wine is taken as the Mehaber writes it, with the Shach's measure as the yardstick. The names carrying authority in that school on wine matters — Yabia Omer, Yalkut Yosef — treat pasteurisation and handled wine at length, but their texts are not in the checkable corpus of this page: no statement is attributed to them here. Look them up in the book itself, or ask your Rav.

PointWhat the body of the seif says
Drinking stam yeinamForbidden, with no dissent.
Deriving benefit from itForbidden — the Mehaber writes אסור בהנאה unqualified (seif 1).
A non-Jew's touch in our wineThe same standing as stam yeinam (seif 1).
Cooked winePermitted, even when touched; מאימתי — משהרתיח על גבי האש (seif 3).
Raisin wineAs full wine, subject to libation (Rama, seif 11).

10. פסיקת האשכנזים — Ashkenazi psika

Among Ashkenazim the Rama's gloss is the halakha, yet it is narrower than commonly supposed: it eases benefit, leaves the prohibition of drinking whole, and closes on a וטוב להחמיר. The Taz and the Shach, who comment on it, are the real arbiters here. The Arukh HaShulchan, which would ordinarily render the service of a modern commentary, is unavailable on this siman — so nothing is attributed to it.

PointWhat the Rama rules, and what his commentators make of it
Benefit in זמן הזהיש אומרים permitted — but the Taz reports Acharonim who confined it to cases of loss (s.k. 2).
A debt paid in winePermitted: כמציל מידם.
Trading for profitForbidden lekhatchila; some are lenient; וטוב להחמיר.
Congealed wine and congealed residueLeniencies of the Rama (seif 5) and the Mehaber (seif 16), bounded by the Shach (s.k. 12) and the Taz (s.k. 9).
Treading and buyingThe Rama permits a trough; the Taz reports the stricter custom (s.k. 16).
One point where the two schools coincide entirely. Cooked wine. The Mehaber writes it unqualified, the Rama has nothing to gloss on it, the Shach turns it into a leniency lekhatchila, and Rambam and the Gemara are explicit. That is why all modern practice with kosher wine — receptions, restaurants, service by non-Jewish staff — was built around this single notion, and why the exact definition of מבושל has become so contested a question.

11. מקרים מודרניים — the siman in our own lives

How to read the table. The middle column holds nothing but what the siman genuinely says. The right column states what, in a modern case, goes beyond the siman — and therefore belongs to a posek, never to a deduction made here. That separation is the heart of this level: an old siman supplies exact principles, not verdicts on products it never met.
SituationWhat the siman settlesWhat goes beyond the siman
An uncertified bottle of wineIt is stam yeinam: forbidden in drinking (seif 1), and by the body of the seif in benefit as well.The exact reach of the easing of benefit in your community, and the fate of a stock received or inherited.
Kosher non-mevushal wine poured by a non-JewA non-Jew's touch reaches our wine (seif 1). The threshold of “wine” and the degrees of hold are set at seifim 17-22.What counts as a touch — a sealed bottle, pouring without contact, carrying a tray: that is the business of simanim 124 and 125, to be settled with a Rav.
Mevushal wineA touch does not reach it, and that lekhatchila (seif 3, Shach s.k. 6). Definition: boiled over fire until the volume drops (Shach s.k. 7).Does industrial pasteurisation meet that threshold? A contested contemporary question. Follow the label and its kashrut agency, and ask your Rav.
Grape juiceWater over dried grapes is as wine and subject to libation (Rama, seif 11); the Shach proves it from the blessing בורא פרי הגפן.The standing of industrially pasteurised juice, and of concentrate reconstituted with water: the same dispute as with wine.
Wine vinegarVinegar that bubbles escapes a touch (seif 6); yet the Shach declares that we are no longer expert enough to say so (s.k. 13).Industrial wine vinegar is taken certified. Vinegars not derived from grapes are outside this siman.
Wine-derived flavourings and additivesThe vapour of forbidden wine is as the prohibition (Rama, seif 24); yet a derivative that spoils the taste may be permitted (seif 25).The real composition of the product, the proportion, the process: that is read off a technical sheet, not out of a siman.
A sauce or dish cooked with wineA dish in which the wine cannot be seen is not reached by a touch (seif 5); floating on the surface, it is (Rama).The seif settles the touch, not the kashrut of the wine used: forbidden wine does not turn permitted by cooking.
A cosmetic or treatment based on wineThe siman forbids even a bath of stam yeinam for a sick person whose life is not at risk (seif 2).Modern cosmetic preparations, their derivatives and their external use: a question for a Rav.
Wine poured by a non-observant JewSiman 123 does not treat this case. It speaks of a non-Jew.The standing of a Jew with respect to wine is raised elsewhere — notably at siman 124. It is delicate and personal: it goes to a Rav, not to a text.
A bottle of yayin nesekh stored with the restIt must be given a distinguishing mark (seif 23).Nothing. It is one of the few seifim that applies as written, today as then.

