DAF DISCUSSIONS - AVODAH ZARAH 63

Yecheskel Nussbaum asked:

On Avodah Zarah 63B, please explain the gemorrahs kasha of sochro lishbor byayin nesech. What is the case?

Thank you.

Yecheskel Nussbaum

The Kollel replies:

The question of the Gemara involves a person who is hired to break barrels containing Yayin Nesech and to spill out the forbidden wine (so that it is rendered unusable). Do we say that this worker wants the barrels to stay whole until he has a chance to break them (so that he will earn his wages), and he therefore is considered one who wants the barrels to exist until he breaks them, in which case his wages should be forbidden? Or do we say that the point of his job is to lessen the amount of Yayin Nesech in the world, and since the job was accomplished his wages are permitted? The Ramban, in his explanation of Rashi, explains that it is forbidden for a Jew to clearly want any type of idolatry or anything associated with it to remain in existence. The first possibility in the Gemara is that entering into a deal to break the barrels would transgress this prohibition. The second possibility is that since the end result is to abolish the Yayin Nesech, the worker should not be viewed as wanting the idolatrous object to exist.

All the best,

Yaakov Montrose