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DAAT · LEVEL 1 — INTRODUCTION

Siman קל״ד — Libated wine that has become mixed

What is measured in a mixture, and what is not
יורה דעה · סימן קל״ד
דִּין יַיִן שֶׁנִּתְנַסֵּךְ וְנִתְעָרֵב
🌱 Introductory level · מתחילים
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A first approach to Siman 134: the 13 seifim of the Mehaber and the glosses of the Rama, Hebrew text with a fluent English translation. The preceding simanim asked what makes wine forbidden — contact, vessels, guarding. This one begins with wine that is already forbidden and asks a single question thirteen times: what becomes of it once it mixes with something else? And the answer is never one figure: it depends on the kind, on the direction of the pouring, on the calibre of the stream, and on what taste does to whatever receives it.

Subject: Libated wine in a mixture — מין במינו במשהו, ראשון ראשון בטל, צרצור קטן, ששה חלקים, הדחה, לשבח ולפגם
Source: שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן קל״ד

Compiled by: הרב יוסף חיים סממה
DAAT · daattorah.com

📑 Plan of study

1. The text of the Mehaber: the 13 seifim, with the glosses of the Rama
2. Background: the mishna of Avodah Zarah 73a and its gemara
3. Key concepts: מין במינו, נותן טעם, ראשון ראשון בטל, חוזר וניעור, רואין, הדחה, לפגם…
4. The summary table: the measure, case by case
5. The Taz and the Shach: six key entries
6. The glosses of the Rama (הגה): five interventions
7. Modern practical cases: wine vinegar, flavourings, grain, a spilt bottle
8. Summary and comprehension questions

1. The text of the Mehaber — the 13 seifim

Siman 134 reads in three movements. Seifim 1 to 7 deal with a liquid mixing into a liquid, and set out three variables: the kind (wine into wine, or wine into water), the direction of the pouring, and the calibre of the stream. Seifim 8 to 12 leave liquids for whatever the wine falls upon — grapes, figs, barley, wheat, grits — and the question becomes one of absorption and rinsing. Seif 13 closes the siman with the commonest case of all: manufactured drinks into which wine is habitually mixed. The Rama intervenes five times, and one of his glosses — that on seif 2 — governs all Ashkenazi practice to this day.

Seif 1 — Libated wine in wine: the משהו, and the direction of the pouring

דין יין שנתנסך ונתערב. ובו י״ג סעיפים: יין שנתנסך לעבודת כוכבים שנתערב ביין של היתר אוסר בהנאה בכל שהוא בד״א כשהורק היין המותר על טפה של יין נסך אבל אם עירה יין נסך מצרצור קטן (פי׳ פך קטן) לתוך הבור של יין אפי׳ עירה כל היום כולו ראשון ראשון בטל עירה מהחבית בין שעירה מהמותר לאיסור או מהאיסור למותר הכל אסור מפני שהעמוד היורד מפי החבית גדול:

Title of the siman: the law of wine that was libated and became mixed; and it contains thirteen seifim.

Wine that was libated to an idol and became mixed with permitted wine renders it forbidden for benefit, in any quantity whatsoever.

In what case does this apply? When the permitted wine was poured onto a drop of yayin nesekh. But if one poured yayin nesekh from a small flask (explanation: a small jug) into the vat of wine — even if he poured all day long — each successive first amount is nullified as it falls.

If he poured from the barrel, whether from the permitted into the forbidden or from the forbidden into the permitted, everything is forbidden, because the column that comes down from the mouth of the barrel is thick.

The whole siman is contained in the reversal this seif performs. One would think the stringency comes from the quantity — a single drop forbids. In truth it comes from three distinct things that must be told apart: the kind (wine into wine), the direction of the pouring (which fell upon which), and the calibre of the stream (a trickle or a column). Change one of the three, and the measure changes.

Seif 2 — Wine forbidden only for drinking, the barrel, and the custom of our time

יין שאינו אסור אלא בשתייה אינו אוסר אלא בששים נתערב סתם יינם ביין מותר הרי זה אוסר בכל שהוא בשתייה וימכר כולו לעובד כוכבים ולוקח דמי היין האסור שבו ומשליכו לים המלח ויהנה בשאר המעות וכן אם נתערבה חבית של יין נסך בין החביות הכל אסורים בשתייה ומותרים בהנאה ויוליך דמי אותה חבית לים המלח כשימכור הכל לעובד כוכבים וכן בחבית של סתם יינם: הגה הא דחבית של יין נסך אוסר כל החביות שנתערבה בהן היינו דוקא בחביות גדולות שחשובות ואינן בטלות אבל אם הם קטנים ואינם חשובים חד בתרי בטיל כמו בשאר איסורים (תא״ו נ׳ י״ז) ואפילו בגדולות אם נפל אחד מן התערובות לים או נשרף האחרים כולם מותרים כמו בשאר איסורים (ג״ז שם) וע״ל סימן ק״י ויש אומרים דכל סתם יינם בזמן הזה בטל בששים (תשובת הרא״ש כלל כ״ט ומרדכי פרק השוכר ובארוך כלל ט״ז דין י״ד ור״ש סוף תרומות וע״פ) וכן נוהגין להקל ובמקום דנתערב על ידי נצוק חבור כדלעיל סימן קכ״ו אין היין העליון מועיל ליין התחתון לבטל האיסור (ב״י):

Wine that is forbidden only for drinking renders forbidden only by sixty.