A closing note on method. In this siman more than in any other, the temptation is to reason by analogy: “if cooked wine is permitted, then pasteurised juice…”. Yet the seifim themselves show that the analogy fails again and again — diluted wine did not follow cooked wine, vinegar did not follow congealed wine, and the Ishmaelites' honey was forbidden where reasoning nearly permitted it. The Shach himself concludes there that he forbids it in practice, having seen great masters dissent (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ג ס״ק נ). That is the most honest admission in the siman: one asks.

12. סיכום מעשי — summary and tables

טבלה — the thresholds of the siman, in practice

NotionThe exact measureSource
יין נסךA Torah prohibition, in benefit too, with no minimum measure.רמב״ם מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכות א–ב
סתם יינםA rabbinic prohibition; drinking a revi'it brings makat mardut.רמב״ם מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה ג
יין מבושלמשהרתיח על גבי האש — and for the Shach: until the volume drops.שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:ג · ש״ך ס״ק ז
Wine whose taste changedThe ingredient is immaterial: the test is the change of taste.שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:ד · ש״ך ס״ק ח
VinegarBubbles when thrown on the ground — yet we are no longer expert.שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:ו · ש״ך ס״ק י״ג
Diluted wineForbidden while a taste of wine remains; some permit at six parts water.רמ״א יו״ד קכ״ג:ח
Raisin wineAs full wine, subject to libation, with no need of המשכה.רמ״א יו״ד קכ״ג:י״א · ש״ך ס״ק כ״ד
Pressings, skins, leesTwelve months of prohibition; afterwards permitted even as food.שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:י״ד · עבודה זרה ל״ד ע״א
The threshold of “wine”משהתחיל לימשך — once the clear wine flows apart on its own.שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:י״ז · עבודה זרה נ״ה ע״ב
Force without contactForbidden in drinking only.שו״ע יו״ד קכ״ג:כ״ב

טבלה — who says what (the nossei kelim of the siman)

PosekDecisive contribution (corpus-anchored)
Mehaber (26 seifim)The principle and the prohibition of benefit (s.1); the bath (s.2); cooked wine and its definition (s.3); changed taste (s.4); the cooked dish (s.5); vinegar and must (s.6-8); temed, pressings and lees (s.9-16); the threshold of המשכה and the degrees of touch (s.17-23); spirits, comfits and the Ishmaelites' honey (s.24-26).
Rama (הגה on s.1, 5, 8, 14, 21, 24, 26; parenthetical additions at s.4 and 11)The easing of benefit in זמן הזה and its closing וטוב להחמיר; honey alone or pepper alone; the limit of wine בעין and congealed wine; diluted wine; raisin wine as full wine; pressings that lay on yayin nesekh; the trough where treading is allowed; the vapour of nesekh as the prohibition itself; the fast of one who drank inadvertently.
Taz (טורי זהב, s.k. 1-18)s.k. 1: the two motives of the decree, and which the Tur holds primary; s.k. 2: the factual reason of the easing, and the Acharonim confining it to loss; s.k. 3: why boiling undoes the intermarriage motive too; s.k. 5: we no longer recognise must; s.k. 9: wash and scrape despite the custom; s.k. 10: what a “stopped and full” vat is; s.k. 14: the difference between vat and tub; s.k. 16: the strict custom of buying nothing trodden; s.k. 17: force alone forbids in drinking; s.k. 18: what the Ishmaelites' honey is.
Shach (שפתי כהן, s.k. 1-51)s.k. 1: the two storeys, Torah and Sages; s.k. 3: the comparison with the infant; s.k. 4: the Maharam of Lublin on buying; s.k. 6: cooked wine permitted even lekhatchila; s.k. 7: the measure of מבושל; s.k. 8: the taste test generalised; s.k. 12-13: we are no longer expert in vinegar or congealed wine; s.k. 15: nor in must; s.k. 18: the measure of temed; s.k. 23-24: raisin wine and the blessing; s.k. 25: not even propping a bed; s.k. 28: leaven not nullified in a thousand; s.k. 41: sixty against the pressings; s.k. 49-50: the Ishmaelites' honey, and his practical conclusion to forbid.
Pitchei Teshuva (s.k. 1-17)s.k. 2: the Levushei Serad and the merchants' custom; s.k. 3: the film of oil set on the wine, and the dispute of Halakhot Ketanot with Shevut Yaakov; s.k. 6: a challenge on the measure of temed; s.k. 10: the ash of pressings and the oil made from the vine, with the Chatam Sofer's objection; s.k. 11: the view of the Raavad and the Ramban on wine not yet drawn, relied on בדיעבד ובשעת הדחק by the Zikhron Yosef; s.k. 17: the Tzemach Tzedek on spirit from pressings.
Rambam (הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א)halakhot 1-3: the two prohibitions and their penalties; halakha 7: the wine of those who do not serve idols, forbidden in drinking and permitted in benefit; halakhot 9-10: cooked wine, diluted wine, and the ruling of the Geonim of the Maghreb; halakhot 11-13: המשכה, force alone, and their vinegar; halakha 14: the twelve months; halakha 25: buying wine only from one presumed kosher.
Gemara (עבודה זרה)36b: the eighteen decrees and the chain of motives; 30a: Rava's conclusion on cooked wine; 29b: cooked wine in their keeping without a double seal; 55b-56b: המשכה, the first and last mishna, the strainer put back; 57a: the infant who forbids in drinking; 34a: moist and dry pressings; 31a: stam yeinam forbidden in benefit.

