Avodah Zarah 33b
עבודה זרה ל״ג ב — ד"ה לְכַתְּחִלָּה אוֹ דִיעֲבַד
Avodah Zarah 33b:1
Discusses wine vessels and methods of rendering them permissible, including cases involving containers used by non-Jews. These principles bear directly on barrels that held non-kosher wine.
לְכַתְּחִלָּה אוֹ דִיעֲבַד? תָּא שְׁמַע, דְּתָנֵי רַב זְבִיד בַּר אוֹשַׁעְיָא: הַלּוֹקֵחַ קַנְקַנִּים מִן הַגּוֹיִם — חֲדָשִׁים נוֹתֵן לְתוֹכָן יַיִן, יְשָׁנִים — נוֹתֵן לְתוֹכָן צִיר וּמוּרְיָיס לְכַתְּחִלָּה. בְּעָא מִינֵּיהּ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה נְשִׂיאָה מֵרַבִּי אַמֵּי: הֶחְזִירָן לְכִבְשַׁן הָאֵשׁ וְנִתְלַבְּנוּ, מַהוּ? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: צִיר שׂוֹרֵף, אוּר לֹא כׇּל שֶׁכֵּן?! אִתְּמַר נָמֵי: אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן, וְאָמְרִי לַהּ אָמַר רַבִּי אַסִּי אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: קַנְקַנִּים שֶׁל גּוֹיִם שֶׁהֶחְזִירָן לְכִבְשַׁן הָאֵשׁ, כֵּיוָן שֶׁנָּשְׁרָה זִיפְתָּן מֵהֶן — מוּתָּרִין.
Is it permitted to put brine or fish stew in the wineskins ab initio, or is the substance permitted only after the fact? The Gemara suggests: Come and hear a resolution to the dilemma, as Rav Zevid bar Oshaya teaches: With regard to one who purchases jugs from gentiles, if they are new, he may place wine in them, and if they are old, he may place brine and fish stew in them ab initio. § The Gemara discusses the effect of fire on prohibited vessels. Rabbi Yehuda Nesia raised a dilemma before Rabbi Ami: If one returned prohibited containers to the furnace and they whitened due to its heat, what is the halakha? Is the fire assumed to expunge the absorbed wine or not? Rabbi Ami said to him: If brine burns away the wine, all the more so is it not clear that fire does as well? It was also stated that Rabbi Yoḥanan says, and some say Rabbi Asi says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: With regard to jugs belonging to gentiles that one returned to the furnace, once their tar has disintegrated they are permitted.