If stam yeinam became mixed with permitted wine, it renders it forbidden for drinking in any quantity whatsoever; he sells the whole to a non-Jew, takes the value of the forbidden wine within it and casts it into the Dead Sea, and benefits from the remaining money. Likewise, if a barrel of yayin nesekh became mixed among barrels, all are forbidden for drinking and permitted for benefit; he carries the value of that barrel to the Dead Sea when he sells the whole to a non-Jew. And likewise for a barrel of stam yeinam.

Gloss of the Rama: that a barrel of yayin nesekh forbids all the barrels it became mixed with applies only to large barrels, which are significant and are not nullified; but if they are small and not significant, one in two is nullified, as with other prohibitions (Toldot Adam veHava, netiv 17). And even with large ones, if one of the mixture fell into the sea or was burnt, all the others are permitted, as with other prohibitions (ibid.); and see above, siman 110.

And some say that all stam yeinam nowadays is nullified in sixty (the Rama’s sources: תשובת הרא״ש כלל כ״ט, מרדכי פרק השוכר, ובארוך כלל ט״ז דין י״ד, ור״ש סוף תרומות, וע״פ) — and such is the custom, to be lenient.

And where the mixing occurred through an unbroken stream, which forms a connection (נצוק חבור), as explained above in siman 126, the upper wine does not help the lower wine to nullify the prohibition (Beit Yosef).

Seif 2 does two things. It first lowers the measure for wine forbidden only for drinking: sixty, as everywhere else. Then it opens the way out that runs through this whole block — selling the lot to a non-Jew while deducting the value of the forbidden portion. The Rama’s gloss, for its part, carries the sentence that governs all Ashkenazi practice to this day: nowadays stam yeinam is nullified in sixty, and such is the custom.

Seif 3 — Water and wine: two kinds, hence taste

מים שנתערבו ביין או יין במים בנותן טעם מפני שהם מין בשאינו מינו. במה דברים אמורים שנפל המשקה המותר לתוך המשקה האסור אבל אם נפל המשקה האסור לתוך המשקה המותר ראשון ראשון בטל והוא שיורק מצרצור קטן שהיה מריק ויורד מעט מעט ואם נתרבה המשקה האסור עד שיש בו כדי ליתן טעם אוסר והיאך יהיו המים אסורים כגון שהיו נעבדים או תקרובת לעבודת כוכבים: הגה דבריו בכאן סותרים זה את זה דכתב דאם נפל המשקה האסור להיתר ראשון ראשון בטל ואח״כ כתב דאם נתרבה האסור חוזר ואוסר והוא מחלוקת בין הפוסקים ולענין דינא סברא אחרונה היא עיקר:

Water that became mixed with wine, or wine with water: by נותן טעם, since they are of different kinds.

In what case does this apply? When the permitted liquid fell into the forbidden liquid. But if the forbidden liquid fell into the permitted liquid, each successive first amount is nullified — and that, provided it flows from a small flask that was emptying and coming down little by little. And if the forbidden liquid accumulated until there is enough to impart taste, it renders forbidden.

And how could water be forbidden? For instance, if it had been worshipped, or offered to an idol.

Gloss of the Rama: his words here contradict one another, for he wrote that if the forbidden liquid fell into the permitted one each successive first amount is nullified, and then wrote that if the forbidden accumulated it forbids again. This is a dispute among the decisors; and as to the law, the latter view is the main one.

This is the most debated seif of the siman, for a reason that leaps out on a second reading: it permits, then forbids, within the same sentence. The Rama says so plainly; the Taz devotes to its defence the longest note in the whole siman; the Shach concludes that a word dropped out of the printed editions. For now, hold on to the Rama’s ruling: once the forbidden liquid has accumulated to the point of taste, it forbids.

Seif 4 — The pitcher of water that fell first

בור של יין שנפל בתוכו קיתון של מים תחילה ואח״כ נפל לתוכו יין נסך רואין את יין ההיתר כאילו אינו והמים שנפלו משערים אם יש בהם כדי לבטל טעם אותו יין נסך הרי המים רבים עליו ומבטלים אותו ויהיה הכל מותר ואם סתם יינם נתערב ביין של היתר אפילו לא נפל לתוכו קיתון של מים אלא לבסוף אם יש במים כדי לבטל טעם היין האסור מותר:

A vat of wine into which a pitcher of water fell first, and afterwards yayin nesekh fell into it: we regard the permitted wine as though it were not there, and we measure by the water that fell. If it contains enough to nullify the taste of that yayin nesekh, the water prevails over it and nullifies it, and everything will be permitted.

And if stam yeinam became mixed with permitted wine, even if the pitcher of water fell in only at the end: if the water contains enough to nullify the taste of the forbidden wine, it is permitted.