טבלה — contemporary streams of psika (outside the corpus, to be checked)

Sephardim: the Mehaber's wording, taken as it stands in the body of the seif. The great collections of Rav Ovadia Yosef's school treat pasteurised wine and handled wine at length; since their texts are not in the checkable corpus of this page, no position is attributed to them here.
Ashkenazim: Rama, Taz, Shach and Pitchei Teshuva. The Arukh HaShulchan, which would be the most useful modern source here, is not digitised on this siman: nothing is attributed to it. Responsa of recent generations treat pasteurisation, service in a hall and industrial additives, without our being able to give them a precise reference here: ask your Rav.
Chabad: there is no Shulchan Arukh HaRav on Yoreh De'ah. Only real sources are cited — responsa of the Tzemach Tzedek, Sefer HaMinhagim — where they treat the point explicitly. The Pitchei Teshuva here reports a responsum of the Tzemach Tzedek on spirit made from pressings (s.k. 17).

Sefaria links (text and nossei kelim)

Shulchan Arukh YD 123: 123:1 · 123:3 · 123:11 · 123:17 · 123:24
Taz (Turei Zahav): 123 s.k. 2 · 123 s.k. 3
Shach (Siftei Kohen): 123 s.k. 7 · 123 s.k. 23
Pitchei Teshuva: 123 s.k. 2
Rambam: מאכלות אסורות י״א:ט
Gemara: עבודה זרה ל׳ ע״א · עבודה זרה נ״ה ע״ב

👈 הלכה למעשה — the golden rule of this level

  1. In substance, hold two distinct prohibitions apart: yayin nesekh of the Torah, and stam yeinam of the Sages. The second is the one that governs daily life.
  2. The key of the siman lies in one sentence of the Tur: the decree fell only on wine fit for libation. Out of it come cooked wine, wine whose taste changed, and the cooked dish.
  3. The Rama's easing bears on benefit alone, and closes on a וטוב להחמיר. Drinking stam yeinam stays forbidden, everywhere and for everyone.
  4. Grape juice is no way out: the Rama makes it full wine, subject to libation, and the Shach proves it from the blessing.
  5. Where the Shach writes that we are no longer expert — vinegar, must, congealed wine — practice rests not on the ancient test but on certification.
  6. And for any real case — pasteurisation, a restaurant, a reception, an additive, an industrial product, or wine poured by someone whose standing is in question — halakha le-ma'asse runs through your Rav: ask your Rav.

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פסק והלכה למעשה בדין סתם יינם ויין נסך · סימן קכ״ג · ⚖️ Level 4 — Halakha le-ma'asse
⚠️ This content is for study. The contemporary streams of psika cited (Sephardic and Ashkenazi) are landmarks, not a personal ruling. For any practical application (לְמַעֲשֶׂה), consult a qualified Rav.

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