MISHNA: In the case of a gentile 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 gentile hired him to do other work with him, even if he said to him while he was working with him: Transport the barrel of wine used for a libation for me from this place to that place, his wage is permitted, i.e., the Jew is permitted to derive benefit from the money. With regard to a gentile who rents a Jew’s donkey to carry wine used for a libation on it, its rental fee is forbidden. If he rented it to sit on it, even if a gentile placed his jug of wine used for a libation on it, its rental fee is permitted.

GEMARA: In the first case of the mishna, where a gentile 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: There are the cases of orla produce, i.e., produce grown during a tree’s first three years, and diverse kinds planted in a vineyard, from which it is also prohibited to derive benefit, and yet we learned in a mishna (Kiddushin 56b) that if a man sold this produce and betrothed a woman with the money received for it, she is betrothed. Evidently, money gained from a forbidden item is not itself forbidden, as otherwise the betrothal would not take effect.

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 Gemara challenges: But there is the halakha of Sabbatical-Year produce, which transfers its sanctity to the money with which it is redeemed, and yet we learned in a mishna (Shevi’it 8:4): With regard to one who says to his laborer during the Sabbatical Year: Here is this dinar I give to you; gather for me vegetables for its value today, his wage is forbidden, i.e., the sanctity of the Sabbatical-Year produce is transferred to the wage, since it is as though he has purchased Sabbatical-Year produce in exchange for the dinar. But if the employer says to him: Gather for me vegetables today, without mentioning that it is for the value of the dinar, his wage is permitted, as he merely paid him for his labor. This should apply as well to the case of the wine used for a libation.

Rabbi Abbahu says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This is a penalty that the Sages imposed upon donkey drivers and with regard to wine used for a libation. The Gemara 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 wine used for libation is forbidden. With regard to donkey drivers, what is this penalty? The penalty is as it is taught in a baraita: With regard to the donkey drivers who were working in the transportation of Sabbatical-Year produce, their wage is Sabbatical-Year produce.

The Gemara 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: “And the Sabbatical produce of the land shall be for food for you” (Leviticus 25:6), indicating that this produce is designated for food, but not for commerce.

And if it means that their wage is sacred with the sanctity of Sabbatical-Year produce, is that wage in fact sacred? But isn’t it taught in a mishna that with regard to one who says to a laborer: Here is this dinar I give to you and gather for me vegetables today, his wage is permitted, but if he says to him: Gather for me vegetables today for its value, his wage is forbidden? The case of the donkey drivers is clearly similar to the former case, where the value of the dinar was not mentioned.

Abaye said: Actually, Rabbi Yoḥanan’s statement should be interpreted as saying that we give him his wage from Sabbatical-Year produce. And as for that which appears to pose a difficulty for you, that the verse designates such produce “for food” but not for commerce, that can be resolved by explaining that one gives him his wage in a permitted manner, i.e., as a gift rather than as a wage. This is as we learned in a mishna (Ma’aser Sheni 3:1) that a person should not say to another: