DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 736 KB)
Under What Circumstances Does Wine Becomes Forbidden When it is Handled by a Gentile?

If a gentile holds an open bottle of wine and shakes it, then the wine becomes forbidden, even though the gentile did not lift the bottle off the table or directly touch the wine. However, if he moved or even lifted the bottle without causing the wine to shake, the wine is permissible. Thus, for example, if a non-Jewish housekeeper moves a bottle of wine to another place on the table to make room, the wine is still permissible. It is only if the gentile shakes the wine that it becomes forbidden. Needless to say, if a gentile merely touches the bottle, without moving it at all, the wine is permissible. By the same token, if the non-Jew carries an open bottle of wine, and a Jew walks behind him and sees that the non-Jew does not shake the bottle, the wine is permissible. Even though walking with a bottle will inevitably cause the wine to shake slightly, this slight shaking does not render the wine forbidden. The Sages forbade wine handled by a gentile only if it was handled in a way that causes the wine to jostle.

If a non-Jew handles a bottle of wine that is closed and sealed, then the wine is permissible even if it was shaken by the non-Jew. The pagans did not use sealed bottles of wine for their rituals, and therefore since the prohibition of non-Jewish wine was enacted out of concern that the wine may have been used in pagan rituals, sealed bottles of wine are permissible. This applies even if the bottle is made from transparent glass, such that the wine is visible from the outside. Since the bottle is sealed, the wine does not become forbidden when it is handled by a gentile.

Summary: If a non-Jew handles a sealed bottle of wine, it remains permissible. If a non-Jew handles an open bottle of wine, the wine is forbidden if the non-Jew shakes it over the course of his handling of the bottle. But if he or she simply touches the bottle without moving it, or lifts it without causing the wine to shake, the wine remains permissible.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Yom Tob – Using Electrical Appliances; Asking a Gentile to Turn on an Appliance; Riding Elevators
Reciting Birkat Ha’ilanot as Early as Possible in the Month of Nissan
Pesah – Halachot of the Afikoman; Reciting Hallel Before Hasot
Pesah – Mosi Masa
Pesah – Drinking After the Afikoman; The Third and Fourth Cups of Wine
Pesah – Refraining From Roasted Meat on the Night of the Seder
Pesah – What Should One Eat For Marror?
Pesah – The Proper Text for “Min Ha’zebahim U’min Ha’pesahim”
Passover- Halachot of Maggid at the Seder
How to Do Heseba at the Seder
Pesah – Heseba (Leaning) Nowadays
Pesah – Within How Much Time Must One Drink Each of the Four Cups of Wine?
Passover – Eating at the Siyum on Ereb Pesah; Car Repairs During Hol Ha’m’o’ed
Passover – The Spiritual Lights That Come Down at the Seder
Passover – Halachot of Birkat Ha’mazon at the Seder
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found