The decisive word is תחילה — “first”. Water that arrives before the forbidden wine may be counted as though the permitted wine were not there; water arriving afterwards could not, since the permitted wine has already joined the forbidden. Yet the Mehaber requires this order only for actual yayin nesekh: for stam yeinam, the water counts even if it came at the end.

Seif 5 — Six parts of water

כמה יהא במים ויהא בהם כדי לבטל טעם היין ששה חלקים כנגדו וכל שיש במים כשיעור הזה מותר אפי׳ בשתייה: הגה ואם אין במים כשיעור הזה מוכר הכל לעובד כוכבים חוץ מדמי יין נסך שבו (הרשב״א הסכים בזה לדעת רבותיו ודלא כהר״ן פרק השוכר) מיהו לא ימכור לעובד כוכבים הרבה ביחד שמא יחזור וימכור המים לישראל (דעת התוספות) וה״ה בכל דבר הנאסר במשהו וניקח מן העובד כוכבים דינא הכי (ב״י בשם הר״ן שכ״כ בשם הראב״ד) ועי׳ לקמן סימן קל״ז אם נתן יין בכלים אסורים מחמת יין נסך כיצד משערים לבטלו:

How much water must there be to nullify the taste of the wine? Six parts against it. And whenever the water is of this measure, it is permitted, even for drinking.

Gloss of the Rama: and if the water is not of this measure, he sells the whole to a non-Jew, apart from the value of the yayin nesekh within it (the Rashba agreed here with the opinion of his teachers, and not like the Ran in perek haSokher). However, he shall not sell a great deal at once to a non-Jew, lest the latter resell the water to a Jew (the view of Tosafot). And the same law applies to anything rendered forbidden by a משהו and bought from a non-Jew (Beit Yosef in the name of the Ran, who writes so in the name of the Raavad). And see below, siman 137, where wine was put into vessels forbidden because of yayin nesekh, how one measures to nullify it.

Six parts, not sixty. This is no indulgence: it is that wine, diluted beyond a certain proportion, ceases to be wine. The Taz shows where the figure comes from — the sugya of the two cups — and refuses the reasoning that would derive it from a mere majority.

Seif 6 — Vinegar and wine: different kinds

חומץ (של) עובד כוכבים שנפל לתוך יין של היתר או יין (של) עובד כוכבים שנפל לחומץ (של) היתר בנותן טעם:

A non-Jew’s vinegar that fell into permitted wine, or a non-Jew’s wine that fell into permitted vinegar: by נותן טעם.

Two liquids, but two kinds: vinegar is not wine. The measure therefore falls back to the common rule of all prohibitions, namely taste.

Seif 7 — Vinegar into vinegar: the same kind, despite the substance

חומץ של יין של עובד כוכבים שנפל לתוך חומץ שכר אוסר בכל שהוא מפני שהוא במינו ששניהם חומץ הם:

A non-Jew’s wine-vinegar that fell into beer-vinegar renders forbidden in any quantity whatsoever, because it is of its own kind — both of them being vinegar.

And here is the counter-test of the preceding seif: wine-vinegar into beer-vinegar. The two raw materials have nothing in common — grape and barley — and yet this is the same kind, because kind is read off the name, not off the origin.

Seif 8 — Wine that fell on grapes

יין (של) עובד כוכבים בין ישן בין חדש שנפל על ענבים אם הם שלימות ידיחם והם מותרות באכילה ואם הם מבוקעות או שניטל עוקצן אם יש בו בנותן טעם אסורות באכילה ויעצרם וימכרם לעובד כוכבים חוץ מדמי יין נסך שבהן אבל לא ימכרם כמו שהן שמא יחזור וימכרם לישראל ואם אין בו כדי ליתן טעם מותרות באכילה:

A non-Jew’s wine, whether old or new, that fell upon grapes: if they are whole, he rinses them and they are permitted to eat.

And if they are split, or their stem was removed: if there is enough to impart taste, they are forbidden to eat; he presses them and sells them to a non-Jew, apart from the value of the yayin nesekh within them — but he shall not sell them as they are, lest the buyer resell them to a Jew. And if there is not enough to impart taste, they are permitted to eat.

Here the siman leaves liquids for solids, and the question changes: no longer “how much?” but “did the wine get in?”. A whole grape is a closed skin: rinsing carries everything away. A split grape has already absorbed.

Seif 9 — Wine that fell on figs

יין (של) עובד כוכבים שנפל על גבי תאנים מותרים מפני שהיין פוגם בטעם התאנים:

A non-Jew’s wine that fell upon figs: they are permitted, because wine spoils the taste of figs.

A single seif, and it recalls that a prohibition is not a mechanical contagion: what forbids is a taste that improves. Wine upon figs spoils, and therefore says nothing.

Seif 10 — Lentils and barley: rinsing, and time passing

נפל על עדשים ושעורים וכיוצא בהם ידיחם והם מותרים ואם עבר עליהם זמן רב ודאי בלעו ואין להם היתר בהדחה ומשערים אותם בנותן טעם:

If it fell upon lentils, barley and the like: he rinses them, and they are permitted.

And if a long time passed over them, they have certainly absorbed, and there is no remedy for them by rinsing; they are measured by נותן טעם.

The rule of rinsing has a clock. The seif does not put a figure on it — it says “a long time” — and that is precisely where the Taz and the Shach will part company.

Seif 11 — Wheat: the crack that absorbs

נפל על גבי חטים אין להם היתר בהדחה מפני שמתוך שיש בהם סדק היין נבלע בהם לפיכך אם יש ביין כדי ליתן טעם אסורות באכילה ולא ימכרם לעובד כוכבים שמא יחזור וימכרם לישראל אלא כיצד עושה טוחן אותם ועושה מהם פת ומוכרה לעובד כוכבים שלא בפני ישראל ואם הוא במקום שנהגו לאכול פת עובד כוכבים אין להם תקנה (למכרם לעובד כוכבים כי אם בפרוסות שאסור לקנות מעובד כוכבים בכל מקום) (כל בו) (כדלעיל סימן קי״ב):

If it fell upon wheat, there is no remedy by rinsing, because since wheat has a crack the wine is absorbed into it. Therefore, if the wine is enough to impart taste, they are forbidden to eat; and he shall not sell them to a non-Jew, lest he resell them to a Jew.

What, then, does he do? He grinds them, makes bread of them, and sells it to a non-Jew not in the presence of a Jew. And if he is in a place where the custom is to eat a non-Jew’s bread, there is no remedy for them (— to sell them to him — except in slices, for it is forbidden to buy such from a non-Jew everywhere) (Kol Bo) (as above, siman 112).

Wheat is the exception among grains, and for a material reason: it is cracked by nature. Nothing comes out of it by washing, and the seif is reduced to seeking an outlet that will never put these grains back into a Jewish hand.

Seif 12 — Hot and cold grits, and spices soaked with wine

חומץ יין של עובד כוכבים שנפל לתוך גריסין רותחין פוגמין ומותרים אבל לתוך צוננים משביחים ואסורים אפילו הרתיחן אח״כ וחזרו להיות טעם לפגם: הגה ובשמים הבלועים מיין נסך ונתנם לתבשיל אם יש ששים נגד יין הבלוע בהן הכל שרי אע״ג דהבשמים לטעמא עבידי הואיל ואין אסורים מחמת עצמן בטילי ואם היין שבהן הוי לפגם בתבשיל אפילו ס׳ אינו צריך (ב״י בשם הרשב״א):

A non-Jew’s wine-vinegar that fell into boiling grits spoils them, and they are permitted. But into cold grits it improves them and they are forbidden — even if he then boiled them and the taste became spoiling again.

Gloss of the Rama: and spices soaked with yayin nesekh which he put into a cooked dish: if there is sixty against the wine absorbed in them, everything is permitted. Although spices are made for taste, since they are not forbidden in themselves they are nullified. And if the wine in them is spoiling within the dish, even sixty is not required (Beit Yosef in the name of the Rashba).

Hot or cold, the very same drop of vinegar yields two opposite rulings — and the seif adds the rule that locks them: what began by improving is not rescued by spoiling afterwards.

Seif 13 — The drinks of non-Jews

כל המשקים של עובד כוכבים שדרכם לערב בהם יין או חומץ אסורים: הגה ועיין לעיל סימן קי״ד וכל זה במשקים שהיין והחומץ הוא בהם לשבח או שאינו פוגם אבל אם הוא לפגם כגון צבע שנתנו בהם חומץ או מלח שמבשלים עובדי כוכבים ונותנים בו יין או דם ללבנו (מרדכי פא״מ) או דיו של עובד כוכבים (ר״ת) מותר דכל זה הוי לפגם וה״ה בכל כיוצא בזה ויש מחמירים בדיו של עובד כוכבים מפני שלפעמים נותן קולמסו לתוך פיו והדיו עליו (ת״ה סימן קכ״ט כל בו בשם הר״ף) ועיין לעיל סימן קכ״ג דנוהגין היתר בדבר שנותנין בו חומץ הואיל והוי לפגם ונראה דהוא הדין בדיו אפילו היה בו ודאי יין נסך אינו אלא פגם ושרי כן נראה לי:

All the drinks of non-Jews into which it is customary to mix wine or vinegar are forbidden.

Gloss of the Rama: and see above, siman 114. And all this concerns drinks in which the wine and the vinegar are there to improve, or at least do not spoil. But if it is spoiling — such as a dye into which they put vinegar, or salt which non-Jews cook and into which they put wine or blood to whiten it (Mordekhi, perek Ein Maamidin), or a non-Jew’s ink (Rabbenu Tam) — it is permitted, for all this is spoiling; and the same applies to anything similar.

And some are stringent about a non-Jew’s ink, because at times he puts his quill into his mouth with the ink upon it (Terumat haDeshen, siman 129; Kol Bo in the name of the Raf). And see above, siman 123, that the custom is to permit a thing into which vinegar is put, since it is spoiling; and it seems that the same applies to ink — even if it certainly contained yayin nesekh, it is only spoiling, and it is permitted. So it seems to me.

The seif that closes the siman is the one that makes it a daily matter. It no longer speaks of an accident but of a manufacture: a drink into which it is customary to put wine. And the Rama’s gloss at once gives its limit — everything depends on whether that wine improves or spoils.

2. Background — the mishna of Avodah Zarah 73a and its gemara

The whole siman is a commentary on a single mishna, at the end of perek haSokher. It gives at a stroke the two measures that will govern the thirteen seifim:

« יֵין נֶסֶךְ אָסוּר וְאוֹסֵר בְּכׇל שֶׁהוּא, יַיִן בְּיַיִן וּמַיִם בְּמַיִם בְּכׇל שֶׁהוּא, יַיִן בְּמַיִם וּמַיִם בְּיַיִן בְּנוֹתֵן טַעַם » — עבודה זרה ע״ג ע״א

It then states the rule in one line, and from that line comes the משהו of seif 1:

« זֶה הַכְּלָל: מִין בְּמִינוֹ — בְּמַשֶּׁהוּ, וְשֶׁלֹּא בְּמִינוֹ — בְּנוֹתֵן טַעַם » — עבודה זרה ע״ג ע״א

The gemara then brings the tradition of Rav Dimi, which introduces the reversal of seif 1 — the forbidden liquid poured into the permitted is not reckoned like the permitted poured onto the forbidden:

« כִּי אֲתָא רַב דִּימִי אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: הַמְעָרֶה יֵין נֶסֶךְ מֵחָבִית לַבּוֹר, אֲפִילּוּ כׇּל הַיּוֹם כּוּלּוֹ — רִאשׁוֹן רִאשׁוֹן בָּטֵל » — עבודה זרה ע״ג ע״א

Rav Yitzḥak bar Yosef then sets the limit that will become the Mehaber’s clause about the small flask and the barrel:

« כִּי אֲתָא רַב יִצְחָק בַּר יוֹסֵף אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: הַמְעָרֶה יֵין נֶסֶךְ מִצַּרְצוּר קָטָן לְבוֹר, אֲפִילּוּ כׇּל הַיּוֹם כּוּלּוֹ — רִאשׁוֹן רִאשׁוֹן בָּטֵל. וְדַוְקָא צַרְצוּר קָטָן, דְּלָא נְפִישׁ עַמּוּדֵיהּ, אֲבָל חָבִית דִּנְפִישׁ עַמּוּדֵיהּ — לָא » — עבודה זרה ע״ג ע״א

Ravin brings the rule of seif 4 — the water that allows the permitted wine to be regarded as absent:

« כִּי אֲתָא רָבִין אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: יֵין נֶסֶךְ שֶׁנָּפַל לַבּוֹר, וְנָפַל שָׁם קִיתוֹן שֶׁל מַיִם — רוֹאִין אֶת הַהֶיתֵּר כְּאִילּוּ אֵינוֹ, וְהַשְּׁאָר מַיִם רָבִין עָלָיו וּמְבַטְּלִין אוֹתוֹ » — עבודה זרה ע״ג ע״א

Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda adds the condition carried by the word תחילה, and gives its reverse: a prohibition that meets its own kind reawakens.

« לֹא שָׁנוּ אֶלָּא שֶׁנָּפַל קִיתוֹן שֶׁל מַיִם תְּחִלָּה, אֲבָל לֹא נָפַל שָׁם קִיתוֹן שֶׁל מַיִם תְּחִלָּה — מָצָא מִין אֶת מִינוֹ וְנֵיעוֹר » — עבודה זרה ע״ג ע״א

The principle of רואין comes from elsewhere: from Rabbi Assi’s question to Rabbi Yoḥanan about two cups diluted with water. From there the Taz will derive the six parts of seif 5.

« שְׁנֵי כּוֹסוֹת, אֶחָד שֶׁל חוּלִּין וְאֶחָד שֶׁל תְּרוּמָה, וּמְזָגָן וְעֵירְבָן זֶה בָּזֶה — רוֹאִין אֶת הַהֶיתֵּר כְּאִילּוּ אֵינוֹ, וְהַשְּׁאָר מַיִם רָבִין עָלָיו וּמְבַטְּלִין אוֹתוֹ » — עבודה זרה ע״ג ע״ב

There remains the root question: why is wine stricter than other prohibitions? The gemara answers in three words, and they are the key to the entire siman:

« בִּשְׁלָמָא יֵין נֶסֶךְ, מִשּׁוּם חוּמְרָא דַּעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, אֶלָּא טֶבֶל מַאי טַעְמָא » — עבודה זרה ע״ג ע״ב

The Rambam gathered this sugya into four halakhot, and the Mehaber copies them almost word for word in his first four seifim — the Taz says so expressly. The Tur, for his part, opens the siman by immediately raising the question that will occupy the Rama: does stam yeinam follow the same measure as wine that was actually libated?

