Who renders the wine forbidden and by what act: the non-Jewish child, the גר תושב, slaves, the non-idolater, the משוך בערלתו, the מומר and the אנוסים; the three conditions of seif 10; hand, foot, intervening object and שכשוך; the כח of seif 18; touching unawares and the reversal of בזמן הזה; the barrel, the ברזא, the hand on the hole, the siphon and נצוק (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 124 — 27 seifim)
מגע עובד כוכבים לאסור בהנאה צריך שלשה תנאים אחד שיתכוין ליגע לאפוקי תינוק שנגע דלאו בר כוונה הוא וכן לאפוקי נפל לבור ועלה מת שני שידע שהוא יין ושלישי שלא יהא עוסק בדבר אחר
For a non-Jew's touch to forbid for benefit, three conditions are needed: that he intend to touch — whence are excluded a child, who is not capable of intent, and one who fell into the vat and came up dead —, that he know it is wine, and that he not be occupied with something else.
Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 124:10LEVEL 01
The Hebrew text of the 27 seifim with a fluent English rendering. Who makes yayin nesekh, the three conditions of a touch, שכשוך and כח, touching through an object and the cases of the barrel — explained step by step with concrete examples.
📖 StudyLEVEL 02
In-depth pilpul: the definition of נגיעה — intent, knowledge and טירדא —, the hakira on שכשוך against the כח of seif 18, the two rungs of touching through an object, and the scope of the Rama's בזמן הזה, with the ש״ך and the ט״ז.
📖 StudyLEVEL 03
Three master grids (who forbids, by what act, indirect touch), the cases of the barrel, golden rules, the mnemonic « נגיעה », classic pitfalls and a line-by-line recap of the 27 seifim.
📖 StudyLEVEL 04
The practical halacha according to the ש״ך, the ט״ז and the פתחי תשובה, and then the poskim. Note: the Alter Rebbe wrote no Shulchan Aruch on Yoreh De'ah — this is a level of psak, not “Daat HaRav”.
📖 StudyThe siman opens with persons before it speaks of the act. A non-Jewish child who does not yet mention idolatry forbids only for drinking (seif 1); so too a גר תושב and a convert circumcised but not immersed (seif 2). Slaves circumcised and immersed at once do not make yayin nesekh (seif 3), and among the sons of maidservants who were circumcised, adults and minors are distinguished (seif 4). A non-Jew who worships no idols forbids only for drinking (seif 6). A משוך בערלתו does not forbid, but a מומר, even circumcised, makes yayin nesekh by his touch and is believed if he says he has returned (seif 8); the אנוסים do not forbid by their touch but are not believed about their own wine (seif 9). For halacha le-ma'aseh, consult your Rav.
Seif 10 lists them: מגע עובד כוכבים לאסור בהנאה צריך שלשה תנאים. It is required (1) that he intend to touch — whence are excluded a child, who is not capable of intent, and one who fell into the vat and came up dead; (2) that he know it is wine; (3) that he not be occupied with something else. As soon as one of these three falls away, the case drops a degree: the wine stays permitted for benefit, so that it may still be sold. This is the reading key to all the seifim that follow. For halacha le-ma'aseh, consult your Rav.
Seif 11 does not say only that he touched: it says that he touched and stirred — וישכשך. The Shach draws from this that a bare touch without stirring does not forbid for benefit, and such is the view of the טור, of רש״י and of the רמב״ם (ש״ך יו״ד קכ״ד ס״ק כ). But the converse holds too: seif 18 forbids where there was no touch at all, because the non-Jew lifted the vessel and poured and the wine came מכחו, by his force — whereas lifting without pouring or stirring does nothing whatever. It is therefore not the contact alone that is judged, but the whole act. For halacha le-ma'aseh, consult your Rav.
At seif 24 the Rama writes that in our time the nations are not idolaters, and therefore all their touch is deemed unintentional (in the name of the מרדכי, the הגהות אשיר״י and the מהרי״ו). Three consequences he draws himself: touching through an object, even knowing it is wine and meaning to touch it, is permitted even for drinking; touching with the hand without intending contact, or without knowing it is wine, is permitted; and he adds at once that the matter is not to be publicised before an עם הארץ. Beside this stands a leniency of another kind in the Shach: where there is a loss, for us it is permitted for benefit — and sometimes even for drinking. The two are not the same thing. For halacha le-ma'aseh, consult your Rav.
The question is always the same: how far the non-Jew's object reached into the wine. If he pushed his finger through the ברזא hole as far as the wine, or pulled out a ברזא that reached into it, all is forbidden (seif 14). If he reached no further than the thickness of the wall — a short ברזא, a hand laid on the hole, an embrace of a split barrel — there is only כח, and the wine left inside is untouched (seifim 14, 22, 23). A barrel split lengthwise and clasped stays permitted for benefit; split across and pressed with the hand it is permitted for drinking, since his hand there does no more than the office of a brick (seif 22). And tightening a loose ברזא is permitted even for drinking (seif 26). For halacha le-ma'aseh, consult your Rav.