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...
Does One Recite Birkat Ha’gomel While in Transit?
Shemitat Kesafim- Situations Where a Verbal Declaration Suffices in Lieu of a Prozbol (Prozbul)
Shemitat Kesafim- The Procedure for Writing a Prozbul
Shemitat Kesafim: Paying After Shemita for Borrowed Goods
Shemitat Kesafim: Which Debts are Annulled After the Shemita Year?
Shemitat Kesafim: Writing a Prozbol
Shemitat Kesafim: The Reasons Behind the Law Cancelling All Debts at the End of Shemita Year
Blessing One’s Children on Shabbat Eve
Is it Permissible to Listen to a Torah Class in the Bath or Shower?
Swaying While Praying or Studying Torah
Celebrating Rosh Hodesh
Everyone Has His Own Share in Torah
Reciting a Beracha at the Site When One Experienced a Miracle
The Beracha on Seeing the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean
The Miraculous Preservation of Our Torah Tradition
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found