« יַיִן שֶׁנִּתְנַסֵּךְ לְעַכּוּ״ם שֶׁנִּתְעָרֵב עִם הַיַּיִן הַכּל אָסוּר בַּהֲנָיָה בְּכָל שֶׁהוּא כְּמוֹ שֶׁאָמַרְנוּ » — רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק ט״ז הלכה כ״ח
« יין נסך גמור שנתערב ביין של היתר אפילו כל שהוא אסור בהנאה אבל סתם יין שנתערב ביין של היתר כתב ר״ת שבטל בששים כמו שאר איסורין » — טור יו״ד קל״ד

The great questions of the siman

  1. Why does one drop suffice here, when elsewhere sixty are needed? Because wine in wine is of the same kind, and for libation wine the Sages maintained the stringency of the משהו — משום חומרא דעבודה זרה.
  2. Why does the direction of the pouring change the law? Because what stands in its place counts for more than what comes upon it. What falls drop by drop into a permitted mass is lost in it before the next drop arrives.
  3. Why a small flask and not a barrel? Because a trickle dissolves, while a column arrives all at once. It is not the total quantity that decides, but the flow.
  4. Why does water permit what wine does not? Because water is not of the same kind: it does not reawaken, it dilutes. And diluted beyond six parts, wine ceases to be wine.
  5. Why does rinsing sometimes suffice, and never for wheat? Because the question is no longer one of measuring but of whether the liquid got in. A skin holds it outside; a crack lets it through.

3. The key concepts of this siman

מִין בְּמִינוֹthe same kind. Wine into wine, vinegar into vinegar. For libation wine this identity brings down the ordinary measure: the smallest quantity forbids. Kind is not read off the raw material but off the name of the thing — which is why grape vinegar and barley vinegar are of one kind.
שֶׁלֹּא בְּמִינוֹ · נוֹתֵן טַעַםa different kind, and the measure of taste. Wine into water, vinegar into wine. There we return to the common rule of all prohibitions: what forbids is a perceptible taste.
בְּכָל שֶׁהוּא · מַשֶּׁהוּin any quantity whatsoever. The stringency peculiar to libation wine within its own kind. The siman shows its two faces: it is extreme in seif 1, and the Rama sets it aside almost entirely for the stam yeinam of our time in seif 2.
רִאשׁוֹן רִאשׁוֹן בָּטֵלeach successive first amount is nullified. Forbidden wine falling drop by drop into a permitted mass is lost in it as it goes: the next drop finds no prohibition left to reawaken. This is the central mechanism of seifim 1 and 3.
צַרְצוּר קָטָן · הָעַמּוּד הַיּוֹרֵדthe small flask, and the descending column. The material condition of the preceding mechanism: it holds only for a trickle. From a barrel the stream arrives in one body, and the mixing happens at once — in both directions.
חוֹזֵר וְנֵיעוֹרthe prohibition reawakens. What had been nullified little by little may forbid again if the quantity accumulates to the point of taste, or if the prohibition meets its own kind. This is the point of the Rama’s gloss on seif 3.
רוֹאִין אֶת הַהֶיתֵּר כְּאִילּוּ אֵינוֹwe regard the permitted as though it were not. Where water is present, it alone is counted against the prohibition, without adding the permitted wine to it. Seif 4 requires for this that the water arrived תחילה — except for stam yeinam.
שִׁשָּׁה חֲלָקִיםsix parts. The measure of seif 5: water six times more abundant than the forbidden wine suffices. This is not a majority but a threshold of dilution — beyond it, wine is no longer wine.
סְתַם יֵינָםthe ordinary wine of a non-Jew. To be distinguished from wine actually libated. Seif 2 already gives it a way out, and the Rama’s gloss adds the custom: nowadays it is nullified in sixty.
הוֹלָכַת הֲנָאָה לְיָם הַמֶּלַחcarrying the benefit to the Dead Sea. The procedure of seif 2: one sells everything to a non-Jew, deducts the value of the forbidden wine and destroys it. What remains is a lawful gain.
הֲדָחָהrinsing. The remedy of seifim 8 and 10, for whatever has not absorbed. It holds only while the contact is recent — and never for wheat, which is cracked by nature.
לְשֶׁבַח · לִפְגָםimproving · spoiling. The dividing line of seifim 9, 12 and 13. A taste that spoils does not forbid; and what began by improving is not rescued by spoiling afterwards.

4. The summary table — the measure, case by case

Every situation in the siman fits a three-way grid: which kind, in which direction, and through which stream.

SituationThe measureWhy
Libated wine in permitted wine, the permitted poured onto the forbidden (seif 1)בכל שהואSame kind, and the forbidden stands in place
Libated wine poured from a small flask into permitted wine (seif 1)ראשון ראשון בטלEach trickle is lost before the next arrives
Poured from a barrel, in either direction (seif 1)הכל אסורThe column arrives in one body
Wine forbidden only for drinking (seif 2)ששיםThe common rule of prohibitions
One barrel of yayin nesekh among barrels (seif 2)אסורים בשתייה ומותרים בהנאהThe value of one barrel goes to the Dead Sea
Stam yeinam nowadays, by the custom (Rama, seif 2)בטל בששיםוכן נוהגין להקל
Water and wine (seif 3)בנותן טעםDifferent kinds
The forbidden accumulated to the point of taste (seif 3, per the Rama)חוזר ואוסרThe latter view is the main one
Water fell first, then yayin nesekh (seif 4)רואין את ההיתר כאילו אינוThe water alone is counted
How much water (seif 5)ששה חלקיםBeyond it, wine is no longer wine
Vinegar into wine, wine into vinegar (seif 6)בנותן טעםDifferent kinds
Wine-vinegar into beer-vinegar (seif 7)בכל שהואThe same kind: both are vinegar
Whole grapes (seif 8), lentils and barley freshly wetted (seif 10)ידיחםNothing got in
Split grapes, grain long soaked (seifim 8 and 10)בנותן טעםAbsorption has taken place
Wheat (seif 11)אין להם היתר בהדחהThe crack lets the wine through
Figs (seif 9), boiling grits (seif 12)מותריםThe wine spoils the taste there
Drinks into which wine is habitually mixed (seif 13)אסוריםNot an accident but a manufacture
Read the middle column from top to bottom: the measure never drops out of indulgence; it drops because one of the three variables has changed. The siman relaxes nothing; it distinguishes.

5. The Taz and the Shach — seven key entries

Three entries from the Taz

Taz s.k. 5 — where the six parts come from

The figure in seif 5 is no estimate: the Taz derives it from the sugya of the two cups. Each cup is diluted with three parts of water; the permitted wine is regarded as absent; six parts of water therefore remain against the forbidden wine.
« רואין היין של חולין כאילו אינו ונמצא נשארו ששה חלקים מים מן היין של תרומה ומבטלין אותו כן פירש הראב״ד ור״י » — ט״ז יו״ד קל״ד ס״ק ה

Taz s.k. 9 — the sale is not open to every wine

Seif 8 permits pressing the grapes and selling them to a non-Jew while deducting the value of the wine. The Taz, in the name of the Maharshal, sets its limit: this remedy applies only to stam yeinam, not to wine that was actually libated.
« היינו בסתם יינם אבל ודאי יינם אין לו תקנה » — ט״ז יו״ד קל״ד ס״ק ט

Taz s.k. 10 — how long is “a long time”?

Seif 10 puts no figure on the delay beyond which rinsing no longer helps. The Taz finds it in the Tur, who requires rinsing immediately or nearly so, and concludes with the shorter of the two possible senses.
« משמע דזמן מועט הוא מועט דומיא דמיד וכל שיש שהות יותר מזה מקרי מרובה » — ט״ז יו״ד קל״ד ס״ק י

Four entries from the Shach

Shach s.k. 1 — why the direction of the pouring counts

This is the sentence that explains the whole of seif 1, and the Shach takes it from the Ran. What stands in place carries more weight than what comes upon it: hence a drop of the forbidden lying at the bottom forbids a barrel of permitted wine poured over it, while that same barrel, standing in place, absorbs the drop.
« וטעמא דמלתא שאותו דבר שעומד במקומו חשוב יותר מן הבא עליו » — ש״ך יו״ד קל״ד ס״ק א

Shach s.k. 5 — the Ran’s question on the small flask

The Ran is astonished: where is the boundary between a small flask and a barrel? A law is not given in approximations. His answer — reported by the Shach — shifts the criterion: it is not size but usage. A vat is customarily emptied with a barrel, so whatever remains inside is already reckoned as mixed.
« ולא ידעתי באיזה דבר החילוק שבין צרצור קטן לחבית דהיאך נתן דבריו לשיעורים בכיוצא בזה » — ש״ך יו״ד קל״ד ס״ק ה

Shach s.k. 15 — the reservation that follows the custom

The Bach concluded that, since the custom nullifies stam yeinam in sixty, there is nothing left to carry to the Dead Sea. The Shach hesitates, and his reason is methodological: the leniency of our time was born of loss, and cannot therefore be turned into deliberate profit.
« אבל איך יהנה לכתחלה מהיין נסך שנפל לשם אלא יוליך הנאה לים המלח ומותר בשתייה נ״ל » — ש״ך יו״ד קל״ד ס״ק ט״ו

Shach s.k. 27 — the clock of rinsing, against the Taz

On the very clause the Taz discusses, the Shach gives a far longer delay: twenty-four hours, as everywhere else for cold contact. It is one of the few places in the siman where the two great commentators part company over a practical figure.
« נראה דמעת לעת בעינן כמ״ש לעיל סימן ק״ה ס״ק ב׳ » — ש״ך יו״ד קל״ד ס״ק כ״ז

6. The glosses of the Rama (הגה) — six interventions

On seif 2, first gloss — the barrel that is nullified

The Mehaber’s rule applies to large barrels, which are significant objects and are therefore not lost in a majority. Small containers with no value of their own are nullified like any other prohibition.
« אבל אם הם קטנים ואינם חשובים חד בתרי בטיל כמו בשאר איסורים » — רמ״א יו״ד קל״ד:ב

On seif 2, second gloss — the custom of our time

This is the weightiest line in the whole siman, and it ends in three words after the view it reports: such is the custom, to be lenient. The whole of level 4 depends on it.
« ויש אומרים דכל סתם יינם בזמן הזה בטל בששים » — רמ״א יו״ד קל״ד:ב

On seif 3 — the contradiction, and the ruling

The Rama does not try to reconcile: he states that the two halves of the seif cannot stand together, attributes the disagreement to the decisors, and rules for the second. This sets in motion the entire discussion of level 2.
« והוא מחלוקת בין הפוסקים ולענין דינא סברא אחרונה היא עיקר » — רמ״א יו״ד קל״ד:ג

On seif 5 — to sell, but not in bulk

The Rama opens the way out through sale when the dilution falls short of six parts, then at once narrows it: sell in small quantities, so that the goods cannot come back onto a Jewish market.
« מיהו לא ימכור לעובד כוכבים הרבה ביחד שמא יחזור וימכור המים לישראל » — רמ״א יו״ד קל״ד:ה

On seif 12 — spices that have absorbed

A spice is made to give taste: one might think it is never nullified. The Rama answers by distinguishing the object of the prohibition: the spice is not forbidden in itself; only what it has absorbed is.
« אע״ג דהבשמים לטעמא עבידי הואיל ואין אסורים מחמת עצמן בטילי » — רמ״א יו״ד קל״ד:י״ב

On seif 13 — a non-Jew’s ink

The Rama closes the siman on an apparently minor case — ink — and puts his own decision there, in so many words. This is not a cross-reference but a conclusion, and he signs it.
« ונראה דהוא הדין בדיו אפילו היה בו ודאי יין נסך אינו אלא פגם ושרי כן נראה לי » — רמ״א יו״ד קל״ד:י״ג

7. Modern practical cases

Case 1 — A bottle of non-kosher wine spilt into a vat

This is the scene of seif 1, and the first question is not “how much?” but “in which direction, and through what stream?”. Did the wine fall into the permitted mass, or was the permitted mass poured onto it? And did it arrive as a trickle or all at once? Only then comes the question of volume — and there the Rama’s gloss on seif 2 changes everything for whoever follows the Ashkenazi custom.

Case 2 — Wine vinegar in a sauce or a mustard

Seif 6 and seif 7 answer one another, and it is the second that surprises. Wine vinegar in wine is a different kind and is measured by taste; but wine vinegar in another vinegar is of the same kind, whatever the raw material. A spirit vinegar and a wine vinegar bear the same name: that is what decides.

Case 3 — Flavourings and alcoholic extracts

This is the subject of seif 13, transposed. A drink or a flavouring into which it is customary to put wine is no isolated accident: the seif forbids it as a matter of principle. But the Rama’s gloss at once gives its limit, and that is the practical question: does the wine improve it there, or spoil it?

Case 4 — Wine spilt on fruit or grain

Seifim 8 to 11 come down to a single question: did the liquid get in? An intact skin holds it outside and rinsing suffices; an opened fruit or a cracked seed has drunk it. Wheat is the extreme example — the seif refuses rinsing from the outset. And on the delay beyond which it is too late, the Taz (ס״ק י) and the Shach (ס״ק כ״ז) do not say the same thing.

Case 5 — Spices, a stock or a sauce base that absorbed wine

This is exactly the Rama’s gloss on seif 12, and it is more lenient than one would expect: although a spice exists precisely to give taste, it is not forbidden in itself, and only the wine it drank is counted. And if that wine spoils the dish, the measure itself becomes unnecessary.

Case 6 — A product bought from a non-Jew and forbidden by a משהו

The Rama, in seif 5, extends the sale-with-deduction to anything of this sort bought from a non-Jew — but with the restriction that gives it its worth: do not resell in bulk. Stock disposed of in one block returns to the market, and the precaution cancels itself.

8. Summary of Siman 134

In one sentence: a mixture is not judged, it is measured — and the measure depends on three things before it depends on volume: the kind, the direction of the pouring, and the calibre of the stream.

Memory table

What the siman saysIn HebrewTo retain
Wine within its own kindמין במינו במשהוThe stringency comes from kind, not quantity
Wine in another kindבנותן טעםWe fall back to the common rule
The forbidden poured little by little into the permittedראשון ראשון בטלWhat stands in place prevails over what comes upon it
The barrelהעמוד היורד מפי החבית גדולThe flow, not the volume
Stam yeinam in our timeוכן נוהגין להקלThe gloss that governs practice
Water that fell firstרואין את ההיתר כאילו אינוThe water alone is counted
The sufficient dilutionששה חלקיםBeyond it, wine is no longer wine
Wine upon solidsידיחםSo long as nothing got in
Wheatאין להם היתר בהדחהThe crack has already let everything through
What spoilsמותריםA taste that spoils does not forbid

Comprehension questions

  1. Why does seif 1 forbid by a משהו while seif 3 requires taste? Which variable changed between them?
  2. Two pourings of equal volume, one from a small flask and one from a barrel: why does the law differ? Which phrase of the Mehaber says so?
  3. What exactly does the word תחילה mean in seif 4, and for which wine does the Mehaber dispense with it?
  4. Wine vinegar is of the same kind as beer vinegar (seif 7) but of a different kind from wine (seif 6). On what, then, is kind read?
  5. Where does the Rama place the custom of sixty, and what reservation does the Shach add to it? Why is that reservation not mere stringency?

Going further

If you wish to go deeper into this siman:
The sources of this level may be consulted on Sefaria:
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