Study Avodah Zarah folio 62A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Mishnah: In the case of a non-Jew who hires a Jewish laborer to work with wine used for an idolatrous libation with him, his wage is forbidden, i.e., it is prohibited for the Jew to derive benefit from his wage. If the non-Jew hired him to do other work with him, even if he said to him while he wa
Talmud: In the first case of the Mishnah, where a non-Jew hires a Jew to produce wine used for a libation with him, what is the reason that his wage is forbidden? If we say that since it is prohibited to derive benefit from wine used for a libation, his wage is also prohibited, that is difficult:
Rather, perhaps the reason that the wage is forbidden is since the wine used for a libation transfers to the money its status as an object of idol worship. The Talmud challenges: But there is the halakha of Sabbatical-Year produce, which transfers its sanctity to the money with which it is redeeme
R' Abbahu says that R' Yoḥanan says: This is a penalty that the rabbis imposed upon donkey drivers and with regard to wine used for a libation. The Talmud explains: With regard to wine used for a libation, the penalty is as we said, that the wage of one who is hired to work in the production of
The Talmud asks: What does it mean when it says that their wage is Sabbatical-Year produce? If we say that we give them their wage for their work from Sabbatical-Year produce, the employer consequently is paying his debt from Sabbatical-Year produce, and this violates that which the Torah states: